Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart....has anyone ever wondered why Aleister Crowley's picture is on the album cover....? - posted by Meosha

I wondered what inspired the album cover choice for this album....which happens to be one

I like very much....

 

 So in my digging....and curiosity....this is what Wikepedia has indicated:


 Cover artwork Further information: List of images on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandThe gatefoldThe Grammy Award-winning album packaging was art-directed by Robert Fraser, designed by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, his wife and artistic partner, and photographed by Michael Cooper. It featured a colourful collage of life-sized cardboard models of famous people on the front of the album cover and the lyrics printed in full on the back cover, the first time this had been done on a rock LP.[30] In the guise of the Sgt. Pepper band, the Beatles were dressed in custom-made military-style outfits made of satin dyed inday-glo colours. The suits were designed by Manuel Cuevas.[31] Among the insignia on their uniforms are: MBE medals on McCartney's and Harrison's jackets, the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom on Lennon's right sleeve and an Ontario Provincial Police flash on McCartney's sleeve.

The inner sleeveIn the centre of the cover, the Beatles stand behind a drum on which are painted the words of the album's title; the drum was painted by fairground artist Joe Ephgrave.[32] The collage depicted around 60 famous people, including writers, musicians, film stars, and (at Harrison's request) a number of Indian gurus. The final grouping included Marlene Dietrich, Carl Gustav Jung, W.C. Fields, Diana Dors, Bob Dylan, Issy Bonn, Marilyn Monroe, Aldous Huxley, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Sigmund Freud, Aleister Crowley, T. E. Lawrence, Lewis Carroll, Edgar Allan Poe, Karl Marx, Sir Robert Peel, Oscar Wilde, H. G. Wells, Marlon Brando, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, and Lenny Bruce.[33] Also included was the image of the original Beatles' bassist, the late Stuart Sutcliffe.

Pete Best said in a later NPR interview that Lennon borrowed family medals from his (Best's) mother Mona for the shoot, on condition that he did not lose them. Adolf Hitler and Jesus Christ were requested by Lennon, but ultimately they were left out.[34] A photo also exists of a rejected cardboard printout with a cloth draped over its head; its identity is unknown. The final cost for the cover art was nearly £3,000 (equivalent to £40,606 today) an extravagant sum for a time when album covers would typically cost around £50.[35]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Pepper's_Lonely_Hearts_Club_Band

I still don't feel satisfied with how and why they chose the individuals they did.....did they perhaps want to stir controversy...? Eventually I will have a chance to ask Paul myself at some point. If you guys have any ideas or perhaps know a little bit more about one of the world's greatest bands, i'd surely appreciate it if you share your knowledge or "as the story goes..." version.