Albums that Changed Rock n’ Roll: "The Velvet Underground & Nico"

I'm back everyone! 

Welcome to yet another exciting Tuesday morning here on Deep In The Grooves.

I’ve been focusing quite a lot on individual artists here in Deep In The Grooves, so I decided it is time to pay my respects to albums that have significantly contributed to the genre of rock n’ roll music.

Consider this post to be an introduction to my new series called “Albums that Changed Rock n’ Roll” that will discuss albums that have inspired generations of musicians.

In my opinion, it’s crucial for a person to listen to an album in its entirety, verses to just one or two songs from the record. Listening to an album as a whole is an entirely different experience that every music fan needs to discover at one point or another.  Think about it this way: when you pick up a book, do you just read chapters 4 and 7 instead of starting from the beginning and reading to the end? Well to me, that same idea applies to music and listening to entire albums. But enough of my rambling; ladies and gentleman, let me introduce to you all “The Velvet Underground and Nice” by the Velvet Underground, one of the greatest recordings in the history of music.

Before I discuss the album itself, here is some background information on the Velvets:

The year was 1964 when the two primary songwriters of the band Lou Reed and John Cale met at a party in New York City. Reed had been living in New York for quite some time, but Cale had just moved there to study classical music. However, the scene in New York at the time soon opened his eyes to the beauty of rock n’ roll. The two men got deep into conversation, the two were pleasantly surprised to discover that they both were very experimental when it came to music. Cale wanted to mix his influence of classical music with rock n’ roll, while Reed experimented with obscure tunings and effects to create a guitar sound like no other. After just one night of having a few beers and hours of conversations, they both knew that they could create one hell of a band.

                                     (Lou Reed and John Cale's first band: "The Primitives") 

                                    

That night was a product of Cale and Reed’s first short-lived band, The Primitives. Joining them was two of Lou’s old school mates, Sterling Morrison (guitar) and Angus MacLise (percussions). Lou was the lead singer and guitarist, while Cale played viola, keyboard and bass. The band was always unsure about their name; first it was The Primitives, then The Falling Spikes, and THEN The Warlocks. But they were never satisfied with any of the names; they felt none suited the type of music that they wanted to play.  Then finally Cale’s friend, Tony Conrad brought over a paperback book called The Velvet Underground written by Michael Leigh. The band felt name of the book suited their group’s style, so they decided to adopt it as their own.

   (The original "The Velvet Underground" book, written by Michael Leigh) 

The Velvet Underground started to play more and more shows across New York in 1965, and they really started to discover their potential. Soon enough, Maureen Tucker, a friend of Morrison’s, replaced MacLise, their primary drummer at the time. When Lou Reed first heard her play, he knew that she would be the perfect drummer for the Velvets. He was overwhelmed by Tucker’s captivating rhythm skills, and later on, her style played a vital role in the Velvet’s iconic sound.

Shortly after Tucker joined the band, filmmaker Barbara Rubin introduced the Velvets to their future producer, Andy Warhol. Yes, the famous artist Andy Warhol. His valuable reputation really helped make the band known, and he was ultimately the reason why the group landed a record contract with Verve Records; the idea of Warhol producing a record was an irresistible marketing investment. Warhol was also the one who invited German singer Nico to join the band. Then it all started to come together for The Velvet Underground, and soon enough, the sessions for their first album “The Velvet Underground and Nico” began.

(The Velvets with Andy Warhol and friends: Circa 1966)

By 1966, the album was finally completed and on March 12th, 1967, it was released to the public. Many songs featured on the record were ones that Reed had previously written several years before forming the band (Venus in Furs, I’m Waiting for the Man). As well, there was a ton of new material primarily written by Cale and Reed.  Now, I’m not going to bother telling you all about what happened to the Velvets afterwards, since this post is not about the band itself but about its masterpiece “The Velvet Underground And Nico.” You may be asking yourself at this point, “What makes this album so important to rock?”

Come on people, hold your horses! Let me do some explaining.

                              

(A re-released single of "I'm Waiting For The Man/Venus In Furs": This was not the original single from the album, which is important to note)

Let me start with the song writing. Songs on “The Velvet Underground And Nico” were brilliant for the time, mainly because of the fact that the Velvets drifted away from the common theme of love and happiness that defined the music of the “hippie era. Instead, their songs were about the issues that they witnessed while living in New York City such as drug abuse and prostitution. Take “I’m Waiting for The Man” for example. When I first heard it, I had no idea who this ‘man’ that Lou Reed was singing about. I found the song exhilarating and catchy, but I later found out the song’s true meaning; it’s about a dope fiend waiting for his dealer to deliver him a batch of heroin. All of a sudden, the song just started to make so much sense to me. It’s important to note here that music is something that needs to be explored- when you listen to a complicated song, it’s not easy to instantly understand its meaning. The song writing on this album is a huge contributor to the record’s cult- following, and it’s a big reason why the album is influential. People wanted music that they could relate to; the world wasn’t all about bright colors, dysfunction was visible everywhere and The Velvet’s were one of the first bands to acknowledge the world’s hideous side. Over time, other artists started to pick up on this song-writing theme.

