Welcome to the latest edition of Masterpiece Reviews. Once again, we’ve thrown on our favorite velvet robe, turned up the fire, and are here to regale you with stories of the greatest and most classic albums of all time. It’s a fresh, new perspective on why these albums are filed under “M” for masterpiece.
Thanks to Andy Warhol, the Velvet Underground’s debut album came together in 1966. At the time, the cult artist had featured the band, specifically Lou Reed, John Cale, Maureen Tucker, and Sterling Morrison, as well as German vocalist Nico, during his Exploding Plastic Inevitable Tour. And eventually, the bulk of the songs that were performed live by the group would be recorded at Scepter Studios in New York City over a four-day period.
While initial reviews were less than sterling, The Velvet Underground & Nico would go on to become one of the most influential albums of all time. With songs like “Femme Fatale”, “Heroin”, and “Sunday Morning”, the album’s themes of drug use, sadism, and masochism would push the boundaries of rock ‘n’ roll. Today, it’s widely praised as one of the greatest albums of all time and has been housed in the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress.
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