1. The Velvet Underground & NicoThe Velvet Underground & Nico
I didn’t hear this album until the early ’90s – I was about 20 when I first heard this. When I was younger I was more into electronic music like Kraftwerk, also Joy Division and Depeche Mode. That was just the music that was being played at the time. Then, when I got older, like everybody else, I started to listen for influences and discovered all this older stuff. So I was tracing Portishead back to Silver Apples or whatever. The Velvets’ first album is incredibly rich in this sense. There are lots of elements of later pop music in there. It’s poppy and also so noisy. I think it’s got this strong connection with the future.