Like I said before, Lou Reed and John Cale experimented with music as much as they possibly could, and that inspired a lot of musicians. Cale wanted to add elements of classical music into the Velvet’s sound, and you can hear his influence all over songs such as “Black Angel’s Death Song” and “Venus in Furs” because on these tracks, Cale played a viola with both guitar and mandolin strings that sounds almost like an airplane’s engine. The idea was crazy, but it worked; come on, who in the hell thinks of putting guitar strings on a viola? You can’t get much more experimental than that. Add on all of Reed’s strange tunings and tones, and you get the distinct sound of The Velvet Underground. A few years later, a ton of artists such as The Stooges and David Bowie entered the music scene with their strange but interesting music that involves a ton of experimentation. Both The Stooges and Bowie have expressed how the Velvet Underground influenced their music. If your band inspires David Bowie, then you know you are all accomplished musicians! But without Cale and Reed’s interest in experimentation, than who knows if they would have the same impact on music.

(John Cale playing the viola: What a badass!) 

Believe it or not, cover art is a very crucial part of an album’s success, and “The Velvet Underground and Nico” has one of the most distinct and clever covers of all time. It was one of the first times that a records cover was interactive with the consumer; on original copies of the record, there was a small caption above the image of the banana that says “Peel Slowly and See” and when you peeled the sticker off, it revealed a flesh-colored banana that was clearly a sexual reference. On top of that, the cover was painted by one of the most influential artists of all time, Andy Warhol. So it’s fair to say that “The Velvet Underground and Nico” had one of the most influential albums in rock history. Warhol did another interactive cover on The Rolling Stones 1971 album “Sticky Fingers” were the cover shows only a man’s pants, zipper and erection. But you can actually pull the zipper down and see the man’s underwear. Both of those albums had covers that were overtly sexual, yet both covers are considered to be crown achievements of album art.

                                     (The cover's banana after it has been peeled) 

(The Rolling Stones' album "Sticky Fingers": The album art was also designed by Warhol)

The peculiar thing about The Velvets is that around 1967, “The Velvet Underground and Nico” sold very few copies, despite Andy Warhol’s artistic contributions to the record. But there was an old saying that went like this; “30,000 people bought The Velvet Underground and Nico, and those 30,000 people all started a band” This particular album has influenced artists such as Nirvana, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, U2, Sonic Youth, The Strokes, Joy Division, and The Talking Heads. That is merely a few of the many musicians who were moved by this masterpiece; I could spend hours listing name after name, but I think you see just how much this album changed rock music.

                                                     (The Velvets and Nico: Circa 1967) 

To truly appreciate the album “The Velvet Underground and Nico,” you have to listen to and, most important, hear all of the songs on the record. Each one is there for a reason; each song has a past and a purpose. The song writing and experimental musical style set the entire album apart. And when you add in the album’s history such as the involvement of Andy Warhol; the band’s origins and stories about its musicians; the state of the world at this place in time; and how the record inspired other emerging artists this album is nothing but solid gold. Even in 50 years, there will be young, aspiring musicians who will be listening to The Velvets on repeat, and that is truly beautiful. An album such as this can never be forgotten.

Information found at the following sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Velvet_Underground

http://www.scaruffi.com/vol2/velvet.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Velvet_Underground_%26_Nico

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Velvet+Underground/The+Velvet+Underground+%26+Nico

Images found at the following sites:

http://onthecorner1.blogspot.ca/2013/02/the-velvet-underground-velvet.html

http://lofistereo.blogspot.ca/2011/02/privitives-ostrich-1964.html

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/553168766702026902/

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/feb/22/andy-warhol-legacy-lives-on

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/the-velvet-underground-im-waiting-for-the-man-20110526

https://tigerloaf.wordpress.com/tag/john-cale/

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=velvet+underground+peeled&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=D51DD7DD7C114BD6E61231E977B059ECF6AEE328&selectedIndex=7

http://globalrockteam.blogspot.ca/2010/12/rolling-stones-sticky-fingers.html

http://mmone.org/the-velvet-underground/