035: The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)
“The only reason we wore sunglasses onstage was because we couldn’t stand the sight of the audience.”
—John Cale
In this episode, Ben leads everyone through an album nobody would have pegged him as loving (since it's not by Elvis), 1967's The Velvet Underground and Nico. Produced (sort of) by Andy Warhol and featuring singing (sort of) by German model Nico, the album's noisy, abrasive rock music - sweetened by Lou Reed's reliable pop instincts - has influenced generations of bands. But is it any fun to listen to? Ben says heck yes, Will rolls his eyes, and Amanda and Phil bring some sorely needed nuance to the table. There's definitely Discord here - probably inevitable whenever Lou Reed is involved.
Miscellany
We hope that everyone who hears this episode starts their own music-discussion podcast. We'll plug it!
A sad detail left out of the episode: Nico passed away in 1988 as the result of a bicycling accident.
Sterling Morrison - sorry, Doctor Sterling Morrison - earned a PhD in Medieval Literature in 1986 from the University of Texas at Austin.
As hinted at in the episode by Will, Lou Reed eventually crossed paths with David Bowie, who was a fan of the Velvet Underground. Bowie produced Reed's 1972 commercial breakthrough album Transformer.
Predictably - and gutlessly - the 1989 edition of Webster's Dictionary jumps directly from "dichotomy" to "diction."
Amazingly, the angry associate who shot Andy Warhol in 1968 was not Lou Reed. Instead, it was writer Valerie Solanas.
The 2010 clip of Underground drummer Moe Tucker at a Tea Party rally, speaking to a TV reporter about America's descent into socialism, can be found here, at the 2:40 mark: https://youtu.be/HEt-IaRbcVY. The Tea Party has since soldiered on with their principled stand against taxation, regardless of who has occupied the White House.
Byrds founder Roger McGuinn on the origins of the guitar sound in Eight Miles High: "Eight Miles High actually came about as a tribute to John Coltrane. It was our attempt to play jazz. We were on a tour of America, and someone played us the Coltrane albums Africa/Brass and Impressions. I had just picked up a cassette recorder – it was such a new thing, you couldn’t buy any tapes to play in it. But I had some blank tapes so recorded the Coltrane albums, along with some Ravi Shankar, and took them on tour. It was the only music we had, for the whole time on the bus. By the end of the tour, Coltrane and Shankar were ingrained. There was one Coltrane track called India, where he was trying to emulate sitar music with his saxophone. It had a recurring phrase, dee da da da, which I picked up on my Rickenbacker guitar and played some jazzy stuff around it."
Other links
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Ben Marlin (host)
Chris Willie Williams (moderator)
Amanda Rodgers
Phil Maddox
The Velvet Underground and Nico tracklist
Sunday Morning
I'm Waiting For the Man
Femme Fatale
Venus In Furs
Run Run Run
All Tomorrow's Parties
Heroin
There She Goes Again
I'll Be Your Mirror
The Black Angel's Death Song
European Son
Other clips used
The Velvet Underground/Nico:
Nico - These Days
The Velvet Underground - Rock and Roll
The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray
The Velvet Underground - Who Loves the Sun
Nico - Ari’s Song
Lou Reed & John Cale - Starlight
Others:
Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane
No Doubt - Sunday Morning
Martin Denny - Misirlou
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Sunday Morning
Duran Duran - Femme Fatale
Electric Wizard - Venus in Furs
The Gestures - Run, Run, Run
The Third Rail - Run Run Run
Sixpence None the Richer - There She Goes
Marvin Gaye - Hitch Hike
R.E.M. - There She Goes Again
Clem Snide - I’ll Be Your Mirror
Yo La Tengo - Moby Octopad
Amon Tobin - Venus in Furs/Voodoo Child
Songs we mentioned but didn’t clip
The Velvet Underground/Nico:
Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
John Cale - Hallelujah
Nico - I’m Not Sayin’
The Velvet Underground - All Tomorrow’s Parties (Demo)
Others:
Electric Light Orchestra - Do Ya
The Dead Milkmen - Jellyfish Heaven
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
Thelonious Monk - Pannonica
Goblin - Suspiria
The Stooges - Penetration
Fleetwood Mac - Monday Morning
Peaches - Fuck the Pain Away
The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
Sly & the Family Stone - Dance to the Music
The Ramones - 53rd & 3rd
R.E.M. - Femme Fatale
The Miracles - You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me
The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds
The Byrds - Eight Miles High
Bruce Springsteen - Wild Billy’s Circus Story
Bruce Springsteen - Spirit in the Night
Bruce Springsteen - Kitty’s Back
Bob Dylan - Maggie’s Farm
Joan Baez - Sweet Sir Galahad
Elle King - Kocaine Karolina
Bob Dylan - I’ll Keep it With Mine
The Beatles - Revolution 9
Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
Band/album personnel
Lou Reed - guitar, ostrich guitar, vocals
John Cale - viola, piano, bass
Sterling Morrison - guitar, bass
Moe Tucker - drums, tambourine
Nico - vocals
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
The Velvet Underground - Heroin (this episode only)
You can buy or stream The Velvet Underground and Nico and other albums by the Velvet Underground at the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon [affiliate link]. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production, editing, and celestial education. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.