The Velvet Underground's influence on everything that came after is such that it seems their name has been permanently altered to 'the Seminal Velvet Underground', and for a band that took their name from a discarded paperback novel exploring the delights of sado-masichism, this is some feat.

It has been said that although only a few hundred people bought the first VU album every single one of them went and formed a band on the strength of what they heard. This classic line-up of Lou Reed (vocals, guitar), Sterling Morrison (guitar), Maureen Tucker (drums, percussion) and John Cale (electric viola, bass, piano) was a schizophrenic band, and out of its most schizophrenic moments came its legacy.

The Velvet's best work came from the collision of two radically different personalities. Reed grew up in a middle-class family on Long Island and loved rock 'n' roll from his early teens. His mother, concerned about his love of 'the devil's music' and his homosexual tendencies, subjected him to electro-shock therapy at 17.

In contrast, John Cale was born in Wales and became a child prodigy on the piano. He was captivated by the electronic experiments of Karl-Heinz Stockhausen and John Cage, and went to New York in 1963 to play in LaMonte Young's avant-garde Dream Syndicate. Once Reed met Cale, the corner stones of the band were in place. The four members of the Velvets were already playing much of what would make up their first album before they met Andy Warhol, who convinced them to include platinum-blonde model Nico, and got them to play as part of his multimedia show: The Exploding Plastic Inevitable.

Warhol then went on to produce their first album, 'The Velvet Underground and Nico', in 1966 (although it wasn't released until 1967). By all accounts though, he was 'producer' in name only and did very little actual 'producing'.

The first album was an eclectic mix of noisy, experimental 'art' songs and short, catchy 'pop' songs. The lyrical content was very different to that around at the time. Reed explored trying to score heroin ('I'm Waiting for the Man'), sado-masichism ('Venus in Furs') and the decadent lifestyle of the rich ('All Tomorrows Parties').

Even the obvious 'drug' song on the album ('Heroin') was way ahead of their supposed peers of the time. Using crystal clear language to describe shooting up, set to surging waves of music to evoke the opiate high.

'The Black Angel's Death Song' is the ultimate account of a bad trip, and led to them being banned from many venues in New York, due to its experimental nature. The first album lay down the standard for the future, but the Velvets would never make such a consistently breathtaking album again.

Their second LP ('White Light/White Heat') was also released in 1967 and took their experimental tendencies to the limit. The seventeen-minute epic 'Sister Ray' uses one immense riff and makes a mockery of the Beatles 'psychedelic' stage. 'The Gift' is based on a short story Reed wrote, read by John Cale over a lumbering backdrop of needling lead guitar and a solid rhythm section. The title track is a short, sharp burst of punk energy, which Reed has said was to describe an amphetamine rush.

After the album's release, Reed felt he needed full control of the band, and Cale was ousted and replaced by Doug Yule on bass. This line-up went on to record the more mellow, self-titled third LP, which came out in 1969. The album contains one of the Velvets best loved songs, 'Pale Blue Eyes'. With lines such as: "Thought of you as my mountain top, thought of you as my peak" the themes had changed dramatically.

The second post-Cale album was released in 1970 and was more of a straightforward rock album than any of its predecessors. It was titled 'Loaded', because the band hoped it was loaded with hits. It was also a dope pun, and the cover featured a cloud of smoke emerging from a subway entrance.

After the disappointing sales of the fourth album, Reed left to pursue a solo career. Ironically it was here that he found the fame that had eluded him during the Velvets era. His solo albums ranged from concept albums ('Berlin'), to extreme white-noise terror ('Metal Machine Music'). He found his greatest fame with the album 'Transformer' in 1972, which contains the now famous 'Perfect Day' and 'Walk on the Wild Side'.

The other Velvets soldiered on to make one more album ('Squeeze') in 1972, but this is largely dismissed as a cash-in on the Velvet Underground name.

After the group split, interest grew and grew, so a brilliant double live album was released in 1974, featuring radically different workings of many VU tracks. The album, '1969 Live', is a recording of one of Lou Reed's final concerts with the band and is a great way to remember one of rocks most visionary bands.

There are many bands that have taken the Velvet Underground's image and music and tried to update it, the most recent being the Dandy Warhols. The Velvet's practically invented what is today seen as 'rock star cool': sunglasses, moody photos and a fuck-you attitude. For this we should all be truly grateful.

Written by Adam Weight

First printed in 'Get Knotted', Staffordshire University Students' Union Newspaper

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