Why is this album important?
It created edgy music.
>Recorded in 1966 during Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable multimedia event tour, The Velvet Underground & Nico would gain attention for its experimental performance sensibilities, as well as the focus on controversial subject matter expressed in many of its songs including drug abuse, prostitution, sadism and masochism and sexual deviancy. In 1982, musician Brian Eno famously stated that while The Velvet Underground & Nico initially only sold 30,000 copies, "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band."
Its David Bryne, Henry Rollins, and Patti Smith's favorite album of all time.
i'd say it's because they scavenged the narrow alleys of the bad parts of town, and scavenged the subconscious of the urban kid, for emotional scraps that were a barbaric by-product of the original spirit of rock'n'roll. Their goal was only marginally the sonic reproduction of the psychedelic experience. Their true goal was to provide a documentary of the decadent, disaffected, cynical mood that was spreading among the intelligentsia. These were not hippies, these were elitist musicians who were aware of the avantgarde movements: they began playing (in 1965) as part of Andy Warhol's multimedia show "The Exploding Plastic Inevitable". They originated the "pessimistic" strand of psychedelic music (as opposed to San Francisco's optimistic strand). The Velvet Underground probably remain the most influential band in the entire history of rock music. Above all else, they originated a spirit of making music (independent, nihilistic, subversive) that ten years later will be labeled "punk". Rock music as it is today was born the day the Velvet Underground entered a recording studio. The Velvet Underground And Nico (1967), recorded in the spring of 1966, includes an impressive number of masterpieces (mostly penned by Lou Reed and John Cale, and sung by Nico): the cold, spectral, autumnal odes of Femme Fatale, All Tomorrow's Parties and Black Angel's Death Song, the percussive boogie of Waiting For My Man, the orgasmic chaos of Heroin, the dissonant tribal music of European Son, the Indian raga imbued with decadent spleen of Venus In Furs. They are immersed in the dark, oppressive atmosphere of German expressionism and French existentialism, but they also exhaled an epic libido: each song was a sexual fetish, and a cathartic sadomaso release. It was difficult to find a precedent for the Velvet Underground's music, because these barbarians were educated to the classical lieder and to LaMonte Young's minimalism, while they borrowed very little from rock'n'roll and pop music.
very influential to a variety of rock genres
original
also pretty accessible, all things considered
It was a step forward compared to the Shittles
It created meme rock
Many experts on /mu/ cite it as proto-meme rock
>>63944968
thanks m8, very well thought out response
>>63944977
any genres besides drone, dream-pop, and shoegaze?
>>63945061
Punk and Noise Rock
>>63945061
punk (and post-punk) for sure
If not musically, then spiritually- TVU's nihilism paved the way for the punk attitude. Many great punk musicians cited TVU as an influence (John Lydon and Mark E Smith to name a couple).
>>63945061
>>63945085
>drone
>dream-pop
>Shoegaze
>punk
>noise rock
So many genres yet they're all so edgy
>>63945061
punk u retard
>>63945114
fantastic music analysis!
>>63945061
Post-rock
>>63945136
Forgot to put that in there, because its so obvious, was thinking of the slightly more indirect influences.
>>63945061
alternative rock and indie rock
>>63945061
>thanks m8, very well thought out response
fyi he didnt write that, it's just a scaruffi pasta
>>63944889
It makes experimental music more accessible. For example noise rock.
clon
>>63945061
noise rock
shoegaze
post rock
drone
alternative rock
It created mememusic (lazy alt rock) ruining music forever.
Fuck Lou Reed
>>63945175
>alternative rock
>indie rock
Again, more edgy genres driving the point home.
>>63945335
>everything I don't like is edgy
>>63945335
What isn't edgy
>>63945283
>meme_____
your opinion is invalid
>>63945335
what point?
