The Velvet Underground

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The Velvet Underground (sometimes abbreviated as The Velvets or V.U.) was an American rock band first active from 1965 to 1973. Its best-known alumni are Lou Reed and John Cale.

Although never commercially successful, The Velvet Underground remains one of the most influential bands of their time: a famous remark, often attributed to Brian Eno, is that while only a few thousand people bought a Velvet Underground record upon their initial release, almost every single one of them was inspired to start a band. This is obviously an exaggeration, but the statement does demonstrate The Velvet Underground's massive influence and the cult following that has outlasted the group's original existence.

The Velvet Underground was one of the first rock music groups to experiment heavily with the form by incorporating avant-garde influences. The group's often raw, sometimes difficult sound would influence many later punk, noise rock, and alternative music performers, and singer Lou Reed's lyrics brought new levels of social realism and sleaze to rock. Critics Scott Isler and Ira Robbins argue that "The Velvet Underground marked a turning point in rock history. After the release of The Velvet Underground and Nico, knowing the power of which it was capable, the music could never be as innocent, as unselfconscious as before."Scott Isler and Ira Robbins in [their article] on The Velvet Underground at the Trouser Press [website] (retrieved June 28 2006)

Career

Pre-history (1964-1965)

Velvet Underground Lineups

(1965)	Lou Reed – vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, piano, harmonica John Cale – viola, bass guitar, keyboards, vocals Sterling Morrison – rhythm and lead guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals Angus MacLise – percussion
(1965-1968)	Lou Reed – vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, piano, harmonica John Cale – viola, bass guitar, keyboards, vocals Sterling Morrison – rhythm and lead guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals Maureen Tucker – percussion
(1968-1970)	Lou Reed – vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, piano, harmonica Sterling Morrison – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals Doug Yule – bass guitar, keyboards, vocals, guitar, drums Maureen Tucker – percussion
(1970-1971)	Doug Yule – vocals, rhythm and lead guitar Sterling Morrison – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals Walter Powers – bass guitar, backing vocals Maureen Tucker – drums
(1971-1972)	Doug Yule – vocals, guitar Willie Alexander – keyboards, vocals Walter Powers – bass guitar, backing vocals Maureen Tucker – drums
(1972-1973)	Doug Yule – vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass guitar (with various sidemen and sessioneers)
(1990 and 1992-1994 - reunions)	Lou Reed – vocals, lead and rhythm guitar John Cale – viola, bass guitar, keyboards, vocals Sterling Morrison – rhythm and lead guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals Maureen Tucker – percussion, vocals
(1996 - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction)	Lou Reed – vocals, guitar John Cale – keyboards, vocals Maureen Tucker – percussion, vocals

The foundations for what would become The Velvet Underground were laid in late 1964. Lou Reed had performed with a few short-lived garage bands and had worked as a songwriter for Pickwick Records, a job Reed described as "a poor man's Carole King". Reed met John Cale, a Welshman who had moved to the United States to study classical music. Cale had worked with John Cage and La Monte Young, but was also interested in rock music. (Young's use of extended drones would be a profound influence on the early Velvets' sound). The pair rehearsed and performed together, and their partnership and shared interests steered the early direction of what would become the Velvet Underground.

Reed's first group with Cale was The Primitives, a short-lived group assembled to support a Reed-penned single, "The Ostrich". Reed and Cale recruited Sterling Morrison – a college classmate of Reed's who had already played with him a few times – to play guitar, and Angus MacLise joined on percussion. This quartet was first called The Warlocks, then The Falling Spikes.

The Velvet Underground was a book about sadomasochism by Michael Leigh that Reed found when he moved into his New York City apartment (left by previous tenant Tony Conrad). Reed and Morrison have reported the group liked the name, considering it evocative of "underground cinema," and fitting, due to Reed's already having written "Venus In Furs", inspired by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's book of the same name, also dealing with sadomasochism. The band immediately and unanimously adopted the book's title for its new name.

Early stages (1965-1966)

In July of 1965, Reed, Cale and Morrison recorded a demo tape. When he briefly returned to Britain, Cale gave a copy of the tape to Marianne Faithfull, hoping she'd pass it on to Mick Jagger. Nothing ever came of the demo, and it was released on the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See.

When the group accepted an offer of $75 for their first paying performance at Summit High School, in Summit, NJ, MacLise left the group, protesting what he considered a sell out. "Angus was in it for art", Morrison reported.

