The Velvet Underground and Nico

The velvet underground and Nico were definitely unique for their time. They sought to bring together art and music in a way that had never been done before. Describing their own music as “avant garde” they were very “artsy” as some might say. The music was very simplistic and it seems that when you listen to it the band doesn’t care if they sound good or not (in fact they almost say exactly that in the documentary). This makes for very boring and unemotional songs that never really had any attachment to anything. Their image is that of the New York Hipster of today. They claim to not care about money and are only in it for the art but then they go on to almost brag about not being able to really play an instrument (this would be like a painter who cant paint). What really frustrated me when researching them is that they come off very pretentious like they’re music is somehow better or more meaningful then other people’s music. The main songwriters of the band Lou Reed and John Cale were the main artistic visionaries of the band. Lou being a native New Yorker didn’t have any formal training besides playing is garage bands while his counter part John Cale came to the United States to study classical music. Lou had much more of a singer songwriter style and Cale was much more of an “artist”. After their first albums came out artist Andy Warhol who set them up with Nico recognized them. His vision was to combine art, music, and film to make a completely new style and culture. Something that really set them apart from everyone else is the fact that they really don’t seem to care whether they sell records or if people like them. They would be perfectly content with making music and living on no money (or so they say). Another thing that really set them apart from everyone was just their aesthetic in general. They really didn’t look or sound like anyone else from that time. It seems like they would fit in more with the New York City hipsters of today. The impression that I get as a profession is not a very good one. I see mediocre songwriting coupled with terrible production and extremely boring performances. As just a passive listener I suppose is isn’t all that bad but I cant get over the fact that they just don’t put any emotion into anything. If I had to rate this album it would only get one star.