What we were doing was churning out these rip-off albums.” “We just churned out songs that’s all,” Reed remembered in 1972. Reed’s professional music career took root in 1964 when he was hired as a staff songwriter at Pickwick Records, an NYC-based budget label specializing in soundalikes of contemporary chart-toppers. Lou Reed first united with John Cale to play a knockoff of “The Twist.” Read on for 10 fascinating facts about the album’s creation.ġ. In many ways, The Velvet Underground and Nico was the first rock album that truly seemed to invite the designation alternative.įifty years after its release, the LP still sounds stunningly original, providing inspiration and a blueprint for everything from lo-fi punk rock to highbrow avant-garde – and so much in between. Bolstered by the patronage of Andy Warhol and the exotic vocal contributions of Nico, Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker declared their independence from Top 40 decorum with a gritty, innovative and unapologetically self-possessed work. Released on March 12th, 1967, the Velvet Underground‘s debut was an album that brought with it an awareness of the new, the possible and the darker edge of humanity. Pepper kind but an eerier, artier, more NYC-rooted strain. A half-century on, The Velvet Underground and Nico remains the quintessential emblem of a certain brand of countercultural cool.
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