Velvet Underground Say Iconic Banana Logo Should Never Have Been Sold

Andy Warhol designed it and the Velvet Underground used it on the front of their album. The iconic banana is the subject of litigation by the band after the Andy Warhol Foundation sold the design to Apple.

The lawsuit claims the image is symbolic of the band and fans relate to the image as The Velvet Underground. They claim that by selling the image to Apple for iPad and iPhone products that the Andy Warhol Foundation is cheapening the name of The Velvet Underground and associating them with a product they would never endorse.

However, the artwork was never copyrighted because Andy Warhol originally licenced the image from an ad.

The album was a commercial failure in its day. It entered the Billboard chart in May 13, 1967 at no. 199 and was out by June 10, 1967 after only getting to no. 177. The group disbanded in 1973 and in years to come the album went on to become one of the most important records of its time.