How popular were the Velvet Underground at the time?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by rain_king, Aug 16, 2021.

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  1. mooseman

    mooseman Forum Resident

    Yes, they played them on WNEW FM in mid seventies. That was the first time I heard, Rock & Roll and Sweet Jane.
    My first album I heard by the VU was the live double album around 1974 or 75.
     
  2. mooseman

    mooseman Forum Resident

    Wind by Circus Maximus, that song was played a lot on the rock station WNEW FM here in the New York area in the early seventies.
     
  3. Peter Mork

    Peter Mork Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Someday I'll post that whole tape, about three hours of proto free-form radio as it existed 54 years ago, with all the songs intact. It's interesting hearing what happened when there were few limits to programming, on a small station with lots of records and no mandate to sell anything.
     
  4. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Yes, although the first copy that I bought was so used up that it sounded like Rice Krispies.
     
  5. Nogoodnik

    Nogoodnik Celebrity Jeopardy and Mini Crossword smart

    Location:
    Saint Paul, MN
    Along with a Bob Marley Legend poster.

    Wait…that’s on the second day.
     
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  6. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    I think for myself it wasn't until Lou Reed's Transformer that I even became aware of Velvet Underground. I like Loaded but not much else.
     
  7. sonicthesoundwave

    sonicthesoundwave music is what maths does on a Saturday night

    Location:
    montreal
    i'd be interested in hearing that!
     
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  8. rain_king

    rain_king Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    California
    I think this is a good encapsulation of their somewhat unusual relationship to popularity; and really, their whole premise was very unique--how many up-and-coming bands have the benefit of an association with a major cultural figure like Warhol, who was at the time probably the best-known artist in the world and at the peak of his career?

    But to me the major difference between someone like Steve Coleman vs. the Velvet Underground is that there is a surprisingly large number of different pressings of their first few albums in the late '60s and early '70s, given that they are considered by some to have been a semi-obscure band. Indeed, one of the inspirations for my starting this thread was seeing just how many Discogs entries there were for VU&N. My sense is that there was a lot of hope at Verve that they would be the next big thing and so there was a big push to get their records out there--but that after a few years it became clear they were not going to hit it big, and so they were probably regarded from an industry standpoint as something of a failure.
     
  9. Peter Mork

    Peter Mork Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Back then, you'd be lucky to find a banana peel cover at a record store that hadn't been at least partly peeled.

    And it was multiple copies of the same record in the same bin, as if someone thought there must be something besides a pink banana in one of these!
     
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  10. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Well, I don't know if you ever got to have the experience of peeling an original '67 pressing, but...you know what it's like when you peel the plastic off a brand new smart phone screen? It is somehow even more satisfying than that.
     
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  11. sonicthesoundwave

    sonicthesoundwave music is what maths does on a Saturday night

    Location:
    montreal
    i always got the impression that the label was only interested because of warhol, which is why lou fired him to make the band his own

    Andy sat down to talk one day
    He said decide what you want
    Do you want to expand your parameters
    Or play museums like some dilettante
    I fired him on the spot, he got red and he called me a rat
    It was the worst word that he could think of
    And I've never seen him like that
     
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  12. rednoise

    rednoise Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    This is believable to me. As interesting and artful as is Velvet Underground music, I can hardly believe anybody would really think they had serious major commercial appeal. It's just not that kind of music.
     
  13. Sear

    Sear Dad rocker

    Location:
    Tarragona (Spain)
    I'm endlessly fascinated by this band. Every time I play their albums I get something new
     
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  14. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Sweet Jane, Rock And Roll, Stephanie Says, Sunday Morning, What Goes On, Beginning To See The Light, Who Loves The Sun..those are all highly melodic pop/rock songs with a lot of commercial appeal.
     
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  15. rednoise

    rednoise Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    Presented along with harsh drones and noise, and sounding like it was recorded on a Dictaphone in somebody's garage.

    It does not sound at all commercial to me.
     
  16. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    There are no harsh drones on any of the those tracks and the audio quality is superb. So, no.
     
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  17. rednoise

    rednoise Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    I didn't say there were.

    No, it's not.
     
  18. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Yes you did, and yes it is.
     
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  19. rednoise

    rednoise Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    Please diagram that sentence.
     
  20. Jack Lord

    Jack Lord Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Same here.

    WHFS played The Gift once and I was fascinated. Some months later they played Who Loves the Sun and I was confused as to how the same band had done both of those songs. I concluded that they must have had a "Beatles like" progression and Who Loves the Sun was an early, early tune before they discovered Warhol, Heroin, and other forms of decadence.

    Imagine the further shock of learning that I was completely wrong and it had actually been the opposite with The Gift coming before Who Loves the Sun.
     
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  21. Uuan

    Uuan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    and later he became a tug boat captain !?
     
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  22. stepeanut

    stepeanut The gloves are off

    I own one of Sterling’s UT Austin ID cards from the mid-1970s:

    [​IMG]
     
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  23. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Picasso and Dali were still alive at the time, by the way, and, in any case, Warhol was not really that well known when he first became involved with the Velvets.
     
  24. Sidewinder43

    Sidewinder43 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lavaca County, TX
    Very cool.
     
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  25. INSW

    INSW Senior Member

    Location:
    Georgia
    The Gift was my wedding song.
     
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