The Velvet Underground & Nico

Combining music, film, and artwork, The Velvet Underground & Nico are not only one of the most interesting bands of their time, but even now as well. They have a unique type of music that never leaves you bored. It could be considered a mix of psychedelic music and just good old rock. Part of “The Factory” movement, produced, promoted, and supported by Andy Warhol, The Velvet Underground & Nico not only created music, but were used by Andy as some sort of artistic experiment. It was like the people in Andy’s life were his dolls and he wanted to make them just the way he wanted them to be. Within The Velvet Underground & Psychiatrists article, Andy is quoted saying, “a famous fashion model and now a singer,” referring to Nico. It was all about image. As wonderful as the music was, the whole thing was pretty bizarre.

If The Velvet Underground & Nico were The Beatles, John Cale and Lou Reed (they both co-founded The Velvet Underground) would be the Lennon and McCartney of the band. Lou Reed, a principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, wrote songs about drug culture and sexuality – things that weren’t really talked about in rock and roll or music at the time. This made him obviously that “badass” lyricist of the band. John Cale also wrote. His true talent was his ability to play many instruments. These two gentlemen had a falling out due to artistic differences, but they were.

The Velvet Underground & Nico was one of the most unique albums of that time period. Like I said earlier, the lyrics were pushing the boundaries more than most albums at the time. Secondly, it was one of, if not the first band to be paired with art and film making it not only audibly interesting, but visually as well.

I really enjoy The Velvet Underground both as a listener and as a producer. They played around with their music in a way that made them just so special and different. I feel it ended up getting a little ridiculous because of Andy Warhol, but for the most part, the music is such an impact on types of music we hear today.