An American rock band first active from 1965 to 1973. Although never commercially successful during their time, the Velvet Underground have been regarded as one of the most important and influential groups of their era. The group was one of the first to experiment with basic rock structures and their sound influenced many later musicians in many genres, including experimental, punk, New Wave and gothic rock.
In late 1964, singer/guitarist Lou Reed met John Cale, a Welshman who had moved to the US to study classical music. Cale had worked with experimental composers John Cage and La Monte Young, but was also interested in rock music. Reed also had experimentalist tendencies, sometimes using alternate guitar tunings to create a droning sound.
The pair rehearsed and performed together and their partnership and shared interests steered the early direction of what would become the Velvet Underground. Reed’s first group with Cale was the Primitives, a short-lived group which was then expanded by Sterling Morrison (a college classmate of Reed’s who had already played with him a few times) on guitar and Angus MacLise on percussion. This quartet was first called the Warlocks, then the Falling Spikes.
The Velvet Underground was a book about sadomasochism by Michael Leigh that Reed found appropriate given that he had already written Venus in Furs, inspired by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s book of the same name. The newly named Velvet Underground rehearsed and performed in New York. Their music was generally much more relaxed than it would later become, with MacLise playing gentle rhythms behind the drone.
When the group accepted their first paying performance, MacLise left the group and was replaced by Maureen 'Moe' Tucker, the younger sister of a friend of Morrison. Tucker’s abbreviated drum kit usually consisted of tom toms and an upturned bass drum, using mallets as often as drumsticks and rarely using cymbals. Her simple and unusual rhythms became a vital part of the group’s music.
The group earned a regular paying gig at a club and gained an early reputation as a promising ensemble. Andy Warhol became the band’s manager in 1965 and suggested they feature the German-born singer Nico on several songs. Warhol’s reputation certainly helped the band gain a higher profile and he helped the band land a recording contract with MGM’s Verve Records, with himself as nominal producer and giving the Velvets free rein over the sound they created.
During their stay with Andy Warhol, the band became part of his multimedia roadshow, Exploding Plastic Inevitable, for which they provided the music. This show, which included film projections and colours by Warhol, played a couple of months in New York City, then took to the road all over the US and Canada until its last performance in May 1967.
At Warhol's insistence, Nico sang with the band on three tracks of their début album, The Velvet Underground and Nico. The album was recorded in three separate studios during 1966 and released by Verve Records in March 1967. The album cover was famous for its Warhol design - a bright yellow banana with 'Peel slowly and see' printed near a perforated tab. Those who did remove the banana skin found a pink, peeled banana beneath. This would later be used as the cover to one of several Velvets boxed sets, also titled Peel Slowly and See, released in 1995. The album showcased their wide dynamic range, with strong tracks such as I’m Waiting for the Man, Run Run Run, Venus in Furs, Heroin, Femme Fatale, I’ll Be Your Mirror and All Tomorrow’s Parties. The overall sound was propelled by Reed’s deadpan vocals, Cale's droning viola, Morrison's often rhythm and blues– or country-influenced guitar, and Tucker’s simple but steady beat. Nico's European-accented vocal contributions lent an otherworldly quality to the group.
The Velvet Underground's live performances became louder, harsher and often featured extended improvisations and special effects. After they had severed their relationship with Andy Warhol and Nico, they recorded their second album, White Light/White Heat, in September 1967 with Tom Wilson as producer. Despite the dominance of noisy tracks like Sister Ray and I Heard Her Call My Name, there was room for the darkly comic The Gift, a short story written by Reed and narrated by Cale in his deadpan Welsh accent.
However, tensions were growing. The group was tired of receiving little recognition for its work and Reed and Cale were pulling the Velvet Underground in different directions. The differences showed in the last recording session the band had with Cale in February 1968.
