Who should (and shoudn't) have been on the Sgt. Pepper cover?

Should:

1. The Goons -- IMHO the most glaring omission

2. Elvis -- Come to think of it, the early rockers are all very conspicuous in their absence

3. James Dean

4. Jack Kerouac

5. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore -- preferably in character as "Pete & Dud" the pub philosophers. John was a fan and appeared on their TV show.

5. Noel Coward

6. Isadora Duncan

7. Ian Fleming -- preferably the classic photo of him with the cigarette holder

8. Christine Keeler -- no explanation necessary

9. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis

10. Fatty Arbuckle and Virginia Rappe

11. Christine Jorgensen

12. Robert Mitchum -- the classic pic of him smirking while walking out the jailhouse doors

13. Pete Best?!?

Shoudn't:

1. All those obscure painters chosen by the album designers

Of course Leo Gorcey should have been on the cover, but he demanded a fee for the use of his likeness. How much of a fee is unclear -- even Wikipedia can't agree with itself on it: the Pepper article says $400, while the Gorcey article says $5,000!

 

Should:
Me
Shouldn't:
Me

 

No.1 is of course, PETE BEST. The other major Ex - Beatle was also on the cover, and it's not like they'd forgotten about Pete at the time, JOHN'S WEARING HIS DAD'S MEDALS. The least they could have done to thank the Bests for their contribution would be to stick Pete's mug on the front.

 

Weird coincidence: up until last week, I always thought this creepy clownish face was Fatty Arbuckle: I googled it and found it it's actually supposed to be Oliver Hardy. (either that or John Wayne Gacy).

 

I always wondered why they didn't put some of the founding fathers of rock and roll on the cover. They put Dion (which was an unusual choice), but why didn't they have Chuck Berry or Little Richard or Buddy Holly? And why didn't George insist on Carl Perkins?
Maybe they purposefully avoided picking any early rockers, though. But why?

 

What's weird is that Dion made the cut; hardly seems like the primary first wave rock influence on The Beatles. Did they even cover any of his songs?

 

Good catch - very strange none of them made it.

 

I can't see why they'd want these two on the front. Coward famously dissed the Beatles on a couple of occassions:

'Hello, Goodbye, Hello': 6 oddball meetings between celebrities »

and afaik (please correct me if I'm wrong) none of the Beatles were particularly interested in Bond - in fact the only connection between the two British institutions I can think of is again, this famously short sighted diss by 007 in Goldfinger:

 

Yes, there's a connection there but since George Martin worked extensively with Sellers & Milligan it would have looked like cheap product placement.

George Formby should have been on the cover and it would be have been cool if Bruce Forsyth had been on the cover.

 

Yeah, that could be a reason - George Martin might have vetoed their inclusion, although if so I think he was erring on the side of caution as I don't think anyone would have seen it that way.

 

Perhaps one's understanding of why those who made it on the cover and for what reason may be off?

 

Er, well apart from 'Live And Let Die', of course Oops. But that was later.

 

Perhaps one is just shooting the breeze on an internet forum? No need for peer review on idle chatter.

 

When I was younger I found it odd that they'd chosen Sonny Liston over Cassius Clay, whom I'd presumed they'd got on famously with on their first U.S. visit. I wonder now whether it was perhaps a political decision to omit Cassius/Muhammad? I'm not 100% sure of the timing but had he already been banned for refusing the draft?

 

Little Richard

Eleanor Rigby

Nowhere Man

If not Bond, Patrick McGoohan

 

Ravi Shankar?

 

Donald Campbell. He blew his mind out in a car.

 

George Martin
Brian Epstein

 

There should be an app that adds your picture to the cover.

 

It's actually a gentle slam at the Fabs, but weird because didn't George Martin have something to do wit the soundtrack of Goldfinger ?

 

Looks like Hulk Hogan between Laurel & Hardy...

 

You dare question the Beatles judgement in regards to Dion's inclusion?

 

http://wwart.w.fab4com/sgt_pepper_shoot.htm

Not everybody. I never heard about Elvis before.

I may not be alone:

8 awesome facts on The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's released 48 years ago today »

 

No disrespect intended, only attempting to broaden the search and understanding. It's a fun subject, was only trying to promote deeper digging

 

That's fair (& normally I'd agree with you) but with such a mixed set of people on the cover already I think this thread should be more about "who feels right" because it would be impossible to come up with a hard & fast rule set given the set of people that is already included.