It's hard to imagine anyone today listening to the Velvet Underground for the first time and not feeling immense disappointment. The Velvet Underground are unquestionably one of the five most influential bands in history -- or so it is claimed. Me, I have a theory that at least half of the bands who claim to be influenced by the Velvets are lying through their teeth in order to look hip -- just like many critics who sing their praises but never put their records on (Lester Bangs had this story about how every critic he knew had nothing but praise for the VU, but if you went to their house you'd find their albums in pristine condition, with no scratches or any other evidence that the record had gotten out of its shrinkwrap much). The Velvet Underground are unquestionably the most overrated band in rock history, unless the Sex Pistols count.
It's hard to imagine anyone today listening to the Velvet Underground for the first time and not feeling immense...
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I almost fell for that.
Why is Björk twerking?
Something interesting to note here, as everyone knows the VU were managed (to some extent) by Andy Warhol's clique and played shows regularly at the factory. Like everything else around Warhol, they ultimately ended up being a cultural object manufactured from the same assembly line as Warhol's screenprints, films and made-up celebrities. In the end all of Andy's "superstars" were a farce, his movies too avant-garde to ever have a significant cultural impact outside of art circles, but aside from his paintings the one thing that he did manage to genuinely manufacture was the success and influence of the Velvet Underground.
It's genuinely ironic, considering the name of the band ("underground" being the important word) and its historical narrative as the band that started a hundred other bands. Andy Warhol's persona was the rejection of particular artistic identity, contra the abstract expressionist giants like Pollock and Rothko. He manufactured culture, he embraced the notion that the culture of America was industrialized, mass produced. And out of his project came the Velvet Underground, a band considered as the catalyst for so much expressive and independent music.
Cause she wants the feel the music
bjerking
The fact that so many books still name The Velvet Underground as “the greatest or most significant or most influential” rock band ever only tells you how far rock music still is from becoming a serious art. Jazz critics have long recognized that the greatest jazz musicians of all times are Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, who were not the most famous or richest or best sellers of their times, let alone of all times. Classical critics rank the highly controversial Beethoven over classical musicians who were highly popular in courts around Europe. Rock critics are still blinded by commercial obscurity. The Velvets sold less than anyone else (not true, by the way), therefore they must have been the greatest. Jazz critics grow up listening to a lot of jazz music of the past, classical critics grow up listening to a lot of classical music of the past. Rock critics are often totally ignorant of the rock music of the past, they barely know the best sellers. No wonder they will think that The Velvet Underground did anything worthy of being saved.
>young björk will never bjerk me off
I laughed a little.
>tfw old bjork will never bjrek me off either
That one hurts a little more actually.
"too avant-garde" implies what he did was good. He filmed his gay lover sleeping for 8 hours. That's just pretentious.
The entire basis of PopArt/Dada was to see how far you could push critics into believing your shit.
Does the Velvet Underground being overrated garbage mean Lou Reed created literally nothing of value for his entire career, except for a song about trannies that David Bowie wrote for him?
>"too avant-garde" implies what he did was good.
I don't think so, I just meant to say it wasn't commercially viable in any way. Without actually being some kind of expert on Warhol, I'd think this was just because the content of the film was kind of secondary to him. Outside of his original screen printing thing, the factory was his real project. It had to have everything, film, music, celebrities, performance art/theater (which ultimately led to him being shot by a disturbed woman who thought he was trying to ruin her by stealing her plays), etc. because it was supposed to be the microcosm of the mass culture industry. I know in interviews he mostly joked that film was his favorite art form because he just turned on the camera and left it there to do the work for him.
>The entire basis of PopArt/Dada was to see how far you could push critics into believing your shit.
I mostly agree with pop-art, even though I think Warhol genuinely enjoyed it and at least half the time felt like he was doing something meaningful. Dada was authentic though, that was post-ww1 disillusionment with the modernist narrative of progress. Dada artists were literally just trying to make the art of schizophrenics and insanity because they thought the world had gone crazy, I don't even think many of them wanted to have a cultural impact. Dada purists dogged on the Surrealists for being Marxists that thought they could actually change the world with their movement.
that's lou reed you pleb
>when your girl has resting succ face
She must give the best head. Just look at that tongue..
hawhaw
drop name
guarantee you nobody itt can say why the velvet underground are even influential besides buzzwords and half baked surface level ideas they say on rym
Everything about VU is the victory of hype over quality.
Unironically the best album Lou Reed ever recorded was Metal Machine Music.
>Everything about VU is the victory of hype over quality.
