The Velvet Underground is one of the most vital but unappreciated bands of all time. The famous quote from Brain Eno is that the Velvet Underground only sold a thousand copies of its debut album, but every single person who bought a copy went out and started a band.
The Velvets began in the mid-'60s playing their brand of white-noise and experimental rock at clubs around New York City. Lead singer and lyricist Lou Reed explored themes unheard of at the time. He talked about heroin addiction, sex changes, life on the streets and sadomasochism. This was in fierce opposition to the flower-power hippie bands that were popular at the time.
Reed, an English major and self-professed poet, sprinkled his writing with allusions to high art and literature. This linked the band with the slumming intellectuals and hipsters who haunted New York's underground scene.
Reed's themes were matched with the sheer sonic viciousness of the band's sound, which was built on the screaming of member John Cale's electric viola and solid walls of feedback. This attracted avant-garde artist and media huckster Andy Warhol, who soon became the band's manager.
By 1970, the band had shed Warhol and had released three flawless, classic albums. The band now attempted to control its feedback and write an album that might have a chance of crossing over to a larger audience. The result is "Loaded," which contains some of the most important and sublime works of the band's career.
I was flipping through my well-worn copy of Martin Strong's "The Essential Rock Discography," when I stumbled upon a picture that enthralled me. It was a black and white photograph of Lou Reed on stage performing with Velvet Underground. There is only one word to describe how Reed looked: cool.
His guitar was slung around his back and he grasp the microphone stand with both hands. In between his clenched knuckles dangled a cigarette, whose smoke was reflected in his mirrored aviator sunglasses. His tight drainpipe jeans and black long sleeve t-shirt hugged his slim junkie's frame. Reed looks druggy, arty, intellectual and heartlessly hip.
Before I had even heard a note of his music, Lou Reed was a hero to me. He was the apex of everything I held sacred; he was well read, articulate, independent and bohemian to the extreme. That was enough to get me hooked.
And then I heard his records. I started at the beginning with 1967's "The Velvet Underground and Nico" and within months had devoured "White Light/ White Heat" and 1969's self titled album. But it was the band's final album, "Loaded," with which I fell in love.
The songs were more traditional and guitar-driven, the rhythms much more melodic. "Sweet Jane," a jangly song about true love, contained lines like "And me? I'm in a rock n' roll band," which instantly struck a cord with me.
"Loaded" is overall a much more optimistic record then the Velvets had previously attempted. Reed still kept his poetic influences, but now approached his subjects with an ear for mainstream listeners. Actual guitar solos filled the musical gaps instead of dense bricks of distortion.
The edge is still there, as on "Cool It Down," where Reed expresses his love for a prostitute named Linda Lee who "has the power to love me by the hour." But then there's also "I Found A Reason", arguably one of the album's highlights and a haunting ballad about lifesaving love. "I found a reason to keep on living, and the reason, honey, is you," Reed sings.
The songs are reminiscent of old gospel music, chilling the listener to the bone.
"Loaded" is a perfect record. For me each of its 10 songs holds memories and can instantly evoke emotion. Unfortunately during the recording of this epic album, the band imploded and Reed left months before its release.