The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground & Nico were one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960’s.  Not only did they provide new and experimental music, they blended both art and film into their performances.  The influential role that pop-artist Andy Warhol played as the band’s producer had much to do with their direction and success. Their image was not only of exuberant musicians, but was also linked to the art world.  The music was very different than anything that was being heard at the time, consisting of amateur sounding riffs, loud harsh feedback and overlying lyrics that weren’t always musical but very distinct. 

Lou Reed and John Cale were the founding members of The Velvet Underground.  Reed was the main songwriter of the group, played guitar and sung as well.  He talks about his songs being written about actual real life events that happened to him, and how he feels that was one of the things that made The Velvet Underground unique.  John Cale played the electric viola and also made contributions to writing some of the songs.  Although conflict in the band would eventually lead to Reed’s departure in 1970, the relationship and vibe between these two men was an integral piece to the puzzle that made up the sound of the band.  Andy Warhol was a very influential person in the creation of what The Velvet Underground came to be.  Being an already famous pop-artist, he made the band part of his artistic vision and created an image for them.  Nobody had ever taken this direction before, and it was a bold new path in the world of music.

There were many characteristics that made The Velvet Underground stand out from most bands.  The most obvious one that has already been talked about is the influence of Andy Warhol and the incorporation of art into music.  Another characteristic is the aggressive tone of the instruments and the artistic use of feedback and tones that would usually be considered undesirable. 

As a listener and a professional, I find it fascinating how different the music is from anything else of that time period.  Personally, I do not enjoy listening to it that much, but I can still appreciate what affect these recordings had on the culture and history of music.  It is very interesting to study the different ways that people try to break out of the norm, and The Velvet Underground definitely did this with their experimental sound and artistic implementation.