The Velvet Underground & Nico

For a long time I listened almost exclusively to alternative rock.  With that said I must admit I was embarrassed when I realized I had never heard The Velvet Underground and Nico.  I know I’ve heard them before, but as a whole I have never bought or downloaded any songs on the album.  Now that I have made the connection that many of the bands I listened to growing up were influenced by them I now give them the utmost respect.  The Velvet Underground, with the help of Andy Warhol, brought on the age of theatrical performance.  The teamwork between them brought on a force of music, film, and art.  Their music had hints of many different genres from experimental jazz to traditional rock and roll.  This came mainly from the bands two leading members, Lou Reed and John Cale.

            Lou Reed was born and raised in the Brooklyn/ New York Area in 1942.  He seemed to be interested in music from an early age and was in a few bands before the Velvet Underground.  One notably horrific thing I found out was the electroconvulsive therapy he received for being homosexual in an attempt to turn his sexuality.  Luckily this didn’t hold him back as he went to college and became a songwriter at Pickwick Records.  It was here he met John Cale and began a music partnership that would go on to form the Velvets.  Cale who was born in England in 1942, was classically trained at the University of London.  He moved to New York and joined the La Monte Young ensemble, which helped influence him for his work with the Velvet Underground. 

            The Velvet Underground & Nico was a staple in music history.  At the time of it’s release it did not sell well.  I believe this is because it was way ahead of it’s time.  Only now, it seems, that the band receives their recognition as starting many of the popular bands of the modern time.  One band, which took me by surprise as finding influence from them, was Pink Floyd.  They saw the theatrics of the Velvet with the help of Warhol and ran with it.  Of course, this leads to their masterpieces of cinematic events such as The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon.