The White Album

 "Captain Fallout here, folks, and before we get into the show I've got a bit of sad news to share. If you were listening last week, you might remember that I mentioned we'd had reports that there'd been a sighting of that elusive little varmint, Rocky Raccoon, way out in the western reaches of the Boomlands. The roadie we sent out to pound the ground for more information just swam back down to the station to let us know that it was just an imposter. Album cover was white and said The Beatles on the front, but when our man looked inside all he found was two--now that's not one, but two--LPs of An Evening With Wild Man Fischer. If you've ever heard that particular fascinating piece of musical history, you'll understand why our roadie discontinued the negotiations upon discovering the true nature of the beast. Good news is that we still have our copy of A Hard Day's Night, which just happens to be what you feel like you been through after about five minutes of Wild Man Fischer. Title track's coming up, but keep your eye your for that wascally wacoon, 'cause the 25 gallon bounty is still unclaimed."--Captain Fallout, Radiation Radio 

Since it began broadcasting, Radiation Radio has offered an open bounty on copies of The White Album. The bounty started out at 3 gallons of gas to replace Captain Fallout's damaged copy of the first disc, but has fluctuated over the years as (never completely playable) copies have arrived at the station. When the last good record the station had was damaged about a year ago, the bounty reached its highest point ever: 10 gallons for a copy of either record that will play all the way through without skipping, sticking, or popping; 25 for anyone who manages to find good copies of both discs and a reasonably intact original album cover. The station is also interested in partially-playable copies, with price dependent on how many tracks can still be played.
The extreme difficulty of finding intact copies of the album, along with the apparent endless bad luck suffered by the remaining records, has led some people to believe that album is cursed. One particularly wild theory posits that the album is being repressed by shadowy agents of unknown loyalty as part of an elaborate conspiracy theory that involves the covered-up death of Paul McCartney, the Manson Family murders, and the JFK assassination.
Captain Fallout has anthropomorphized the album into "Rocky Raccoon," an elusive Bigfoot-like trickster who is often seen but never captured.

History

The details of The White Album's recording, production, and release are well known to most music fans, but its status as post-apocalyptic Holy Grail is a recent development. Disc 1 of Captain Fallout's copy was damaged during the Boom or its immediate aftermath, leaving him with only half of the album when he started Radiation Radio. Once the Diner Age began, Fallout offered a bounty of three gallons of gasoline to anyone who could replace the broken disc, payable upon confirmation of authenticity and condition by a member of the Radiation Road Crew.
Over the years, Captain Fallout managed to obtain several copies of the first disc, as well as a few spares of the second, but every single one had a bad spot where the record skipped, got stuck, or made some horrific noise that ruined the whole experience. To make matters worse, copies of The White Album seemed especially prone to damage. One set was destroyed by an exploding car battery, an already-scratched copy of disc 1 was chewed on by rats, and others were damaged or destroyed by everything from bong fires to stray bullets.
After going through dozens of partially-playable copies of The White Album, Radiation Radio was reduced to single copy of disc 2 with a scratch that caused it to skip from "Mother Nature's Son" to "Helter Skelter." An earthquake about a year ago caused that disc to fly off the turntable and shatter against the station wall, resulting in the current bounty and giving new fuel to the idea that the album is cursed.

Item type

Art

Creation Date

Production: May 30 through October 14, 1968; Release November 22, 1968

Rarity

You'd wouldn't think that The White Album, which sold over 3 million copies in the U.S. during the first week of its release, would be a difficult item for The Boomland's only radio station to get its hands on, but so far the ecclectic double album remains elusive.

Raw materials & Components

The album, officially titled The Beatles, is called "The White Album" due to the plain white album sleeve that features no artwork and no text except for the band's name. Inside are ideally two 12" vinyl 33rpm records containing 30 Beatles songs and not a single note by Wild Man Fischer.

Additional information available at Wikipedia.

Content Warning: Wildman Fischer