The Velvet Underground and Nico: From the Factory to Forever

Описание: Hello dolls, 🌼
and welcome to: The Velvet Underground and Nico: From the Factory to Forever!

In 1965, Lou Reed and John Cale met in a New York loft. Reed, a suburban kid from Long Island who spent his days writing novelty songs at Pickwick Records, had darker material hidden away - songs called "Heroin" and "Venus in Furs." Cale, a Welsh avant-gardist steeped in drone music, immediately recognized their potential. They brought in Reed’s friend Sterling Morrison on guitar, and Maureen "Moe" Tucker on drums. They called themselves "The Velvet Underground", after a paperback on sexual subcultures.

From the start, they clashed with the musical climate. As San Francisco prepared for the Summer of Love, the Velvets were writing about addiction, violence, and urban shadows. Their first gig - a suburban high school - stunned teenagers expecting dance tunes.

They played grimy clubs like Café Bizarre, blasting taboo songs until the manager begged them to stop. They refused and were fired - just as Andy Warhol wandered in. Warhol, already the high priest of Pop Art, had been searching for a band to complete his multimedia happenings. "Andy liked us immediately," Moe recalled. He made them part of his Exploding Plastic Inevitable shows, a blur of film, strobe lights, whips, and noise.

Warhol also insisted they add Nico - the German model with a voice like ice. Lou bristled at sharing vocals but wrote for her anyway: "Femme Fatale," "I’ll Be Your Mirror," and "All Tomorrow’s Parties." Onstage, she stood in white while the band dressed in black, singing with a detached, haunting monotone.

In 1966 they recorded their debut. The cover - a banana with the words "PEEL SLOWLY AND SEE" - became iconic. The music inside was even bolder. "Sunday Morning" opened sweetly, with celesta and hushed paranoia: "Watch out, the world’s behind you." "I’m Waiting for the Man” painted a deadpan portrait of buying heroin in Harlem. Nico delivered Reed’s sly tribute to Edie Sedgwick in "Femme Fatale," and the tender ballad "I’ll Be Your Mirror."
At the center was "Heroin," a seven-minute journey that felt like the drug itself. "It wasn’t pro or con," Lou explained.

When The Velvet Underground & Nico was finally released in March 1967, it was already out of step with the times. The world was singing "San Francisco" and Sgt. Pepper, while the Velvets offered noise and shadows. Distribution was poor, radio refused to play songs and sales were dismal. Critics were divided: Billboard praised Nico’s "haunting" voice, but many dismissed it as "confusing sounds" or "lifeless as a banana peel." Warhol’s name helped and hurt - some bought it for the cover, others dismissed it as a stunt. Within months, Lou cut ties with Warhol and Nico drifted away. By 1970, the band had splintered.

But quietly, the album spread. Musicians passed it hand to hand. Brian Eno later quipped: "The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought one of those 10,000 copies started a band." David Bowie was one of them.

By the 1980s, the critics who once sneered hailed it as a masterpiece. Spin called it the most influential album of all time. Rolling Stone ranked it #13 on their list of 500 greatest albums. In 1993, Lou, John, Sterling, and Moe reunited to play it to adoring crowds. Today the banana hangs in museums, its songs appear in films and commercials, and teenagers discover it anew on streaming.

What once sounded like noise now feels prophetic. Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Moe Tucker, Nico, and Andy Warhol created an album that dared to show the shadows of its time. It smoldered underground for years until the world caught fire with it. And once it did, nothing in rock was ever the same again.

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