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Frederick Rickmann

ABBEY ROAD. The world's most photographed pedestrian crossing for 50 years.

On the 8th August 1969 the BEATLES released their ABBEY ROAD album. The cover showed the group crossing the road outside the Abbey Road recording studios in London. It was in fact the last album made by the group together so it marked the end of a revolutionary era of change and originality in music.

I bought the LP when it was released in 1969. At the time I was well into studying architecture and design. It is still in my collection of great music, 50 years on. And it can still be enjoyed on my STEENSSEN sound centre. I wonder how an LP like Abbey Road had an influence in us designing the products in that way. On a STEENSSEN you can play any content from the new voice activated streaming centres like SIRI and Alexa - all the way to through Bluetooth and CD's - to being able to play a 50 year old LP. Amazing.

The Abbey Road LP cover and the location quickly took on an iconic significance. The cover design didn't even include the group's name or even a title. The photograph itself was taken simply by the photographer, Iain Macmillan, on a stepladder. He took 6 photos. The fifth one was used. Since then - for 50 years - the traffic on Abbey Road in London has been stopped for thousands of tourists to London doing exactly the same crossing.

 

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