The Cavern
Rock & Words
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
"Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather
Whiplash girlchild in the dark
Comes in bells, your servant, don't forsake him
Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart"
“D+”
Main Decade: 60's
Main Eras:
Psychedelia (1966-1969)
The Great Transition (1970-1980+)
Key Members:
Lou Reed, Vocalist, Guitars
John Cale, Bass, Viola
Sterling Morrison, Guitar, Bass
Mo Tucker, Drums
Nico, Vocalist
Key Songs:
Heroin, Sweet Jane, All Tomorrow’s Parties, I'm Waiting for my Man, What Goes On, Venus in Furs, Candy Says, Femme Fatale, Pale Blue Eyes, White Light/White Heat, Jesus, Begining to See the Light, Rock & Roll, I’ll Be Your Mirror, Sunday Morning, Jesus, Oh! Sweet Nuthin, After Hours.
The Velvet Underground are a unique group. Few bands in history have been so undervalued and ignored in their quest to revolutionize music. I don't even think that Lou Reed, John Cale, and company intended at the time to change anything, to make other bands sound like them, or anything like that; they simply didn't want to make the music that other groups were making. They wanted to innovate, to sound different, to break boundaries for their own sake. And being a New York band, they had a very different philosophy from the San Francisco Bay Area bands that were beginning to emerge on the other side of the Atlantic. The Velvet Underground aren't exactly hippie music. You don't feel Flower Power in their music, but something that goes beyond that, darker and denser, something that hasn't become outdated and that remains relevant in some way. And yet, many hippie bands would take certain influences from the Velvet Underground's ballads.
The point is that the Velvet Underground transcended their established style by making their music a means of avant-garde expression, closely aligned with the pop message that their patron, Warhol, conveyed through painting and art. And so they added violas to their songs. Although the Beatles had already done so, with string quartets in "Yesterday" and "Eleanor Rigby," they were the first to include a dedicated guitarist. They were also among the first bands to experiment with fuzz-laden guitars, or the viola itself filled with distortion, creating experimental collages that sometimes worked well and sometimes didn't, but which validly attempted to break free from the conventional mold. With the viola, they also experimented with incorporating hypnotic, oriental sounds; again, they weren't the first, but they were an immense influence, and suddenly all the hippie groups on the West Coast were trying to imitate these slow, repetitive sounds with their Hindu undertones. And regarding repetitive songs with two or three chords, no group is more masterful in this field than the Velvet Underground. They are capable of creating the most beautiful ballads, which tug at your heartstrings with their delicacy and three-chord simplicity, or they can create incredibly violent and transgressive songs using the same three tonal arrangements. And lyrically, they completely outshone all their hippie contemporaries, which is why they remain so relevant today. Instead of singing about flowers in your hair or marijuana, they dared to break lyrical taboos and began to talk about cross-dressing, sadomasochism, homosexuality, transsexuality, and heroin. They didn't mince words, and in this respect, Lou Reed is a damn genius.
The band also had a rebellious, almost nihilistic attitude, with a dark and acidic sense of humor. They didn't care about the content, but rather the form, the message they conveyed, and if the lyrics were meant to transmit pain, they didn't hesitate to make your ears bleed with screeching violas; that was, in fact, the purpose. And I don't enjoy them more for that reason, but while other bands made terrifying noises without any intention, the Velvet Underground did it with complete malice aforethought, as a framework for the lyrics or the stories they told. Lennon himself would record entire albums with Yoko full of distortion or collages of noises and experimental things that, according to them, were "Art," but which didn't have such an obvious and fascinating purpose as the Velvet Underground. And many, many groups drew inspiration from this experimentation.
In the end, the Velvet Underground remained just that, an underground group, moving in New York artistic circles, but far from the fame and money of other groups like Jefferson Airplane.
