PRI Public Radio International

With their seventh record, Wilco (The Album), Wilco has entered the self-referential phase of rock stardom. Back in 2004 the band stopped by to perform and talk with Kurt after the release of A Ghost Is Born. Jeff Tweedy told Kurt, “Music is all about getting to stuff that you can’t tell somebody.”

Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister’s favorite album cover of all time is one of Warhol’s notorious designs: The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, with the fully operational zipper. Produced by Derek John. And Cale reveals Warhol’s inspiration for the Velvet Underground’s signature banana cover.

Cale performs a song from Songs For Drella, the album he wrote with Lou Reed as a tribute to Warhol.

Andy Warhol’s paintings of Campbell’s soup cans might be more recognizable than any other American artwork – and that’s just what he intended. They helped banish the solemnity of painters like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, and established him as an artist despite his limited abilities. But why did Warhol start painting them? And […]

Andy Warhol did more than turn groceries into art – he also elevated an obscure band called The Velvet Underground to the rock pantheon. Band co-founder John Cale tells Kurt that Warhol didn’t do it for the love of rock & roll. “I don’t think he liked any of the music, really,” Cale says. “I […]