Uncovering the story behind the debut album of the Velvet Underground and the most famous banana in the world is interesting.

Its a seminal album indeed. However, when released in 1967, this album remarkably had little to no cultural effect on the world despite the fact that it introduced a whole new wide range of sounds.

All great albums have iconic cover art yet few in the music industry are as striking as Andy Warhol’s famous banana, which may be even more well-known than the album itself.

The controversial cover was a piece of art well crafted by Andy Warhol and the banana has now grown to be associated with the band closely. Early versions of the album even encouraged the owner to "peel slowly and see", revealing a flesh-colored banana underneath when the skin was peeled back, leaving little to the imagination.

A special machine was required to manufacture the covers, this decision led to the album release being considerably delayed. The record label viewed this as an investment and gladly agreed to the additional expenses, reasoning that the album's association with the legendary singer would multiply sales. The delay was later explained by Warhol's artistic director, Ronnie Cutrone: “Someone had to sit there with heaps of records, peel off the yellow banana skin stickers and arrange them over the pink fruit by hand,” he painstakingly admitted.

“The banana actually made it into an erotic art show,” Lou Reed once noted about the cover art. The reissued vinyl editions of this album don’t feature the peel-off sticker and original copies of the album with the peel-sticker feature are now rare collector’s items that are sold for a huge amount.

Despite its success as an artistic project, the album cover unfortunately ended up landing the band in a spot of legal trouble upon its first issue because of a cover photo featured on the back. It was a painting of another artist by the name of Emerson which eventually had to be covered up with a sticker.

On the other hand the album had songs that spoke boldly of drugs drug abuse, prostitution, sadism and masochism and sexual deviancy. You could find such meaning in songs like I’m Waiting for the Man which describes in other words that the person is waiting for heroin. There’s also Venus in Furs with similar meanings of sadismism.

The Side B of the LP also begins with the song Heroin. The final track on the album European Son is also the album's longest track at more than seven and a half minutes. The song is dedicated by the band to Delmore Schwartz, the poet who had been literary mentor of singer Lou Reed at Syracuse University.

Band members on this album were John Cale (Electric viola, piano), Sterling Morrison (rhythm guitar, bass), Lou Reed (Vocals, lead guitar, ostrich guitar), Maureen Tucker (drums) and Nico on vocals.

This iconic yet controversial album is available on Drocer Records.

Artists: The Velvet Underground, Nico

Release date: 12^th March 1967

Genres: Rock, Psychedelic rock, Art rock, Experimental rock.

Label: Verve Records

Duration: 47. 11

Reviewed by Kinjal Gosar