MacLise was replaced by Maureen "Moe" Tucker, Jim Tucker's younger sister. Tucker's abbreviated drum kit was rather unusual: She generally played on tom toms and an upturned bass drum, using mallets rather than drumsticks, and she rarely used cymbals. (The band having asked her to 'do something unusual', she turned her bass drum on its side, and played standing up. When her drums were stolen from one club, she replaced them with garbage cans, brought in from outside.) Her driving rhythms (at once simple yet exotic, influenced by Babatunde Olatunji and Bo Diddley records) became an essential part of the group's music. The group earned a regular paying gig at a club, and gained an early reputation as a promising ensemble.

While the American west coast was undergoing the "Summer of Love", psychedelia and flower power, the typically east coast Velvets concerned themselves with darker subject matter: transvestites, heroin addiction, and sadomasochism. Also setting them apart from their contemporaries was their use of feedback and amplifier noise in a musical context, exemplified by the seventeen-minute track "Sister Ray" from their second album.

Andy Warhol and the Exploding. Plastic. Inevitable (1966-1967)

During their stay with Andy Warhol, the band became part of his multimedia roadshow Exploding. Plastic. Inevitable., for which they provided the musical part. This show played a couple of months in New York City, then took to the road all over the United States and Canada until its last installment in May 1967.

In 1966, MacLise temporarily rejoined the Velvet Underground for a few E.P.I. shows when Reed was suffering from hepatitis and unable to perform. For these appearances, Cale sang and played organ and Tucker switched to bass guitar. Also at these appearances, the band often played an extended jam they had dubbed "The Booker T", after the leader of the musical group Booker T & the MG's; the jam later became the music for "The Gift" on White Light/White Heat. Some of these performances have been released as a bootleg; they remain the only record of MacLise with the Velvet Underground.

The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)

The album cover was famous for its simple, suggestive Warhol design: a bright yellow banana with "Peel Slowly and See" printed near a perforated tab. Those who did remove the banana skin found a pink, phallic, peeled banana beneath. This would later be used as the cover to their boxed set, appropriately titled "Peel Slowly and See," released in 1995.

Eleven songs showcased their stylistic range, veering from the pounding attacks of "I'm Waiting For The Man" and "Run Run Run," the droning "Venus In Furs" and "Heroin" to the quiet "Femme Fatale" and the tender "I'll Be Your Mirror".

The overall sound was propelled by Reed's strong deadpan vocals, Cale's droning and shrieking viola, Morrison's often rhythm and blues or country-influenced guitar, and Tucker's hypnotically simple but steady, propulsive beat.

The Velvet Underground and Nico peaked at number 171 on Billboard Magazine's top 200 charts, but the promising debut was dampened somewhat by legal complications: The album's back cover featured a still from a Warhol motion picture, Chelsea Girls. The film's cinematographer, Eric Emerson, had been arrested for drug possession and, desperate for money, claimed the still had been included on the album without his permission. MGM Records pulled all copies of the album until the legal problems were settled (by which time the record had lost its modest commercial momentum), and the still was airbrushed out.

White Light/White Heat (1968)

After the VU separated its relationship with Andy Warhol and Nico, they moved from New York to Boston. In September 1967, they recorded what would become their second album, White Light/White Heat, with Tom Wilson as producer. It was released January 1968.

The recording was raw and oversaturated, one of the harshest, loudest records yet released. Cale has stated that while the debut had some moments of fragility and beauty, White Light/White Heat was "consciously anti-beauty". Isler and Robbins suggest that the record "is almost unbearably intense."

The title track and first song starts things off with Reed pounding on piano like a demented Jerry Lee Lewis. The eerie, hallucinatory "Lady Godiva's Operation" remains Reed's favorite track on the album.

Despite the dominance of noisefests like "Sister Ray", and "I Heard Her Call My Name", there was room for the darkly comic "The Gift", a Reed-penned short story narrated in Cale's deadpan Welsh accent. The meditative "Here She Comes Now" was later covered by Galaxie 500, Cabaret Voltaire, and Nirvana.

In 1968, a year after Sgt. Pepper and Are You Experienced, there was an experimental feeling throughout rock music, while it should be noted that the Velvets are arguably the foremost pioneers in this realm. There were a few other experimentors with noise, but few were tackling noise with as much apparent glee as the V.U. White Light/White Heat was hugely important, and "Sister Ray" is arguably one of the most significant rock songs of the late 1960s. The songs' simple 3-chord progression along with screeching organ and lead guitar, all distorted perhaps beyond the bounds of tastefulness, coupled with William Burroughs-influenced lyrics, was completely unique. "Sister Ray" is often seen as one of the earliest precursors of punk and Alternative rock, with its blistering instrumentation and alarming lyrics.

