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FLASHBACK: The Velvet Underground

16 July 2012 | 9:00 am | Staff Writer

They weren't that big when they were together, but The Velvet Underground became legends after they split up. Did they inspire you?

If you're a music head, you'll know that sometime in your life the question is always asked. Some swing one way, some sway the other... Either way the choice has to be made, is it the BEATLES, or the STONES? Though there is always a third option...

In New York during the swingin' sixties, ANDY WARHOL & his EXPLODING PLASTIC INEVITABLE toured the cities with their mixed multimedia shows. The EPI was a performance piece which drew the people's attention, only then to smash it to pieces, the psychedelic light show casting its radiant glow across the limbs of go-go dancers and fondling the frequencies of musicians Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker and John Cale - known to us as none other than THE VELVET UNDERGROUND.

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Patti Smith called them one of the most influential acts of all time, and listening to THE VELVET UNDERGROUND and NICO (a singer/actress who Warhol added to the lineup but who was separately billed) it is easy to hear why: album-opener 'Sunday Morning' features euphoric xylophone ringing in your ears whilst Nico's evening sunlit vocals stream down upon your face.

This record is literally the perfect playlist for any friday night party, saturday afternoon picnic, summer/autumn/winter evening or anytime at all. Wrapped within one of the most iconic album artworks of all time, (Warhol's 'Peel and See' Banana - which, if any of you were actually to peel, would find a lovely flesh coloured fruit. Totally perf, right?! I know!) This record is an absolute gem!

Words by Joshua Daydream.