Why do some versions of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ have cutouts missing?
If you’ve ever wandered through a record store and stumbled on a previously used copy of The Beatles’ iconic 1967 LP Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, you might see some holes in the album’s liner notes. Everything about Sgt. Pepper’s was revolutionary, and that included the actual album contents. From its vibrant front cover to its fold-out inner sleeve, Sgt. Pepper’s was a fully immersive experience.
Designers Peter Blake and Jann Haworth were responsible for the art, including the front cover, back cover, gatefold, and liner notes. As if that wasn’t enough, the album also included cardboard cutouts that fans could use to look like they were in the Lonely Hearts Club Band as well. Those cutouts included sergeant stripes, lapel badges, and even fake moustaches that replicated the new ones sported by the band members on the cover.
“I suddenly realised with all those Sergeant Pepper moustaches where all that came from,” Paul McCartney later recalled about the facial hair. “I had an accident on a moped and bust my lip quite badly …and being always in photo sessions, we always had to do that, it was very embarrassing to have this big fat lip, so I started to grow this moustache to hide it, and then the others sort of said, ‘Hey, that’s good,’ and so without anyone knowing we all just grew these moustaches … it wasn’t a ‘look’ at all, it was just a laugh!”
“Until Pepper, record album covers were .. to be honest, rather boring,” producer George Martin recalled in the book Summer of Love. “It used to make me angry when record companies would represent good products so badly. In my opinion, and the four Beatles, the cover should be as significant as the work it contained. It was the first thing people saw when they lifted the album in the record shop, and it formed their first impressions.”
“Paul, who really had kickstarted the Pepper theme, had very clear ideas on what a record cover should be,” Martin remembered. “On Pepper, we thought, we need an overall concept, packed with little things so that three months from now you’ll go, ‘Oh, I never saw that…’ The whole idea was to put everything, the whole album into this sleeve, and that’s why we got Peter Blake!”
It didn’t take long for the rumour mill to begin turning with regard to what was actually contained within the album. Specifically, there was a rumour that the band had infused the moustache cutout with cannabis resin that made the cutouts smokable. The rumour had only extended to the moustache, perhaps because of its darker colour compared to the vibrant tones of the other cutouts.
Today, it’s not uncommon to find older copies of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band without any of the cutouts present. However, it’s also possible to find copies where only the moustache has been removed. Could it be because fans were grinding it up and attempting to get high, or was it just because they wanted to look like The Beatles?
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