The guitarist who influenced The Velvet Underground more than anyone else
For all their experimental power and cult status, having changed the landscape of rock and roll forevermore, The Velvet Underground are rarely pitted against the head honchos of guitar music – the Led Zeppelins or Black Sabbaths of the world.
Perhaps that fact should come as no surprise. After all, the subversive New York outfit was never particularly attuned to long, wailing guitar solos, and Lou Reed would have looked ridiculous striding onto the ramshackle ‘stage’ of Andy Warhol’s Factory donning a double-necked guitar à la Jimmy Page. In their own way, though, Lou Reed’s underrated six-string stylings were just as revolutionary.
Within the guitar world, rhythmic players routinely go overlooked in favour of their spotlight-stealing counterparts, so far, a band like The Velvet Underground, who never featured much in the way of self-aggrandising solos or repetitive riffs, there’s not much for guitar elitists to cling on to. It should be argued, however, that the very fact that The Velvets didn’t feel any need to follow the prevailing rock guitar trends of the day speaks to their otherworldly power.
That is not to say, though, that Reed wasn’t capable of mastering those complex trends. He did, after all, boast an extensive list of guitar influences which could easily have rivalled any players within the rock mainstream. Whereas the likes of Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, or Eric Clapton were endlessly indebted to the blues, though, Reed drew far more from the experimental realm of jazz, in addition to the enduring grooves of old-school R&B.
“I’d been listening to Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman,” The Velvet Underground songwriter told Guitar World in 1998. “Of course, I was not trained to play like them. I couldn’t read and write music. I couldn’t even begin to think of having technique like that.” Still, those avant-garde influences certainly found their way into Reed’s playing style, particularly during those early years.
Mainly, though, The Velvet Underground’s distinctive – if not always appreciated – guitar sound came as a result of Reed’s endless adoration for rockabilly hero James Burton, and the backbone of Stax Records, Steve Cropper. “Who doesn’t try to copy Cropper? He’s a great guitar player,” Reed posed.
Like Reed, Cropper was more than capable of blasting out mind-expanding solos if needs be, but he tended to stick to laying down some of the most enduring rhythm tracks in rock and R&B history. As the guitarist for the Stax house band, Booker T and the MG’s, Cropper completely changed the sonic expectations of R&B, and although his output was never quite as experimental as The Velvet Underground’s, he certainly had an impact on Lou Reed.
“You know, it’s not all about soloing,” Reed explained. “It’s about those parts that guys like Burton and Cropper played. And The Velvet Underground, we were about parts.” Adding, “Although some of the solo work grew out of having discovered feedback on electric guitar and liking that.”
What Cropper seemed to show Reed and The Velvets, in particular, was that you didn’t need to exert yourself with endless jams or overly complex riffs to impress audiences. After all, both artists changed the musical landscape indefinitely, and they did so as a result of their rhythm stylings, rather than self-congratulatory solos.
