The strong lyrics of guitarist and singer Lou Reed made the music stifling. The album was recorded in New York in one eight-hour session. Andy Warhol spent more time on the cover than on the production of the record. Poor recording techniques did not help sales either. Because of said references to drugs and sex, the album was banned from the radio as well as in many record stores. Critics hated the album and saw it as an elaborate joke from Warhol. The Velvet Underground & Nico addressed highly controversial topics: sexual masochism, prostitution, drug abuse and the enjoyment of heroin. It is one of the most celebrated and ambitious albums of all time. Under Warhol's watchful eye, The Velvet Underground created a 20th-century classic. Warhol's banana – sexually provocative and at the same time rotten, judging by the brown spots – perfectly sums up the decadent beauty of this album. It was soon replaced by a standard cover, without peelable banana peel. That is why there are only a limited number of copies of this cover in circulation. Someone must have sat there with stacks of albums and hand-glued the yellow banana peel stickers over the pink fruit. A special machine was needed to make the covers, which is one of the reasons for the delayed release of the album. Nowadays, a reasonably good copy is worth at least EUR 1,000.įor Verve Records, however, the banana was a production nightmare. A pink, flesh-colored fruit appeared under the sticker. In case the genital-like shape wasn't provocative enough, Warhol added the invitation: ‘Peel slowly and see’. The first pressing, with peelable banana peel, is the holy grail among record collectors. The cover was designed by pop artist Andy Warhol. It’s difficult to imagine the world without the cover of The Velvet Underground & Nico, especially for a record collector.
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