100 Best Album Covers: #20 - The Velvet Underground & Nico: The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

Our first Warhol. You can tell by the large, mono-colored, silk-screened, iconic image. Oh, that and the huge “signature” in the corner.

On the plus side, this is a Warhol, the product of probably the most famous artist in the world post-Picasso. And the image is definitely – as I said before – iconic (as is pretty much all his stuff).

On the negative side, it’s just a banana on a white background. Not sure what that has to do with the Velvet Underground, or Nico, or Lou Reed, or anything.

That said, it certainly is phallic. In fact, the original design allowed you to peel it back to show a distinctly flesh-covered “banana.”

Once again, however, though all that is nice and transgressive, I’m not sure what it has to do with the band.

Of course, the image also signals the group’s involvement in the whole Warhol scene. In fact, another version of the album is called Andy Warhol's Velvet Underground Featuring Nico. Indeed, they were something of the house band for Warhol’s “Factory,” the center of New York’s pop culture. Warhol also, of course, had a lot to do with promoting them, and is actually listed as the producer on this, their debut album.

Andy by Andy

Needless to say, this album was a total wash when it was released. Since then, it’s gone on to have a major impact on popular music. I don't think we'd have a New York Scene, American punk, Dolls, Sonic Youth, Strokes, or that totally-cool-super-badass New York attitude without them. Rolling Stone ranked it #13 of all time.

Some of the hits include “Heroin,” “Venus in Furs,” “I’m Waiting for the Man,” and “All Tomorrow’s Parties.” Not too surprisingly, all those songs about drugs and sexual deviancy were a bit of a stretch for 1967.

But let’s get back to Warhol. A lot of people don’t realize it, but he had a fairly successful early career as a commercial artist, and produced a number of totally straight-up album covers, almost all for classical and jazz artists. In total, he’s got over 80 credits.

And, yes, there will be one more for this blog. Hold tight.

Nico? She was basically a jet-setting European model who fell in with Warhol’s crowd. She really couldn’t sing, and has only three songs on the album.