The Velvet Underground is like an acid trip

Velvet Underground is like an acid trip. A variety of different sounds and music combined actually work well together giving us a psychedelic sound.  Lou Reed and John Cale wanted to do something different within the music industry and combine different forms of music to create not just something to listen to but something to experience.

When Velvet Underground was supported, promoted, and, for a little while, produced by the one and only Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol is a renowned artist who was known for his extreme uniqueness. With Andy Warhol being behind Velvet Underground and openly supporting their music, Velvet Underground gained more fans and were able to perform at more places. One of the ways Warhol was able to help Velvet Underground rise up was by including them in a multimedia road show called Exploding Plastic Inevitable.

Something that sets Velvet Underground apart from a lot of other bands that were out around that time are their use of instruments. The drummer, Mo Tucker, didn’t have any drum training and she never played the drums traditionally. In the book,” The Velvet Underground and Nico” by Joe Harvard, it says that she once played on garbage cans when her bass drum was stolen.  Her play style feels like it is something that you can’t really imitate but appreciate, take note of and probably learn something about being free into the rhythm without the typical constraints of placed drum fills to signify a change.

My first impression of Velvet Underground was and still is a mixed feeling. There were a couple of songs that caught my attention right from the beginning and then there were some songs that I wished would end. It’s like my instructor, Paul Harland, said, it is something that has to grow on you. I haven’t heard any other album other than the “Velvet Underground and Nico”. I could probably find a couple of other songs that I enjoy if I listened to more of them.