Before work on their third album started, Cale was eased out of the band and was replaced by Doug Yule of Boston group the Glass Managerie, who had opened several VU shows. The Velvet Underground was recorded in late 1968 (released in March 1969) but failed to chart. The harsh, abrasive tendencies on the first two albums were almost entirely absent, with a gentler sound influenced by folk music that would become typical of Reed's later solo career.
The Velvet Underground spent much of 1969 on the road, feeling they were not accepted in their home city of New York and not making much headway commercially.
The live album 1969: The Velvet Underground Live was recorded in October 1969 and released in 1974 on Mercury Records.
During the same year, the band recorded on and off in the studio, creating a lot of material that was never officially released due to disputes with their record label. What many consider the prime of these sessions was released many years later as VU. This album has a transitional sound between the whisper-soft third album and the pop-rock songs of their final album, Loaded.
In 1969 MGM Records wanted to get rid of any drug- or hippie-related bands and the Velvets were earmarked, along with Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. Atlantic Records signed the Velvet Underground for what would be its final studio album with Reed, Loaded, released on Atlantic’s subsidiary label Cotillion. Although the album was not the smash hit the company had anticipated, it contains the most accessible pop the Velvets had performed and several of Reed’s best-known songs, including Sweet Jane and Rock and Roll. Tucker had temporarily retired from the group due to her pregnancy - although she received a performance credit, drums were actually played by several others, including Yule.
Disillusioned with the lack of progress the band was making and pressured by manager Steve Sesnick, Reed decided to quit the band in August 1970. The band essentially dissolved while recording Loaded and Reed walked off just before it was finished.
Although Loaded’s spin-off single Who Loves the Sun did nothing, other tracks on the album became radio favourites and the band, featuring Walter Powers on bass and with Yule promoted to lead vocals and guitar, went on the road once more, playing the US East Coast and Europe. By that time, however, Morrison had left the group for an academic career and was replaced by singer/keyboard player Willie Alexander.
In 1972, Atlantic released Live at Max's Kansas City, a live bootleg of the Velvet Underground’s final performance with Reed, recorded on 23rd August 1970. By this time, Yule was once again touring the UK, this time backed with hired hands as Sesnick had sent home Tucker, Powers and Alexander, effectively ending their time with the band.
Later that year, Sesnick managed to secure a recording contract with Polydor Records in England, and Yule recorded Squeeze (1973) under the Velvet Underground name with Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice.
Reed, Cale and Nico teamed up at the beginning of 1972 to play two concerts in London and Paris. The Paris concert performed at the Bataclan club was bootlegged, but finally received an official release as Le Bataclan '72 in 2003.
Reed and Cale, in the meantime, had developed solo careers. Morrison was a professor for some time, then became a tugboat captain for several years. Tucker raised a family before returning to small-scale gigging and recording in the 1980s. Morrison was in a number of touring bands, among others with Tucker’s band.
On 18th July 1988, Nico died of a cerebral hemorrhage following a bicycle accident.
In 1990, Reed and Cale released Songs for Drella, dedicated to the recently deceased Andy Warhol. Though Morrison and Tucker had each worked with Reed and Cale since the Velvets broke up, this was the first time the two had worked together in decades, and rumors of a reunion began to circulate, fuelled by a one-off appearance by Reed, Cale, Morrison and Tucker to play Heroin at a set in France.
The four reunited in 1992, starting with a European tour beginning in Edinburgh in June 1993 and featuring a performance at Glastonbury. Cale sang most of the songs Nico had originally performed. As well as headlining, the Velvets performed as supporting act for some of U2’s Zoo TV Tour.
Before the band could tour the US or record, Cale and Reed fell out again, breaking up the band once more. Morrison died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in August 1995, which seemed to mark the definitive end of the band as a performing unit. However, when the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, Reed and Cale put their differences aside to reform the Velvet Underground for the last time, with Tucker. Yule was absent and is said to have been slighted by the band. At the ceremony, the band was inducted by singer/poet Patti Smith, and the band performed Last Night I Said Goodbye to My Friend, written in tribute to Morrison.