The second album's cover was a subtle black-on-black picture of the tattooed arm of Billy Name, one of Warhol's "Factory" members. White Light/White Heat entered the Billboard top 200 chart for 2 weeks, at number 199.

Tensions were growing: the group was tired of receiving little recognition for their hard work, and Reed and Cale were pulling the Velvet Underground in different directions. The differences showed in the last recording session the band had with John Cale in February 1968: two pop-like songs in Reed's direction ("Temptation Inside Your Heart" and "Stephanie Says"), and a viola-driven drone in Cale's direction ("Hey Mr Rain"). None of these songs were released until they were included on the VU and Another View compilation albums.

The Velvet Underground (1969)

It's often been reported that the early edition of the Velvet Underground was a struggle between Reed and Cale's creative impulses: Reed's rather conventional approach contrasted with Cale's experimentalist tendencies. The Velvet Underground would seem to prove the truth of these claims, as the harsh, abrasive tendencies on the first two records were almost entirely absent. This resulted in a gentler sound influenced by folk music, prescient of the songwriting style that would form Reed's solo career (Another factor in the change of sound was the band's Vox amplifiers being stolen from an airport while they were on tour; they obtained replacements by signing a new endorsement deal with Sunn. In addition, Reed and Morrison had purchased matching Fender 12-string electric guitars).

Morrison's ringing guitar parts and Yule's melodic bass guitar and harmony vocals are featured prominently on the album. Reed's songs and singing are subdued and confessional, and he shared lead vocals with Yule, particularly when his own voice would fail under stress. A rare Maureen Tucker vocal is featured on "After Hours," a song that Reed said was so innocent and pure he couldn't possibly sing it himself. The album's influence can be heard in many later indie rock and lo-fi recordings.

A year on the road and the \"lost\" fourth album (1969)

The rest of the recordings, as well as some alternate takes, were bundled on Another View. After Reed's departure, he later reworked a number of these songs for his solo records ("Stephanie Says", "Ocean", "I Can't Stand It", "Lisa Says", "She's My Best Friend"). Indeed, most of Reed's early solo career's more successful hits were reworked Velvet Underground tracks, released for the first time in their original version on VU, Another View, and later on Peel Slowly and See. The standout from VU is considered by many to be "One of These Days," part torch song and part slide-guitar freakout.

Loaded (1970)

Atlantic Records signed the Velvet Underground for what would be its final studio album, Loaded, released on Atlantic's subsidiary label Cotillion. The album's title refers to Atlantic's request that the band produce an album "loaded with hits." Though the record was not the smash hit the company had anticipated, it contains the most accessible pop the V.U. had performed, and several of Reed's best-known songs, including "Sweet Jane" and "Rock and Roll".

Though Tucker had temporarily retired from the group due to her pregnancy, she received a performance credit on Loaded. Drums were actually played by several people, including Yule, engineer Adrian Barber, sessioneer Tommy Castanaro, and Doug Yule's brother Billy, who was still in high school.

Disillusioned with the lack of progress the band was making and pressured by manager Steve Sesnick, Reed decided to quit the band and did so in August 1970. The band essentially broke while recording the album, and Reed walked off before it was finished. Doug Yule finished the album, singing parts to some of Reed's vocal tracks. Lou Reed has often said he was completely surprised months later when he saw Loaded in stores. He also said, bitterly, "I left them to their album full of hits that I made."

Reed was particularly bitter about the truncation of a verse from "Sweet Jane". "New Age" was changed as well: as originally recorded, its closing line ("It's the beginning of a new age") was repeated many more times. A brief interlude in "Rock and Roll" was also removed. (Years later, the album would be reissued with the edits restored.) On the other hand, Yule has pointed that the album was to all intents and purposes finished when Reed left the band and that Reed had been aware of most if not all of the edits. The few weeks between Reed's departure in late August and Loaded’s arrival in the shops in September of the same year also would have left little room for the whole process of editing, reviewing, mastering and pressing.

1970 onwards

In 1972 Atlantic released Live at Max's Kansas City, a live bootleg of one of the Velvet Underground's final performances with Reed, recorded by fan Brigid Polk. By this time Doug Yule was once again touring the United Kingdom, this time backed with hired hands as Sesnick had sent home Tucker, Powers and Alexander, effectively ending their time with the band. Later that year, Sesnick managed to secure a recording contract with Polydor Records in England, and Yule recorded Squeeze (1973) under the Velvet Underground name with Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice.

