for my man
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$26.00
when it was released in 1967 few outside
the band's immediate circle seemed to
know what to make of The Velvet
Underground and Nico's combative noise
in provocative lyrics only a few years
later it would become a key building
block for the punk movement and now
after several generations of indie and
alternative rockers working from its
template a record that was once famous
for its terrible sales has become one of
rock's most revered icons
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skilled child
Andy Warhol is the only credited
producer on the album despite doing
little of the work expected of the
position he still had a deep influence
on the album he gave Lou Reed subjects
to write about like Edie Sedgwick who
inspired the song femme fatale cuz
everybody knows
the things she does to me
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she's just a Liberty
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he also convinced the band to hire the
German fashion model Nico as a singer
Nico was already well-known in rock
circles before Warhol connected her with
the Velvets she'd worked with Rolling
Stones guitarist Brian Jones and Led
Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and recorded songs
by Bob Dylan and Serge Gainsbourg she'd
also done some acting appearing briefly
in Federico Fellini's la dolce vita
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Oh
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most of the details of the recording
were lost or forgotten it may have been
recorded partly in New York and partly
in LA and anywhere between one and four
days for as much as $3,000 the original
recordings were turned down by Columbia
Atlantic and Elektra before being picked
up by traditionally jazz oriented Verve
Records even after they were signed the
label insisted on changes to make the
album more commercial including adding
the single Sunday morning
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and
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the album's release was held up for an
entire year a delay often blamed on
Warhol who is serving as co-manager
despite having never managed a band
before on top of problems tied to
inexperience the peel away banana
sticker he designed for the cover
required a special machine to produce it
the label agreed to the delay because
they thought Warhol's art could help
sell the record that artwork would go on
to become one of the most famous album
covers in rock history
it would also produce at least two
lawsuits the first came right after the
album's release over the unauthorized
use of actor Eric Emerson on the back
cover and in 2012 after the cover art
had spawned a profitable merch business
for The Velvet Underground the surviving
band members sued Andy Warhol's
foundation to limit third-party
licensing
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they like to do the album's
unconventional sound wasn't helped by
verbs anemic marketing campaign on top
of that it's lyrical content led radio
stations and record stores to ban the
album and music magazines refused
advertising for it
say things are quick
my run and
it only made it as high as 170 one on
the Billboard album chart
since then the Velvet Underground & Nico
has been reissued a number of times
including as a sixth disc super deluxe
box set in 2012 when an acetate of the
original recording sessions that were
turned down by labels the first time
around was discovered in a Manhattan
flea market in 2002 it sold on eBay for
over $25,000 the record that no one had
wanted at the time turned out to be
worth more than its weight in gold
[Applause]
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