glam rock artists like David Bowie, to the proto-punk CBGB artists of the 1970s, to the new wave and indie-rock groups of the 1980s, and on through each succeeding wave of even quasi-arty rock.
Partly through their interlude as the house band of Andy Warhol’s Factory scene, the VU was formative to U.K. That came bubbling out of Long Island, melting crystalline structures-which was just what we had had in mind.”įor at least four decades, discussions of the Velvet Underground have revolved around how this 1960s obscurity-a dark and culturally queer counterforce to what’s usually remembered of 1960s counterculture-became a far-reaching influence after the fact.
But as Conrad is heard saying later in the film, in their work, “Pop dissolved high culture. The VU itself, also featuring guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker as well as various temporary members, failed extravagantly at attaining any such success. None of the three slumming avant-gardists in the Primitives harbored the pop ambitions Reed did. But this “mistake” set off a partnership that before long would lead Reed and Cale to form the Velvet Underground. All they ever really produced was a novelty dance single called “ The Ostrich” for a bargain record label. He’s describing the circumstances that brought together himself, the visual artist Walter De Maria, and the recent Welsh immigrant classical musician John Cale to back a druggy, ornery writer from the suburbs named Lou Reed in the early 1960s garage-rock group the Primitives. “It was an almost magical mistake.” That’s the late experimental composer and filmmaker Tony Conrad, heard via archival audio in director Todd Haynes’ new documentary.
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