Oh and I Guess That I Just Don't Know...
Thursday. While Arthur Dent never could quite get the hang of Thursdays, I consider Thursday to be the best day of my workweek. This is due to the simple fact that it is website upload day which provides me with a full shift of something to do. Busy is good.
Today's musical selection was The Velvet Underground. These guys are super awesome. Lou Reed, whom I consider to be one of the greatest songwriters around, fronted the VU. This guy is way underrated. Most people will never know how good he is simply due to the fact that he gets extremely minimal radio airplay. His career spans 40 years with probably around 30 albums but tragically only one of his songs gets put on regular rotation (Walk on the Wild Side). I am guessing this is because, sadly, the lack of huge commercial success for both VU and Lou Reed's solo career. VU got their start as Andy Warhol’s house band, with Mr. Warhol producing their first album and cover art. Despite making some mighty fine music, they never really took off as far as sales go, eventually breaking up to go their own ways. Regardless, their contribution to the music world has been widely influential. As Brian Eno once said "only a few thousand people bought a Velvet Underground record, (but) almost every single one of them was inspired to start a band." But you don't have to just listen to my opinion, according to VH1.com, "by the 1980s, (The Velvet Underground) were acknowledged not just as one of the most important rock bands of the '60s, but one of the best of all time, and one whose immense significance cannot be measured by their relatively modest sales."
This influence can be seen everywhere you look. A line from one of VU's most powerful and best songs, H______ (sorry, letters omitted to keep site safe for work), inspired the title of the book and movie Jesus' Son (I have read and seen both, respectively). The same song is also on the soundtrack to The Doors. White Light/White Heat gets a mention and track play in High Fidelity. Social Distortion has an album humorously titled White Light/White Heat/White Trash. A cover of Sweet Jane by The Cowboy Junkies can be heard in Natural Born Killers. Perry Farrell did a cover of Satellite of Love. David Bowie has recorded many VU songs, including Waiting for the Man. I even have a live cover somewhere of Fiona Apple and Adam Duritz performing the beautiful Pale Blue Eyes. I can keep going, but the point is that even if you have never explicitly listened to VU, chances are you still have been exposed to and influenced by them. So, now's the time to give them the props they deserve.
Oh, and speaking of Fiona Apple, I did find out that enterprising, computer-savvy individuals can find the unreleased album discussed yesterday (Extraordinary Machine) if one looks in the right places on the internet. Of course I would never encourage such behavior on this site, I'm just doing a follow-up from yesterday for full disclosure. Expect a full review sometime in the near future...
Today's musical selection was The Velvet Underground. These guys are super awesome. Lou Reed, whom I consider to be one of the greatest songwriters around, fronted the VU. This guy is way underrated. Most people will never know how good he is simply due to the fact that he gets extremely minimal radio airplay. His career spans 40 years with probably around 30 albums but tragically only one of his songs gets put on regular rotation (Walk on the Wild Side). I am guessing this is because, sadly, the lack of huge commercial success for both VU and Lou Reed's solo career. VU got their start as Andy Warhol’s house band, with Mr. Warhol producing their first album and cover art. Despite making some mighty fine music, they never really took off as far as sales go, eventually breaking up to go their own ways. Regardless, their contribution to the music world has been widely influential. As Brian Eno once said "only a few thousand people bought a Velvet Underground record, (but) almost every single one of them was inspired to start a band." But you don't have to just listen to my opinion, according to VH1.com, "by the 1980s, (The Velvet Underground) were acknowledged not just as one of the most important rock bands of the '60s, but one of the best of all time, and one whose immense significance cannot be measured by their relatively modest sales."
This influence can be seen everywhere you look. A line from one of VU's most powerful and best songs, H______ (sorry, letters omitted to keep site safe for work), inspired the title of the book and movie Jesus' Son (I have read and seen both, respectively). The same song is also on the soundtrack to The Doors. White Light/White Heat gets a mention and track play in High Fidelity. Social Distortion has an album humorously titled White Light/White Heat/White Trash. A cover of Sweet Jane by The Cowboy Junkies can be heard in Natural Born Killers. Perry Farrell did a cover of Satellite of Love. David Bowie has recorded many VU songs, including Waiting for the Man. I even have a live cover somewhere of Fiona Apple and Adam Duritz performing the beautiful Pale Blue Eyes. I can keep going, but the point is that even if you have never explicitly listened to VU, chances are you still have been exposed to and influenced by them. So, now's the time to give them the props they deserve.
Oh, and speaking of Fiona Apple, I did find out that enterprising, computer-savvy individuals can find the unreleased album discussed yesterday (Extraordinary Machine) if one looks in the right places on the internet. Of course I would never encourage such behavior on this site, I'm just doing a follow-up from yesterday for full disclosure. Expect a full review sometime in the near future...
posted by john at 8:42 AM
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