I'm not trying to meme, but it's no coincidence that Andy Warhol was involved with the band.
drop name
they created totally new unique song structures and sound palettes
>half baked surface level ideas they saw on rym
Proof VU fans have no idea what the fuck they're talking about in anything music related
>tfw VU fan
this
They refined a lot of those ideas, but it's not like minimalist rock music didn't exist before them. You'll bullshitting.
Same reason any band is influential. Loud Reed wrote accessible songs that have feelings. See Pale Blue Eyes, Sweet Jane, Rock and Roll, Heroin, The Black Angel's Death Song, Ride into the Sun, Lisa Says, and others. The appeal is pretty clear.
As for why they're considered avant garde, or why they're considered innovative, that's less clear. "Avant garde" probably just because they madea lot of noisey, formless stuff and did a lot of drugs and hung out around the art scene. Innovative for the same reason, and also, for whatever reason, lo-fi artists have often been called "innovative" in every era of modern music. It's more of a critic buzzword than any real comment on what they did.
But yeah, they're influential because Loud Reed wrote several good songs and they had a cool image.
Bowie describes it better than you or I ever will:
>loud reed
>twice
I don't know how that happened.
low quality bait
>writing songs that have feelings makes you influential
yep, another vu fan with no idea why VU is supposedly "influential".
years and years and years, and ive yet to meet a single VU fan that wasnt a massive clueless retard.
wrong
arguing online is stupid so idk if i should do it rn,
but you're so wrong. sad.
when people don't get the vu they tend to have shit taste in general. i mean there's nothing that complex to get but there's drones and noise and great rock and roll, all done way better than sonic youth (and i like sonic youth)
>something other than writing effective songs makes you influential
Wrong.
>done better than sonic youth
Hurting my soul user. They're both good.
they have a lot of good songs. most people who they impacted a lot dont need to play the music all the time, its ingrained in them, like when youve heard a song so much that you can just hear it your head so clearly. with how many ways there are to listen to music and how many reissues their albums have had, not having a super scratched vinyl means little
but a lot of people didnt get it then and a lot still dont now. doesnt take away from it being great though, which is one of the best things about the group imo. the beauty isnt for everyone but for those who it is for, can connect with each other well ive found
real edgy. I guarantee that I am a more proficient musician than you in every way. Look at The Black Angels Death Song. Harmonically its really interesting to sustain the 4 on a dominant chord. They were innovators.
Nice facebook meme, faggot. Really making your fanbase look good there.
>Harmonically its really interesting to sustain the 4 on a dominant chord
this is the musical equivalent of a big bang theory line where its peddling some deep science stuff bro woah
>vu fans are dumb lol
>what is basic music theory?
my point is that youre spouting a bunch of irrelevant bullshit trying to string it together to sound smart, exactly what big bang theory would have done
that does not prove VU is influential in any way or that you know much about music really, thats about as much depth as spouting some dumb shit about muh time signature
>there are people on this board who will actually fall for this
You seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of what "influential" means. A band is "Influential" if their work influenced a lot of other artists. VU's music is very influential that's a fact and it has nothing to do with how good or bad the music is.
And if you think playing the 4 over a dominant chord is some kind of word salad nonsense, then I was right, you don't know absolutely basic music theory.
I'll take the bait
I listened to the Velvet Underground for the first time this year and I thought they were amazing. Sunday Morning is a beautiful song. Waiting for the Man and Run Run Run did an amazing job of reinventing 50's and 60's rock and roll and blues and gave it a much harder edge. Venus in Furs has groundbreaking instrumentation and vocals and is really able to transport you into a specific setting. All Tomorrow's Parties and The Black Angel's Death Song are largely centered on one chords yet are still incredibly powerful and sonically inventive. Heroin is simply a perfect song, and I don't think I need to go in depth about it. Femme Fatale, There She Goes Again and I'll Be Your Mirror are very catchy pop songs that still sound very unique for the time period. European Son is probably my least favourite track on the album, yet was still very different and innovative for its time. Across the entire album is amazing lyricism which is also one of the biggest selling points of the album. The lo-fi recording, loose feel of the instrumentation and Lou Reed's unique vocal style are incredibly effective. Nico also brings a very unique sound to the songs that she's on. Overall it's an amazing album, but since it's quite old and had such an influence some of the songs might seem boring by today's standards. But that's just my thoughts on their first album, someone else could probably explain a lot better why their so good.
lou invented the punk ethic in pop/rock
he added a poetic, edgy, artful twist to rock: no longer was rock 'n roll (or all of pop music) just "hurr durr" music
the experimental use of abrasiveness, cacophony, etc. was unprecedented in popular music
they were an exercise in pop art under warhol, mocking popular culture while twisting it to their liking. they were making easy-to-play, catchy pop songs, while singing about heroin and s&m and flirting with cacophony...