The Velvet Underground and Nico

Submission, discipline, nightlife leather, drug use were the flavors of uncomfortable subject matter that opened up a brand-new word palette for The Velvet Underground to play with. The Velvet Underground can only be viewed as a form of art, rather than a band, not aimed to make lasting impressions or memorable music. What you get instead is overdriven instruments, overlapping melodies sometimes out of key, loads of dissonant tones in melodic as well as (effect?) instruments and lyrics that never really follow much of a format other than someone with a mental condition or on heavy drugs. Which captures a sort of charm in it of itself as the audience is entranced by an intimate-sounding performance.

Lou Reed and John Cale, both artists that worked together in a band called “the Primitives”. Cale was a musical prodigy and a classical composer from Whales. Reed was a talented songwriter and wrote a dance song called The Ostritch, which was the first song the then non-existent band at the time had. The producers scrambled to find artists for this band and along with Reed, had a small audition with Cale. After the band’s demise, they set out to form Velvet Underground with neighbor and percussionist Maureen Tucker. [4]

As a listener, I was exposed to things that were pretty tame in comparison to what’s out now. Contrast this to the Beatles and there are plenty of similarities, sure, however the subject matter was fringe at best. The Beatles were inspired by this act, as it is apparent with their use of the sitar inRevolver. Not coincidentally sounding like the tuned droning of guitars used in Velvet Underground’s songs. As a music professional I’ve noticed elements used in electronic dance music and some dubstep. The warm bass envelopments and percussive high-register/gritty timbre sounds are that of Detroit house or breaks or any remix done by Infected Mushroom. This was, of course highly experimental and Velvet Underground fought tooth-and-nail using Andy Warhol as their shield and gritty experimental sounds and subjects that were more along the lines of a noir novel than a trip down Abbey road as their sword.

Andy Warhol combined elements of movies, real, gritty music and art in his parties he held for a while before his fading interest and realization of inadequacies as a producer by Lou Reed set in and Andy was fired from the corporation he was a part of made to manage Velvet Underground. Andy Warhol was solely responsible for creating a bubble that he created for Velvet Underground’s creativity at the expense of his investment into the band. By virtue of celebrity alone, he was able to give the band free reign and not worry about sales or criticism.