It was on this day, Jan. 25, in 1969, when New Jersey state prosecutors issued a warning to US record dealers that they would be charged with distributing pornography if they were caught selling the John Lennon / Yoko Ono LP ‘Two Virgins’. The Jersey “State Troopers” confiscated 30,000 copies! The front cover of the album showed the pair in full frontal nudity, while the back cover showed them from behind. The album barely managed to even chart, peaking at No.124 in the US. but failed to chart at all in the UK, where only 5,000 copies were ever pressed.
EMI records in the U.S. Initially refused to release the record but made a deal with indie label Tetragrammaton records to release it in late Nov. 1968, where they cleverly, or not, stuffed the album into brown paper bags to eventually sell a meager 25,000 copies!
The album was abhorred by music critics, fans and the general public!
Keep in mind that at the release of “Two Virgins The Beatles were still a band. At least on paper, and in January of ’69 they were still ten months away from releasing their penultimate studio record “Abbey Road” featuring George’s beautiful final Beatles single…”Something”
in fact, John wanted “Two Virgins” to come out much earlier but claims it took him six months to convince The Fab Three, Paul, George and Ringo that the “Two Virgins” naked cover art would be a great statement for The Beatles and mankind! John!…Puh – Lease!
But ! How about you? Do you have a story? Did you own a copy of John’s least greatest work? Better still, have you ever even heard a track from this…um,…er,…ah…release?…..If you haven’t, no sweat, YOU HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO!
Meanwhile, “All apologies from Sixties Music Secrets for only being able to share the imagery ( see above ) of the l.p. “In the bag” covering John and Yoko’s offending parts ( and were not talking about their vocals! )….There are still some very arcane censorship laws in place, and “The New Jersey State prosecutors office still scares the S #+ T out of us!…Yeah, Yeah, Yeah…All you need is Nudity!
Sorry, this is as much as we can show. But, trust us, it’s really all you want to see especially if your reading this post just before Breakfast…
Interesting!
BOY NOW I WANT TO LOOK FOR THIS ALBUM….OR PHOTOS OF IT!!! A NEW ADVENTURE!!! I do have very weak recollection of this period of time relating to this album. I know I was NOT HAPPY WITH YOKO….she was a threat [I perceived] to Beatle Unity…[my reasoning???]. But as I read your piece I kept having words pop into my awareness like “The Brown Album” or “Paper Bag Album”. I guess these may have been ways others were discussing this album. and I don’t believe I ever heard a single cut from this album. But I do remember all the press concerning John and Yoko naked in bed and giving filmed interviews. and of course good old “Tricky Dick” had Hoover all up into John and Yoko as subversives!! Nixon suffered from great paranoia!! thanx again “Shoe”!!
the wood
Hey Wood,
Yes… “bag or “Brown bag” does ring a bell…..
In fact, we can think of at least two songs where Lennon makes a lyrical reference to a “bag”
“Eating chocolate cake in a bag”…from “The Ballad of John and Yoko” And…
” Bagism” ( whatever that is? ) from “Give Peace a Chance”
Thanx Wood, always enjoy your commentary!
Shoe