The one question that made The Velvet Underground fire Andy Warhol on the spot
Versatility is important within music, as it can lead to the creation of exciting new styles and also keep things fresh. The Velvet Underground are a great example of this.
When you go through the band’s discography, it’s great fun listening to their music and genuinely having no idea what kind of direction a song is going to go in. The band were never bothered about fitting into one specific style of music, and instead were happy pushing different sounds in a bid to constantly give fans something new.
The Velvet Underground let their imaginations run wild when they made music, and then went on to influence plenty of other musicians who were listening. Artists who might have struggled to find a specific style found solace in the underground New York scene, where there didn’t seem to be any rules, and listeners rejoiced in that fact.
David Byrne once spoke about how much The Velvet Underground influenced Talking Heads because he found inspiration in their lack of consistency. “The Velvet Underground were a big revelation,” he said. “I realised, ‘Oh, look at the subject of their songs: There’s a tune and a melody, but the sound is either completely abrasive or really pretty’”.
Byrne added, “They swing from one extreme to the other. ‘White Light/White Heat’ is just this noise, and then ‘Candy Says’ is incredibly pretty but really kind of dark. As a young person, you go, ‘What is this about?’”
When you listen to the band now and really appreciate their willingness to explore different styles within their music, we can celebrate their innovation; however, things weren’t so simple for them when they initially started making music. It was hard for a band with such range finding a solid audience, as there was confusion about the line-up and what kind of music they should be focusing on the most. Lou Reed used to grow frustrated at the confusion surrounding the band, and thought it was time for a change.
“You know, when we started out in The Velvet Underground, people didn’t know who we were […] Literally. They thought Andy Warhol was the guitar player,” said Reed, “They said I would never write anything as good as ‘Heroin’ […] And then they said that if I left The Velvet Underground, I would never be as good as I was in The Velvet Underground.”
Reed decided that it was time for the band to start trying to make more commercial music, and in order to do that, he had to have a change around within the band. Andy Warhol was managing them at the time, which meant the band were considered quite art-oriented. This was all well and good when it came to them establishing themselves as a cool musical outfit, but it didn’t sell records. When Reed discovered Warhol was keen on the band continuing down this arty style, he knew it was time to part ways with their manager. One question is all that was needed for the Velvet Underground to move on to a new manager.
“He sat down and had a talk with me,” said Reed. “[He said] ‘You gotta decide what you want to do. Do you want to keep just playing museums from now on and the art festivals? Or do you want to start moving into other areas? Lou, don’t you think you should think about it?’ So I thought about it, and I fired him. Because I thought that was one of the things to do if we were going to move away from that. He was furious. I’d never seen Andy angry, but I did that day. He was really mad. Called me a rat. That was the worst thing he could think of.”