The irony lies in the tremendous influence the group would have. As I mentioned, many bands suddenly incorporated their simple structures and Eastern influences into their hippie music. These groups generally didn't achieve mainstream success, but they greatly enriched the San Francisco hippie movement. Later, their irreverent attitude, raw lyrics, and structural simplicity would be fundamental to the punk movement, and while the Sex Pistols couldn't stand hearing the names of the Beatles or Pink Floyd, they revered Lou Reed as a master. Then, in the 80s, they would be essential to the noise rock that bands like Sonic Youth would incorporate with their use of feedback, distortion, and white noise.
Do you see why this band is so extraordinary? With just a few albums, they influenced countless bands across different genres and even generations. Of course, if you delve into their music expecting to find Blitzkreg Pop, you're going to be disappointed. The blend of influences is perfect in their albums and songs, and at first, that sound might seem jarring. But after listening to them, the beauty of their songs becomes evident, and their ballads pave the way for their more experimental and daring tracks. And you end up becoming addicted to those sounds, which seem almost amateurish, almost effortless, but which certainly require genius to achieve that sound and that seemingly "simple" balance. After a while, the sounds that nourished each genre and generation become more apparent, and you understand why the group almost starved to death, but would ultimately become perhaps the most influential American band of the 60s.
Lou Reed met John Cale in 1964. Cale was a Welshman who had gone to the United States to study classical music. He was interested in experimental music, so he immediately hit it off with guitarist Lou Reed, and they began playing together and writing their first compositions, forming several groups. In 1965, they added Sterling Morrison, a classmate of Lou's, as a second guitarist. Angus McLise joined as the drummer. With this lineup, they took their name from Michael Leigh's book, *The Velvet Underground*, about the sexual subculture of the early 1960s. Reed had already written "Venus in Furs" and thought the name would perfectly suit the group's personality and sound.
Angus McLise left the band in 1965 before their first professional performance, stating that he was in it for the art, not the money. He was replaced by Maureen "Mo" Tucker, the younger sister of a friend of Cale's. She barely knew how to play the drums, but she was interested in experimental music. His instrument barely had cymbals, as he mostly used percussion, and sometimes he didn't even use regular drumsticks, but mallets, and he played standing up instead of using the typical drum stool. On more than one occasion, he played a drum kit made of cans, tins, and pots.
Shortly after, Andy Warhol heard them and was delighted with their sound. He became their first manager and suggested they add the German model Nico (another of his protégées at the time) as another singer. Warhol's name helped them get a contract with The Verve, a subsidiary of MGM, and the group began polishing what would become their first album at The Factory, gaining a reputation as an experimental and controversial group, and thus beginning to attract attention in New York's art and underground circuits.
At Andy's insistence, Nico sang on three tracks of the debut album, which would eventually be titled The Velvet Underground & Nico, since the guys initially refused to accept her as part of the band but had to comply with their patron's demands. The album was recorded in April 1966 in New York, but its release was significantly delayed due to Warhol's insistence on including his design of a velvet banana on the cover, which opened and "peeled" with a zipper. This not only delayed its release by almost a year but also drastically increased the album's cost. The debut album itself was enormous, with a sound that, even in 1967, a year after its recording, remained innovative, featuring highly melodic songs, exquisitely delicate ballads, and they even managed to make Nico sound excellent. Just a couple of experimental touches, avant-garde pieces with a very difficult, complex, and abstract sound, which also stretched to enormous lengths, made an otherwise almost perfect album, one that would become a landmark and one of the most representative of the 60s, and now a cult classic, less digestible. The album didn't start badly, but legal problems with the photographer who took the band's back cover forced MGM to withdraw the remaining copies until the issue was resolved in their favor. And when the mess was sorted out, the album lost its element of surprise, and people had already lost interest. They blamed Warhol for the delay and the album's failure and immediately cut ties with him, along with the beautiful German singer Nico.
