As the house band at Andy Warhol's Factory, The Velvet Underground played at some of New York City's wildest and most debauched parties, all while changing the sound of rock forever.
After he moved to New York City, he met Lou Reed at a coffee shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Reed was drawn to his hair, which reminded him of The Beatles, and invited Cale to join his band after learning he was a classically trained viola player.Adam Ritchie/Redferns/Getty Images
"One night we played 'The Black Angel's Death Song" and the owner came up and said, 'If you play that song one more time you're fired!' So we started the next set with it," recalled Sterling Morrison.Adam Ritchie/Redferns/Getty Images
Angus MacLise, their original drummer, quit when he heard about the show, telling the other members that they had sold out by accepting money for playing. They were paid $75.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The year before, Lou Reed fired John Cole and replaced him with Doug Yule (right). Moe Tucker (front) and Sterling Morrison (back) left the band in 1971. Yule attempted to carry on the band for a couple years without the original members before finally abandoning the project in 1973.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Formed in 1964, The Velvet Underground was a wild and untamed rock band that pioneered new genres and artforms. The New York City quartet emerged in stark contrast to the euphoric hippie ballads emanating from California — and was determined to provide the 1960s counterculture with honest and lurid explorations of drug use and sex.
With poetic lyrics and experimental orchestrations, The Velvet Underground transported millions of listeners to dingy east coast dive bars and raucous art house parties for the very first time. With none other than Andy Warhol as their manager, they became his house band at "The Factory" — and a staple of New York's nascent pop art scene.
And throughout it all, photographers were there to capture the avant-garde mood. These 33 vintage photos of The Velvet Underground chronicle the band's daring early heyday and the essence of New York cool.
The Velvet Underground's Wild Side
Early on, The Velvet Underground went through several different names before settling. The final inspiration revealingly came from the title of a paperback book about the many sexual subcultures in the early 1960s. Ultimately, the group would have to endure numerous changes regarding its band members, as well.
In its prime, the principal members included singer and guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, Sterling Morrison on bass, and percussionist Maureen "Moe" Tucker, who had replaced drummer Angus MacLise a mere eight months after the group had formed.
Then, in 1969, Doug Yule was brought in to replace Cage for the final two albums of the original incarnation of the band. Yule would release a final album using The Velvet Underground name in 1973, after Reed, Morrison, and Tucker had all departed.
Wikimedia CommonsThe Velvet Underground and Nico in 1967. Clockwise from top left: Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale, Maureen Tucker, and Nico.
Musically inclined since his childhood on Long Island, Reed recorded his first songs as a teenager. Cale, born in Wales, was a classically trained viola player. While Morrison would sing backup vocals and play the guitar. For Tucker, her first gig as the band's drummer occurred on Nov. 11, 1965 — with Reed singing "Heroin" at a New Jersey high school.
"We were not user friendly at all," recalled Tucker. "Anybody listening to a bass guitar and a regular guitar coming out of the same amp, it couldn't have been a really great listening experience. I mean, we went through loudspeakers faster than shoes."
With a regular spot at the Café Bizarre in Greenwich Village, The Velvet Underground was discovered by pop-art legend Andy Warhol. As their newfound patron and official manager, Warhol launched the group to new heights as part of the audioscape of New York's art scene.
"The band had a sense of 'it's us against the world,'" Cale said. "We were gonna do this. Then Andy came along and we felt protected, just like all the other people that were at the Factory, they felt protected. They were misfits, very creative misfits, and they had somewhere to work. And there was a lot of work going on there."
Warhol even introduced them to Nico, a German model and chanteuse with whom they recorded their 1967 debut, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Their dingy and experimental sound only became more reckless with 1968's White Light/White Heat before being significantly tamed on The Velvet Underground in 1969.
By then, however, the band was already falling apart.
The Legacy Of The Velvet Underground
While The Velvet Underground became Warhol's house band and went on successful tours with popular albums, the Factory days didn't last long. In 1967, Reed was adamant about removing Warhol as the band's manager. When Warhol left, Nico followed.
Adam Ritchie/Redferns/Getty ImagesFrom dive bars to The Delmonico Hotel, pictured here, The Velvet Underground went from beer-soaked stages to high-society dinners.
A year later, Reed fired Cale too, who he felt was hindering the band's commercial potential with his desire to push the group in even more experimental directions.
Reed ultimately quit in 1970 and arguably produced his most remarkable work with Transformer in 1972 — which was co-produced by David Bowie. Cale went on to work with Iggy Pop, Brian Eno, and Patti Smith.
Morrison and Tucker quit shortly after their bandmates left. Tucker moved to Phoenix and played drums with local acts. Morrison became a Medieval literature instructor at the University of Texas.
Andy Warhol died in 1987, and Nico died of a brain hemorrhage the following year. The band reunited in 1990 to perform for the first time since 1968. They even recorded a live album together in 1993.
And even though none of their albums ever achieved commercial success while together, The Velvet Underground was a fundamental part of New York City's 1960's counterculture scene and left a lasting influence that paved the way for the evolution of glam and punk rock in the decades that followed.
"I was talking to Lou Reed the other day, and he said that the first Velvet Underground record sold only 30,000 copies in its first five years," British glam rocker Brian Eno told an interviewer in 1982.
"Yet, that was an enormously important record for so many people. I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band."
After learning about The Velvet Underground, take a look at 41 terrifying photos of 1970s New York. Next, check out 44 classic photos of 1990s hip-hop and its emerging icons.
