The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground & Nico are essentially the definition of art rock.  Being produced by the most popular artist of the time, Andy Warhol, and their interesting drummer also adds to the fact.  The cover art also created by Andy Warhol is an iconic image for the band and album.  The Velvet Underground are a significant part of history.

Lou Reed is truly living his life as he dreamed.  As a child he dreamed of playing rock n’ roll music and he succeeded becoming a world-renowned songwriter.  I feel that Lou Reed’s lyrical style and songwriting is heavily influenced by his youth and relationship with his parents.  I also was raised alienated from my parents, and although I did not receive shock therapy, I feel that I can relate to him.  When I was a child I shared the same dream as Lou Reed and took part in many similar scenes.  This resulted in the alienation from my parents and all sorts of “fix your son” medications.  During Reed’s career he met with John Cale and formed a band.  Reed wanted to put songwriting on hold to pursue his rock n’ roll career.  Together they eventually formed The Velvet Underground on of the most influential rock-art bands of all time.          

            The Velvet Underground & Nico were supported, produced, and promoted by famous pop-art artist Andy Warhol.  Warhol helped fund The Velvet Underground and created the album artwork.  Although Warhol had little influence in the studio on the music, with out him there would most likely be no Velvet Underground. 

There virtually has been to pairing of art and music like The Velvet Underground.  This combination of Andy Warhol’s strong visuals with the musical influence of Lou Reed and John Cale created a beast in the music industry.  Although the record sales were low, The Velvet Underground developed a cult-like fan base.  Maureen Tucker’s drumming technique also stood out to me as an interesting characteristic of The Velvet Underground.   I have never hear of a rock n’ roll band that has a drummer who stands up and strikes the bass drum with a mallet.  In an interview Maureen mentions that the purpose of a drummer is to keep time to she does not use cymbals.  Her opinion is very interesting to me because I tend to never use cymbals in my music creation process.   

The impression The Velvet Underground & Nico left on me as an industry professional was positive.  The songs are very different from commercial pop music of its time and are creative in a very different way.  Unlike The Beatles creativity The Velvet Underground & Nico are creative in a different aspect.   There is a feel of androgyny and a lack of masculinity in the music that is similar in David Bowie’s style.