Squeeze is a controversial item among Velvet fans. Most fans flatly decline to consider any post-Lou Reed material as worthwhile. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes that the album recieved "uniformly terrible reviews" upon initial release, and was often "deleted" from official V.U. discographies.Stephen Thomas Erlewine in the All Music Guide [website article on Squeeze] Due to perceived middle of the road content, Squeeze is sometimes dismissed out of hand by Velvet Underground fans. However, with the advent of Internet audio file sharing, the previously obscure record has gained some supporters, who speculate that Squeeze might have fared far better if it had been promoted not as a V.U. album, but as Yule's solo debut, with some arguing that some of the songs would not have been out of place on Loaded.

Post-VU developments (1973-1990)

Reunions (1990 and 1992-1994)

The same lineup briefly reunited from 1992–1994, resulting in a European tour — both headlining and opening a few concerts for U2 — and a live album, Live MCMXCIII. Cale sang most of the songs Nico had performed with the group.

Before the band could tour the U.S. or record — an MTV Unplugged broadcast and album were proposed and there were vague plans to record a studio album — Cale and Reed fell out again, breaking up the band once more. The definitive end to the band's checkered career came when Sterling Morrison died of cancer in 1995.

Personnel timeline 1965-1973

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from:1965.33 till:1970.67 text:"Lou Reed"
from:1970.67 till:1973.17 text:"Doug Yule"
from:1973.33 till:1973.42 text:"Doug\nYule" color:grid1 shift:(5,2)

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from:1965.33 till:1968.75 text:"John Cale"
from:1968.75 till:1970.67 text:"Doug Yule"
from:1970.67 till:1972.08 text:"Walter Powers III"
from:1972.83 till:1973.00 text:"George Kay" color:grid1
from:1973.33 till:1973.42 color:grid1

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from:1965.33 till:1971.58 text:"Sterling Morrison"
from:1971.58 till:1972.08 text:"Willie\nAlexander" shift:(5,2)
from:1972.83 till:1973.00 text:"Rob\nNorris" color:grid1 shift:(5,2)
from:1973.33 till:1973.42 text:"Don\nSilverman" color:grid1 shift:(5,2)

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from:1965.83 till:1970.42 text:"Maureen Tucker"
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from:1973.33 till:1973.42 text:"Billy\nYule" color:grid1 textcolor:black shift:(5,2)

Notes:

• Doug Yule's tenure with the band has been divided into two stretches (1968–1970 and 1970–1973) to reflect his shift from bass/keyboards/occasional vocals to singer/guitarist after Lou Reed's departure.
• Yule retired the band name from active service after 1972's UK tour to promote the upcoming Squeeze album, during which he was accompanied by a backing band consisting of Rob Norris, George Kay and Mark Nauseef. His bar has been extended to include February 1973, the month in which final album Squeeze was released.
• The May 1973 gigs were booked as "The Velvet Underground" against Yule's wishes, who wanted to be billed as "featuring Doug Yule of The Velvet Underground"Doug Yule in his liner notes for the Final V.U. 1971-1973 box set (Captain Trip, 2001)

Discography

Singles

• "All Tomorrow's Parties" (edit) / "I'll Be Your Mirror" (recorded and released 1966)
• "Sunday Morning" / "Femme Fatale" (recorded and released 1966)
• "White Light/White Heat" / "Here She Comes Now" (recorded 1967, released 1968)
• "What Goes On" (edit) / "Jesus" (promo, recorded 1968, released 1969)
• "Who Loves the Sun" / "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" (recorded 1970, released 1971)
• "Foggy Notion" (edit) / "I Can't Stand It" (promo, recorded 1969, released 1985)
• "Venus in Furs" (edit) / "I'm Waiting for the Man" (live, recorded 1993, released 1994)

Albums

Studio albums

• The Velvet Underground and Nico (recorded 1966, released 1967)
• White Light/White Heat (recorded 1967, released 1968)
• The Velvet Underground (recorded 1968, released 1969)
• Loaded (recorded and released 1970)
• Squeeze (recorded 1972, released 1973)

Live albums

• Live at Max's Kansas City (recorded 1970, released 1972)
• (recorded 1969, released 1974)
• Live MCMXCIII (recorded and released 1993)
• Final V.U. 1971-1973 (recorded 1971-1973, released 2001)
• (recorded 1969, released 2001)

Box sets and outtakes compilations

• VU (recorded 1968-1969, released 1985)
• Another View (recorded 1967-1969, released 1986)
• What Goes On (recorded 1966-1970, released 1993)
• Peel Slowly and See (recorded 1965-1970, released 1995)

Selected best-of compilations

• (recorded 1966-1970, released 1989)
• The Very Best of The Velvet Underground (recorded 1966-1970, released 2003)
• Gold (recorded 1966-1969, released 2005)

References