Did thousands of Beatles album covers end up in a Needham landfill?
Hide Transcript Show Transcript  HISTORY. THE BRITISH INVASION - ENRAPTURED FANS ACROSS THE COUNY.TR BUT 55 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH - THE BEATLES HIT A BUMP ON THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD TO SUCCESS. >> THE ACTUAL ALBUM WHICH WE KEEP IN PLTIAS IS KNOWN AS TH TCBUHER COVER WAS NOT VERY POPULAR WITH PARENTS. REPORTER: THE SO CALLED 'BUTCHER COVER' INCLUDES THE SMILING FAB FOUR HOLDING RAW MEAT AND BLOODY BABY DOLL PAS.RT THE IMAGE SHOCKED THE US MARKET AND WAS IMMEDIATELY REPLACED WITH THIS LESS DRAMATIC COVER. CHARLES ROSENAY - WHO ORGANISZE FESTIVALS AND TOURS - OWNAS RARE ORIGINAL SINCE MOST WERE DESTROD.YE >> WHAT DID THEY DO, THEY EITHER BURNED COPIES, COVERED THEM .UP THEY COVERED THEM UP WITH A DIFFERENT SLICK. WHICHS I A VYER BORING COV.ER REPORTER: BUT THERE'S SOME INDICATION THAT THOUSANDS OF ORIGINALS ENDED UP IN A NEEDHAM LANDFILL. IT'S NOT EXACTLY STRAWBERRY FIELDS BUT STILL A POSSIBLE BURIED BEATLEMANIA TREASURE AND A REFLECTION OF THAT TIME PEODRI >> INHE T 60S IF IT WAS A TIME OF PROTEST, OR TIME OF CONTROVERSY DAN I'M CAPITOL RECORDS I WANT TO SELL THIS TO WHITE BRED AMERICA I WTA EVERYONE TOUY B A CY.OP REPORTER: IT'S UNCLEAR WHETHER THE ORIGINALS WEER BURIED HERE INEE NDHAM. Share Copy Link Copy  The year was 1966, and the British invasion of The Beatles had enraptured music fans across the United States. It was 55 years ago this month, June 1966, that the group's album entitled "Yesterday and Today" was released in the U.S. and Canada. It was then that The Beatles hit a bump on the long and winding road to success. "The actual album, which we keep in plastic, is known as the butcher cover," Charles Rosenay, who organizes festivals and tours -- and owns a rare original copy of the album cover says. "It was not very popular with parents. ""Yesterday and Today" is remembered primarily for the controversy surrounding its original cover image. Known as the "butcher cover," it was taken by photographer Robert Whitaker and shows the band dressed in white coats and covered with decapitated baby dolls and pieces of raw meat. Although the photo was intended to be part of a larger work critiquing the adulation afforded the Beatles, the band members insisted it was a statement against the Vietnam War. The image was immediately replaced with this less dramatic cover with a shot of the band posed around a steamer trunk.However, it's what happened to the thousands of covers that introduce a Massachusetts twist. There's some indication that thousands of originals ended up in a Needham landfill, according to a memo posted on a Needham Facebook group. The memo purporting to be from the Capitol Records offices dated June 28, 1966, claims that 50,000 of the album covers were destroyed in a "swampy part of the Needham town dump" that was filled with water. The memo says the jackets were dumped on the ground as close as possible to the hole, and then a bulldozer pushed the jackets into the hole. It says the hole was then covered by two feet of dirt, "and will subsequently be covered with garbage, which will be well compacted as time goes by. "It's not exactly Strawberry Fields, but still a possible buried Beatlemania treasure, and a reflection of that time period.