And there was a lot of work going on there.' They were misfits, very creative misfits, and they had somewhere to work. Then Andy came along and we felt protected, just like all the other people that were at the Factory, they felt protected. 'The band had a sense of 'it's us against the world,'' Cale said. 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. With a regular spot at the CafГ© Bizarre in Greenwich Village, The Velvet Underground was discovered by pop-art legend Andy Warhol. I mean, we went through loudspeakers faster than shoes.' '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. 'We were not user friendly at all,' recalled Tucker. 11, 1965 - with Reed singing 'Heroin' at a New Jersey high school. For Tucker, her first gig as the band's drummer occurred on Nov. While Morrison would sing backup vocals and play the guitar. Cale, born in Wales, was a classically trained viola player. Musically inclined since his childhood on Long Island, Reed recorded his first songs as a teenager. Clockwise from top left: Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale, Maureen Tucker, and Nico. Wikimedia Commons The Velvet Underground and Nico in 1967. Yule would release a final album using The Velvet Underground name in 1973, after Reed, Morrison, and Tucker had all departed. Then, in 1969, Doug Yule was brought in to replace Cage for the final two albums of the original incarnation of the band. 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. Ultimately, the group would have to endure numerous changes regarding its band members, as well.

The final inspiration revealingly came from the title of a paperback book about the many sexual subcultures in the early 1960s. The Velvet Underground's Wild SideД®arly on, The Velvet Underground went through several different names before settling.

These 33 vintage photos of The Velvet Underground chronicle the band's daring early heyday and the essence of New York cool. 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.ДЄnd throughout it all, photographers were there to capture the avant-garde mood. 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. 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. Formed in 1964, The Velvet Underground was a wild and untamed rock band that pioneered new genres and artforms.

The velvet underground