So they practically went straight into recording their second album with material they had already prepared the previous year. With this material, they decided to push themselves to their most experimental extreme, now free from Warhol's pressures. On it, they delved into their most challenging songs, filled with feedback, white noise, and extremely long pieces that clearly demonstrate their lack of improvisation.
The album barely made it onto the charts, peaking at #199, and after its release in January 1968, Cale and Reed had a falling out, apparently because they each had different visions of where the group should go. Lou wanted to explore more pop-oriented sounds with his three-note ballads, more melodic and accessible, but without sacrificing intelligence. Meanwhile, Cale wanted the viola to be the guiding force in an increasingly experimental and unconventional direction. As a result of this argument, John Cale left the group, and Lou Reed remained as the band's sole creative force.
To replace Cale, they hired Doug Yule, who had already participated in the sessions for their self-titled 1968 album. The album is more harmonious and accessible, in line with Lou's wishes, a little gem with beautiful songs and a stronger folk influence. The album, however, had zero commercial success.
By 1969, they had recorded a live album, which would have been their fourth studio album. However, a dark cloud continued to hang over them, and due to a dispute with the record label, this album couldn't be released until 1985 as a VU album. The problem was that MGM didn't want hippie bands associated with drugs or considered "bad influences," so they purged their catalog, starting with Zappa, the Velvet Underground, Eric Burdon, and what remained of his Animals. The problem was that they kept the rights to the tapes they already owned. Thus, the Velvet Underground went to Atlantic Records to release Loaded in 1970. The album marked another change in sound, more rock-oriented, and featured some of their best-known songs, such as "Sweet Jane." Mo took a temporary leave of absence because she was in the final stages of her pregnancy.
Lou Reed, fed up with the commercial failure, having fallen out with the band's manager, and suffering from depression, left the group in August 1970. Lou Reed was surprised that the album was finally released, even with some changes he hadn't authorized. For him, VU was finished after his departure. But he was even more surprised to learn that he didn't own the rights to the band and that Yule intended to continue as the band's leader and vocalist. Sterling Morrison, the last remaining original member, abandoned the charade, and Mo never returned after having his son.
The Velvet Underground continued its post-Reed era as a bastard and a poor imitation of its original sound. Yule and the new members lacked the genius and creative ability of the original members, and the VU of 1970-1973 is one of the biggest shams in history. While the imitation of a group continued touring and even released a terrible album in 1973 called Squeeze, which bears no resemblance to the original sound. The album and Yule were met with a barrage of criticism, and the reviews were so harsh that Squeeze is not considered part of the official discography of the legendary Velvet Underground, and Yule was finally forced to end his commercialization of the band's name.
In 1990, John Cale and Lou Reed made peace and recorded Songs for Drella, dedicated to the recently deceased Andy Warhol. This paved the way for a full reunion with Sterling Morrison and Mo Tucker. They did a short tour before John and Lou had another falling out and disbanded the group, even canceling their planned MTV Unplugged performance.
In short, the Velvet Underground is a legendary band for many reasons. They have some truly great songs and influenced countless bands across various genres. Although they never achieved mainstream commercial success at the time, they gradually became a cult band, and as Reed achieved solo success, people rediscovered these gems that are their albums. However, they also have some very difficult songs, some truly painful. The fact that I find it easier to understand their meaning than that of other avant-garde attempts doesn't mean I like them more, and almost every album has one or two tracks like that. So, despite having consistent albums, and even mythical ones like their debut, there are no perfect works in their discography. I can't give them more than a D as a band, as that wouldn't be consistent with other ratings. Even so, I think the Velvet Underground must be one of the strongest and most interesting D-grade bands we'll ever find.
There's a quote attributed to Brian Eno that says, "Only a few people saw the Velvet Underground live, but everyone who did, formed a band." This sums up the spirit of the Velvet Underground, one of the most controversial, experimental, transgressive, and underrated bands of its time, but also one of the most influential in history.
By Corvan
Sep/15/2008
