Velvet Underground

These days I have been listening to The Velvet Underground. I love their music, their shocking lyrics, their unkempt sound and their total disdain of the boundaries of rock ‘N’ roll. And this was in the 60s and 70s!! Their music is raw…that’s the word that comes to mind when you hear them…RAW.

This fascination with VU started with Edgar Allen Poe. I have always been inclined to tragic stories or stories with “sad’ ending (weird, I know) which is why when I came across Poe, I was totally taken up by his writing. Then I found out that Lou Reed had released a CD titled “The Raven” which was a collection of stories, poems and songs from and based on the writings of Poe. After I brought the CD off eBay, I listened to it and was immediately struck by how effectively Reed (and other actors like William Dafoe and Steve Buscemi) were able to translate the horror and tragedy of Poe’s work to the listener. The opener, The Conqueror Worm, is awesome!! And the CD continued to build from there. I then purchased a couple of VU albums (again from eBay) and the journey has been fantastic. Each of the songs that I have listened to so far has been like a breath of fresh air. The best part of VU is that no subject is taboo. They discuss everything and anything under the sun. Their sheer audacity is best displayed in their music, though. According to the (faithful) allmusic.com all the four albums released by VU have been different and each one has laid the frame work for subsequent artists. I can’t wait to acquire all the VU work.