Artist bio

See also: Lou Reed

The Velvet Underground made music imbued with the depth and richness of real life, and their work remains among rock's most powerful.

So many bands have just that one thing they do really well, and they can't always stretch out into other realms without losing a bit of what makes them great. But there's so much to love about music. Somehow, VU's got it all. The Velvets' range ensures that there's something in here for any mood that might strike you. Driving down the highway with the windows rolled down? Throw on Loaded for some enervating rock and roll. A late-night conversation with old friends? Maybe the soul-baring melancholy of the third album. Got those blues again and ready to be sonically assaulted? Try the extreme sound palette of White Light/White Heat. You can wake up on Sunday morning listening to the sunbeam instrumental "Ride Into The Sun," a non-album track from the Another View compilation. But if you're walking down 2nd Avenue with headphones on, you might want to go with the steady urban pulse of the group's 1967 debut, The Velvet Underground And Nico.

Because the Velvets were able to accomplish so much in so little time -- six years at the end of the '60s -- their catalog is easily consumed. They only released four records, easy enough to purchase at once (more than one box set includes all four). Yes, there are other places to go -- live albums, two LPs worth of non-album tracks released in the '80s -- but you can hold the Velvets' entire catalog in hand.

Each of the band's four records is a radical, unexpected departure from its predecessor, and each is a rock and roll classic in its own right, offering benchmark songs and timeless inspiration to its listeners. Of course, the group only had its first two albums hit the Billboard charts, and even those with paltry showings. But in retrospect, this lack of any real commercial success made them immune to a lot of common fame-induced pratfalls. During the band's life, none of its members accumulated a great deal of material wealth, they didn't become huge stars, and most importantly, they didn't get stuck in the dangerous mindset of "people will buy our music if it sounds like THIS, so let's keep churning it out." There were no hastily issued follow-up albums to capitalize on chart successes. There was no laughable '80s period. And they dissolved before they put out anything subpar.

The Velvet Underground is the classic rock band for people who really dig music. If they're not your favorite band, odds are that your favorite band was in some way influenced by VU. And if not, you're probably not reading this! Or something like that.

Albums by this artist

Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes (2001)

Loaded (1970)

The Velvet Underground (Recommended) (1969)

White Light/White Heat (Recommended) (1969)

Features

The Velvet Underground: The NATN Pantheon
Published December 11, 2006

The Velvet Underground

Loaded

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» TROY CARPENTER | CO-DIRECTOR

The Velvet Underground Loaded Atlantic, 1970 RiYL: Rolling Stones, Liz Phair, Frank Black

The Velvet Underground, rock n' roll's classic "indie" band, finally signed with a major label in time for their last album, and as legend has it, Atlantic chief Ahmet Ertegun told frontman Lou Reed to drop the drugs and debauchery out of the group's songs in favor of an album "loaded with hits." Reed, ever iconoclastic and true to his ideals, yet eager to prove his range as a musician, formulated the perfect response: Loaded, an album truly chock-full of original-sounding potential hits that naturally didn't crack the sales charts.

Having already proved almost complete mastery over extreme methods of expression within the burgeoning expanse of rock music (see The Velvet Underground And Nico, White Light/White Heat, and The Velvet Underground), the erstwhile group turned its hand to creating a body of pop/rock classics. Guitarist/heartbeat Sterling Morrison is quoted in the liner notes to Rhino's Loaded reissue as saying of Reed, "If he'd had his druthers, he would have liked to have written standard, fantastic pop songs, like James Brown and Smokey Robinson." Loaded was the proof that Reed's vision could indeed hold its own amongst such songwriting notables.

In many ways, the album is the Velvet Underground's least representative effort. The group itself was a shell of its original form, reduced to founding members Reed and Morrison alongside bassist Doug Yule (in a more prominent role), with session drummers replacing Maureen Tucker, who was sidelined by pregnancy. Road exhaustion and creative frustration marred the sessions, eventually forcing Reed to quit the band, effectively dissolving it, before the finished masters were even turned in to Atlantic.

But given all these distractions, Loaded can also be looked at as the dying group's finest accomplishment: through hardship that was hastening its demise, one of rock's most seminal bands managed to produce a 10-track album filled with many of its most memorable compositions -- the rollicking mission statement "Rock & Roll," the poignant ballad "New Age," the epic closer "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'," the slinky New Orleans groove "Cool It Down" and more alongside VU's signature rocker, "Sweet Jane." Each song takes a stab at rock immortality, and the album as a whole stands up remarkably well 30 years later.

Reed's whole career, that of the Velvet Underground, and possibly that of any rock and roller worth his or her salt, can be traced back to the exhilarating feeling expressed in "Rock & Roll" -- young Ginny sits in her room each day lamenting the boring state of the universe, until "one fine morning, she turned on a New York station and she couldn't believe what she heard at all! She started dancing to that fine fine music, and you know her life was saved by rock and roll." And it was all right.

That's it, in a nutshell -- why we collect so many of these platters of etched vinyl and/or aluminum covered in plastic, why we flaunt copyright laws and make mixes for crushes, why we empty our wallets to stand in dank basements filled with smoke and fritter away our fragile sense of hearing by spinning dozens of black knobs clockwise. There's something about this kind of music that enriches life, that just makes you feel alright, no matter what state you might have been in before it started playing. Lou, speaking as a child of the '50s, elucidated that feeling perfectly here. And that sentiment works its way into every crevice of Loaded: into the distorted, ejaculatory bursts of guitar on "Head Held High" and the tender harmonies of "I Found A Reason."

Sure, Loaded has flaws. I've never heard anyone proclaim "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" their favorite song, and unfortunately some of the most affecting portions of "Sweet Jane" were cut off the album for its initial release. True Velvets fans miss Mo Tucker too; Morrison was quoted years later as having said "we should have waited for Mo" to become available before they recorded. But though this least Velvety of Velvets albums might not be many things, it is what it is: a paean to passionate music, a farewell notice from one of the best rock bands ever, and a record simply Loaded with great songs.

TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.