Earlier this year, there was a lot of ink, both digital and in print, spent on how 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the Beatles arriving in the U.S. However, this year also marks plenty of other important anniversaries in Beatles history, including today’s. Forty-five years ago, the Beatles walked nonchalantly across the crosswalk in front of Abbey Road studios, creating one of the most iconic album covers in history.
The photo ended up as the cover of Abbey Road, the last album the Beatles recorded. It was released in 1969 and the image was taken by Iain McMillan on Aug. 8, 1969. The image is being celebrated on the studio’s Twitter page.
To this day, the crosswalk remains a tourist attraction in London and can cause quite the traffic back-up. Abbey Road does have a live camera at the crosswalk set up and gives fans tips for taking their own photos.
Today, Beatles fans rushed to the site at 11:35 a.m. to watch a group dressed just like the group cross the street. At that very minute, 45 years ago, the group walked across the street. John Lennon wore an all-white suit, while Ringo Starr dressed in a suit and tie. Paul McCartney also wore a suit, but famously walked across barefoot. George Harrison wore a blue shirt and jeans, clearly the most relaxed of the four.
Abbey Road is recognized as one of the group’s best albums, if not the best. (It is the best in this writer’s opinion.) The album starts with the one-two punch of “Come Together” and “Something” and ends with the glorious medley devised by Paul and producer George Martin.
This photo was taken 45 years ago today. pic.twitter.com/BfYeSapr3A
— Abbey Road Studios (@AbbeyRoad) August 8, 2014
image via Twitter from Abbey Road
image courtesy of Curtis Means/ACE/INFphoto.com