LAMONTE YOUNG
There are two sides to the Velvet Underground—only one of which is rock ’n’ roll in the romantic tradition of Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. If someone in a guitar pop band claims to be "into the Velvets,” and they show it by doing the three-chords-and-poetry thing, this is the Velvet Underground they are talking about.
LAMONTE YOUNG
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John Neilson
There are two sides to the Velvet Underground—only one of which is rock ’n’ roll in the romantic tradition of Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. If someone in a guitar pop band claims to be "into the Velvets,” and they show it by doing the three-chords-and-poetry thing, this is the Velvet Underground they are talking about.
The other side of the band is the electric, wailing, piercing high-amplitude drone assault that characterized parts of their first two albums, and all but disappeared thereafter (1969 Live being a partial exception). This is the sound that led reviewers of the time to label their music a "three-ring psychosis” and a “savage series of atonal thrusts and electronic feedback.”
While legend has it that this sound sprang fully formed from the Velvets themselves, the truth is that much of the credit goes to avant-garde composer LaMonte Young. Not only was Young working (as early as 1960) with the same elements the Velvets would later use in a pop context, he was working with the same musicians as well.