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11 unusual facts about The Velvet Underground


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When the Velvet Underground moved from Verve Records (who had released their first two albums) to parent company MGM Records, they signed a two-album deal, releasing their third and eponymous album The Velvet Underground in March 1969.

B-Sides Ultra

The album contains two covers, a version of Iggy Pop and David Bowie's "China Girl" and The Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning".

Broder Daniel

Musically, they have been inspired by bands such as The Jesus And Mary Chain, Iggy Pop and The Velvet Underground, relying heavily on distorted guitars and simple arrangements.

Late Night Tales: MGMT

Their compilation features tracks from artists such as The Velvet Underground, Felt, Suicide, Spacemen 3, and Disco Inferno.

The Best of The Velvet Underground: Words and Music of Lou Reed

The Best of The Velvet Underground: Words and Music of Lou Reed is a compilation album by The Velvet Underground.

(1–3) taken from The Velvet Underground; (4–5) taken from VU; (6–7) taken from Loaded.

:There are Velvet Underground compilation albums with similar titles: The Best of The Velvet Underground: The Millennium Collection (2000) and The Very Best of The Velvet Underground (2003).

Ultimate Alternative Wavers

The song's lyrics, also, are in large part borrowed from The Velvet Underground's "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'".

Unsound Festival

According to the Unsound website, the "series refers to Warhol’s own extensive use of pre-existing material to create something new, as well as the 60s multimedia event The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, which used Warhol’s film work as moving wallpaper projected onto a wall and musicians from The Velvet Underground."

Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of Lou Reed

Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of Lou Reed is the first greatest hits compilation by Lou Reed, formerly of The Velvet Underground.

You Are My Little Bird

In addition to versions of folk tunes, it features covers of a variety of songs by other artists, among them "What Goes On" by The Velvet Underground, Neil Young's "Little Wing", and "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley.


Alex McAulay

Under the name Charles Douglas, Alex has recorded five indie-rock albums, including The Lives of Charles Douglas which features Maureen Tucker from The Velvet Underground on drums, and Statecraft with Joey Santiago from The Pixies on guitars.

Around and Around

Maureen Tucker of The Velvet Underground also recorded the song for her 1981 debut solo album Playin' Possum.

Cafe Wha?

Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, The Velvet Underground, Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys, Kool and the Gang, Peter, Paul & Mary, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, Joan Rivers, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, and many others all began their careers at the Wha?

Come Back My Children

Come Back My Children is a compilation album by Fatima Mansions consisting of all eight tracks from Against Nature, along with other early singles and B-sides and covers of "Stigmata" by Ministry and "Lady Godiva's Operation" by The Velvet Underground.

Everyone Alive Wants Answers

"Your Heart on Your Sleeve" contains a sample from the song "Here She Comes Now", by The Velvet Underground.

Exploding Plastic Inevitable

The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, sometimes simply called Plastic Inevitable or EPI, was a series of multimedia events organized by Andy Warhol between 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by The Velvet Underground and Nico, screenings of Warhol's films, and dancing and performances by regulars of Warhol's Factory, especially Mary Woronov and Gerard Malanga.

Lisa Law

Whether she was backstage with The Beatles, Peter, Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio, Otis Redding, The Lovin Spoonful, The Velvet Underground, The Byrds, taking promotional photographs of Janis Joplin and Big Brother, or at home making dinner for house guests like Bob Dylan or Andy Warhol or helping feed hundreds of thousands at Woodstock with the Hog Farm Commune, her passion for photography grew into a profession.

Liverpool Sound City

2014 version of this festival will take place May 1-3 and will play there Gruff Rhys, Fuck Buttons, Wolf Alice and many others with John Cale from The Velvet Underground and Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth features as keynote speakers.

Locas in Love

They can be compared to bands like The Good Life, Herman Düne, Bright Eyes, Arcade Fire, The National, Pavement, Luna, The Velvet Underground, Silver Jews, Sonic Youth or German art rockers Blumfeld in their wide array of musical spectres held together by the distinct voices of Björn Sonnenberg and Stefanie Schrank.

Monolithic Baby!

"King of Mars 2004" is a rerecording of the track "King of Mars" from Dopes to Infinity, and "Venus in Furs" is a The Velvet Underground cover from their 1967 album, The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Mucky Fingers

The song has been noted by some to bear a striking similarity to The Velvet Underground song "I'm Waiting for the Man", which is featured on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground and Nico.

Sailing on the Seven Seas

The song pays homage to two rock groups: firstly to The Velvet Underground, with the song "Sister Ray" being directly referenced (OMD had previously covered "I'm Waiting for the Man" as a B-side to 1980 single "Messages"); and secondly to The Who, with the line "people try to drag us down" being near-identical in melody and lyrical content to the opening line of "My Generation".

Spirits in the Sky

The band played six shows in California, playing songs Corgan had written for the new Smashing Pumpkins album, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, as well as covers of songs by The Seeds, Pink Floyd, The Velvet Underground, Jethro Tull, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and others.

The Afflicted

The LP featured 11 songs including an updated version of "Here Come the Cops," and covers of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" and The Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane", the latter of which reached the Top 10 for several weeks in 1986 on radio station KUSF.

The Boxing Mirror

Produced by John Cale of The Velvet Underground, the album finds Escovedo delving into the worlds of avant-rock and post-punk; and its darker sound has only shades of roots rock/Americana music in comparison with most Escovedo's alt-country records.

The Golden Section

A progression from the sound of The Garden (1981), Foxx called The Golden Section "a roots check: Beatles, Church music, Psychedelia, The Shadows, The Floyd, The Velvets, Roy Orbison, Kraftwerk, and cheap pre-electro Europop".

The Pizza Underground

Namely parodying songs by The Velvet Underground with pizza-themed songs names and lyrics, the group consists of child actor Macaulay Culkin (kazoo, percussion and vocals) along with Matt Colbourn (guitar, vocals), Phoebe Kreutz (glockenspiel, vocals), Deenah Vollmer (pizza box, vocals), and Austin Kilham (tambourine, vocals).

The Riffs

Like other bands that played the first wave of punk music, they were also fans of Protopunk like Eddie and the Hot Rods and The Velvet Underground, as displayed by their cover of "Waiting for the Man" on "Underground Kicks".

The Telescopes

Formed in 1987 by Stephen Lawrie, The Telescopes are an English noise, space rock, dream pop and psychedelic band, drawing influence from artists such as Suicide, The Velvet Underground and The 13th Floor Elevators.