Colleen Kenney

April 8, 2002

The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground was a New York underground rock group who developed a unique style of music. While other popular bands like the Beatles and the Beach Boys were singing about love and fun in the sun, The Velvet Underground were singing about drugs and sex. The way they dressed and performed set them apart from the rest as well. They wore all black and all had black sunglasses they wore during the shows. It was also said they played louder live than any other band of their day.

The band consisted of four original members:

· Lou Reed: Guitar and Vocals

· John Cale: Bass, Organ, Electric Violin

· Sterling Morrison: Guitar

· Maureen Tucker: Drums

There was a singer named Nico, that was only on their debut album called The Velvet Underground and Nico.

An important piece of history about Lou Reed was when he was seventeen he underwent electroshock treatments to cure him of homosexual feelings, and violent mood swings. This was in 1959 and the voltage was not adjusted to size or conditions of individual patients, therefore the amount given to Reed was too much for him. This caused a lot of problems for him in later life; he hated his parents after this, moved to New York, and took lots of drugs to numb the pain in his head.

In 1960, Reed went to Syracuse University where he developed his interest and passion for music. Other colleges in the Northeast produced folk singers like Bob Dylan, Syracuse produced proto-punk rockers. This is where he met his guitarist Sterling Morrison, and when he started selling and using Marijuana, LSD, pills, and Heroin. Bob Dylan was a great influence on his life because he put poetry and music together.

After graduating college in 1964, Reed moved back home after developing a case of Hepatitis from sharing needles. There he met John Cale, the two started playing together, and moved to New York where reed ran into Sterling Morrison. A friend recommended Maureen Tucker for her abilities on the drums. The first time all the members played together was on December 11, 1965, at a local high school.

Later that same year while playing at a club they were introduced to Andy Warhol. Warhol was a successful artist in the world of Pop Art. Warhol was made famous by the Campbell’s’ soup cans, and Coca-Cola bottles. He is considered the most influential American artist of the second half of the 20^th century. He was an optimist who believed every hard working American has the potential to become rich and famous. He also coined the phrase everyone has fifteen minutes of fame. The Factory was the name given to his studio that functioned as a clubhouse, community center, and lounge that served New York’s most outlandish personalities, from drug addicts, celebrities, models, poets, to moviemakers. Warhol was addicted to his own fame creating risky art to make headlines creating more coverage for himself. When Andy Warhol saw the Velvet Underground for the first time he could see the connection between them because the Velvets were the closest things to art-rock at the time. Warhol immediately offered them the opportunity to perform at the factory.

Immediateley it was thought that Lou reed needed to be replaced, so Nico, a fashion model from Paris, was brought in to sing . The other band members did not like her, but Warhol was supporting and producing them, so they had no choice. She is only on the first album, and she later went on to have a solo career.

The Exploding Plastic Inevitable was a multi-media presentation which was performed in 1966. The Velvets accompanied a 70 minute silent film entitled The Velvet Underground and Nico: A Symphony of Sound. The event turned into an event that used dancers, slides, and strobes that let the Velvets utilize their abilities to improvise.

The Velvet Underground and Nico album was released one year later in March of 1967. Warhol painted a banana for the cover of their first album. By this time the band was starting to lose their connection with Warhol. They really didn’t have a target audience, and they were called an amphetamine band, which did not have any satnding outside of New York. They decided to stop working with both Andy Warhol and Nico, and start on other albums. They never lost the title of Andy Warhol’s band though.

Their music was based on black rhythm and blues mixed with a modern classic music, which sounded pop/rock. During the 60’s America was going through changes by ways of politics and people. The Velvets goal was to push the limits of music and experiment.

Only two of their four albums ever made it on the Billboard list, The velvet Underground and Nico, and White Light/White Heat. Even though their sales were low, the Velvets had a tremendous impact in the music industry. It has been said that everyone who bought an album went off to form their own bands, groups like the Sex Pistols, Talking Heads, Blondie, and Sonic Youth, have all claimed that The Velvet Underground inspired them. This quote taken from salon.com says it all “ They were the greatest rock stars whom no one listened to, the most popular group that never sold a record and most famously, the band that had only 500 fans, but from whom 500 new bands sprung.”

John Cale left after the second album, and was replaced by Doug Yule, and when their fourth album, Loaded, was released only Reed and Morrison were left from the original group. Prior to that release, Reed, also left to embark on a solo career.

In 1995, they released a box set of all four albums entitled Peel Slowly and See, and a year later they were inducted in the Hall of Fame.

Links

References

Salon.com. (On-Line) Available: http://www.salon.com/people/bc/2000/05/reed

Andy Warhol Artist and Filmmaker. (on-Line). Available: http://www.lucicafe.com/library/95aug/warhol

The Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol Connection. (On-Line). Available: http://odur.let.rug.nl-usa/E/velvet03.htm

The Archive. Andy Warhol, (On-Line). Available: http://www.archive.com/artchive/W/warhol.html