The Untold Truth Of The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground is one of the most influential bands in the history of pop music. And their legacy is especially impressive considering all of their albums were panned by critics and ignored by fans. There's a saying that even though they didn't sell well initially, every person who bought one of their albums ended up forming a band.

That's because the groundbreaking style of Lou Reed, John Cale, Doug Yule, Sterling Morrison, and Moe Tucker has turned out to be timeless. And their collaborations with Nico and Andy Warhol only brought them to new heights of fame, including, eventually, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So how did it happen? Here's the untold truth of the Velvet Underground.

#TheVelvetUnderground #Bands #RockAndRoll

Began in New York City | 0:10
Meeting Andy Warhol | 1:21
Nico joins the band | 2:22
The Velvet Underground & Nico | 3:22
Firing Warhol and Nico | 4:19
John Cale is fired | 5:22
Lou Reed's departure | 6:00
Squeeze was panned and ignored | 6:57
Reunion tour and second break-up | 7:35
Death of former members | 8:17
Legacy of The Velvet Underground | 9:08

[GrungeHQ]

What's your favorite song from The Velvet Underground?

[tgore]

I'm waiting for the 'Untold Truth."

[quinnrollen]

Nico's voice had such a beautiful darkness to it. A true original.

[mikewilson]

Without the Velvet Underground my CD and Vinyl collection would be much smaller. Mega influential.

[klmullins]

It would've been interesting to mention Reed's rivalry with Frank Zappa, and how they traded barbs and insults in the press, yet Reed later inducted Zappa into the RnR Hall of Fame, speaking of him in the highest regard.

[nolagospeltracts]

How is this untold truth? All the info in this video is common knowledge among Velvets fans.

[blairmulholland]

This video is full of lies and bs. Anyone who knows VU history will spot the inaccuracies, but the worst sin is the implication that Reed made decisions in the search for commercial success. Geez, he went back to live with his parents and worked as a typist! Does that sound like someone looking for chart hits to you?!

[chrisbacos]

I first heard of them in the 1980s when there was a revived interest in the group. I have loved them ever since.

[josephsmall]

I listen to Nico's solo albums a lot, and VU's first album.

[johnkelsiemcnair]

I found a copy of The Velvet Underground & Nico's album along with Terry Reid's Seed of Memory and John Coltrane's Giant Steps in trash can in 1979. I still have those LPs.

[michaelhoskins]

The "Untold truth" = events that have already been exhaustively documented over the last 50 years, and are already known to most people with a passing interest in The Velvet Underground.

[c.d.macaulay]

White Heat White Light? Try it the other way around. That’s a pretty big detail to get wrong.

[larkguit]

It's been said that very few people bought Velvet Underground albums, but most of those who did started bands

[sandygibson]

Thank you to this amazing band for influencing so many people.

[TheWanderer]

I always loved both Lou Reed and John Cale. Sadly they were both regarded as difficult people so their break up seemed predictiable. I was told by someone who had worked with John Cale that he was very aloof and the whole experience was unpleasant. It is sad that hardly anyone today even knows who they were despite their considerable influence.

[EnoVarma]

The thumbnail is the prettiest picture of David Bowie I've ever seen.

[markcarey]

"Cale was born in the UK"....didn't you thing people would know where Wales was?

[darthcheney]

Bah. Cale and Tucker can put the band back together again and they would fill the house.

[ForARide]

Picture at 2:23 is from the Yule lineup and not the Cale lineup. Sloppy editing.
And as for the record, Cale wasn't just only a classically trained viola player, but a classically trained multi instrumentalist. The first instrument he learned aged six was the piano.

[richardawhite]

Watch a video on a band who were never sell outs and never achieved commercial success but yet I have to watch three commercials in a ten minute video. Oh the irony.