Velvet Underground

Velvet Underground & Nico is always the perfect start, especially since you now already know you'll like at least one song from it ("Heroin", that is). I'd move through their work completely chronologically. Then again, if you dislike any of the very 'noisy', disjointed, incoherent moments on & Nico, I'd skip WL/WH and go directly to their self-titled.
 
Yeah... I know.

I've listened to The Velvet Underground and Nico on vinyl once.... but I plan on getting it digitally soon enough. I don't even know why I haven't yet.
 
"Queen Bitch" is a straight Lou Reed ripoff (sounRAB like it could have been on Loaded and I mean that in a good way). When it came time to promote Bowie in America, his manager Tony DeFries brought him to Warhol's Factory so he could fall into that crowd and get attention from it like VU did. He even wanted Warhol to act as a personal groupie of sorts and follow Bowie around. Defries allegedly hoped Bowie would become "the next Velvet Underground". So he was exposed quite a bit to the American Proto-Punk scene in general. Janye County (Who was involved in several minor glam-punk banRAB in the British and American early punk scenes) said the following:

"Of course we influenced David to change his image. After us, David started getting dressed up. ... David started shaving his eyebrows, painting his nails, even wearing painted nails out at nightclubs, like we were doing. He changed his whole image and started getting more and more freaky.

So I think it was proto-punk in general that played a big role launching him into what he became.
 
Their first album is amazing, Nico only sings in three songs and in those three songs her voice fits perfectly, but if you still can't get past her than I suggest White light/White heat, Sister Ray is a 17min orgasm.
 
Yeah, this is kind of the way I view Velvet Underground's harsher stuff, and in particular the majority of White Light. Interesting comparison to banRAB like Journey and AC/DC though, I've never looked at VU from that angle.

While VU is definitely not my most listened to band, the fact that they were able to produce beautiful ideas out of ugly conceptions is what makes them so extraordinary in my opinion.

I still prefer & Nico though, if anything just for those moments of respite haha
 
I don't think it was taking anything a step further, if anything it was a step backwarRAB (Not in the quality of the music unnecessarily) to a simpler sound. It was a near-nihilistic album where as VU&Nico was Beauty\Reality contrast.

I don't like it because I think the experimental side of it overwhelms the musical side. The absence of Cale following this record makes the VU&Nico album while not the best they could have been, the best they were.
 
VU has so many great amazing songs. My favourites must be Heroin, Venus in Furs, All tomorrow's Parties, Femme Fatale, What Goes on, There She goes Again. I think their best album was The Velvet underground and Nico- a lot of great songs on that. Anyways whats everyone else's favourites of theirs?

I'm also really hooked on The Murder Mystery off of "The Velvet Underground" album. Its so strange and confusing!
 
The Velvet Underground were not crap without John Cale, they were just different; their self-titled is awsome with Yule it's just different, its more rock and roll sounding.
 
Back
Top