The Velvet Underground
by Richard Witts
(Paperback) (Published)
(December 2006)
ISBN: 9781904768272
Price: $23.95
Out of stock
Though The Velvet Underground existed for less than three years with its original members, it is considered to be not just the ‘ultimate New York band’ but also the most influential group ever. Artists who have acknowledged such influence include David Bowie, The Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, Joy Division and Nirvana. Witts places the band and its genesis in the cultural context of Manhattan’s beatnik bohemianism, its radical artistic environment, and the city’s negative reaction to California’s ‘Hippie’ counterculture. Lou Reed’s song factory background is also considered, while his Primitives (1964-5) and Velvet Underground songs (1965-70) are examined within the stylistic context of rock music. The band’s sound world is likewise considered in this light. John Cale’s experimental contribution is assessed, especially his work for LaMonte Young (The Theatre of Eternal Music) and what he carried from that experience into the Velvet’s sound. The visual artist Andy Warhol became the band’s manager and producer in 1965. He placed his ‘superstar’ Nico in the line-up (which already included a female drummer). The radical nature of the group’s Warhol period performances are examined, together with those aspects related to issues of gender, sexuality and drugs culture by which the Warhol Factory scene was identified, and contemplated in Reed’s songs. Witts examines the musical influences of the Velvets on punk, post-punk and subsequent rock movements, culminating in the group’s reunion of 1993. He also indexes the variety of media constructions that the group endured through the years and how these affected Cale, Nico and Reed and their attempts to establish solo careers.
- By (author) Richard Witts
Other Titles in this Series
Similar Books
Judische Musikerziehung im Preussen des 19. Jahrhunderts
Gesangunterricht an judischen Reformschulen als Facette burgerlicher Akkulturation
Volume 21
Künstlervertragsmodelle in der Musikwirtschaft
Rechtliche Grenzen der künstlerbezogenen Nebenrechteverwertung im Erlös-, Vermittlungs-, Options- und Leistungsmodell
Luigi Dallapiccola between Politics, Text and Musical Thought
With an Appendix of New Sources
Volume 11
Of Signs and Sounds
Musical Interpretation and Performance from the 19th to the 21st Century
Volume 58
