Velvet Underground

[Robin Landseadel]

	Hippies
	1.  Young middle-class whites who had rejected
	the lifestyle of their parents. Live on as crusties.

http://users.bathspa.ac.uk/sprm1/files/late%2060s%20-%20the%20dark%20side.PDF

FWIW, really don't care all that much about Velvet Underground. But I  
just loves that Lester Bangs' ranting on & on about Lou Reed's "Metal  
Machine Music" Oooh, yeah, baby baby:

	In case you just got here or think Metal Machine Music refers to
	something in the neighborhood of Bad Company, let me briefly
	explain that what we have here is a one-hour two-record set of
	nothing, absolutely nothing but screaming feedback noise
	recorded at various frequencies, played back against various
	other noise layers, split down the middle into two totally
	separate channels of utterly inhuman shrieks and hisses, and
	sold to an audience that was, to put it as mildly as possible,
	unprepared for it. Because sentient humans simply find it
	impossible not to vacate any room where it is playing. With
	certain isolated exceptions: mutants, mental patients, shriek
	freaks, masochists, sadists, amphetamine addicts, hate buffs,
	drug-numbed weirdos too walled off by chemicals to feel
	anything, other people whose nervous systems are already so
	bent out of shape that it sounds perfectly acceptable, the last
	category possibly including the author of this article, who likes
	Metal Machine Music so much that he acquired (did not buy) an
	8-track RCA cartridge (on which are imprinted the words
	"SPECIAL VALUE!") so that he can listen to it in his car.

	The release of Metal Machine Music is nothing if not an event in
	the history of the recording industry, and we at Creem are proud
	to celebrate it. Not since the halcyon days of Bruce Springsteen
	has there been a public so divided. (That 98 % of them are on
	one side glowering and spitting at the other 2 percent means
	nothing; we at Creem will always stand up for the rights of
	minority groups, and you won't find many groups smaller, nor
	more fervent, than MMM fans.) As of this writing, it looks like
	MMM is gonna be a heavyweight contender in our Creem
	Readers' Poll categories both of "Disappointment of the Year"
	and "Ripoff of the Year." Then again, every once in a while a
	ballot rolls in like that from one Carole Pressler of Rocky River,
	Ohio, who not only voted MMM as all three of the Top Albums of
	1975, but voted for sides A and D as Top Two Singles of the
	year, and side B as Best Rhythm & Blues Single.

	Yes, these people actually exist, and it would be unfair both to
	them and to Lou to star Metal Machine Music in a snuff film.
	Which is exactly what RCA is doing right now. But let's not jump
	the groove, we gots to hear it all. This postmortem begins when 	I  
get a call from a lovely agent named after a British hypnotic
	sedative who says she is doing free-lance publicity for Lou. . .

 From How to Succeed in Torture Without Really Trying,
Lester Bangs: "Psychotic Reactions & Carburetor Dung", pages 184/185

On Apr 25, 2009, at 8:54 AM, Bekah wrote:

> I hadn't chimed in on this one but here goes -
>
> I agree there may be a high correlation between Pynchon readers and  
> Velvet Underground fans but it's not universal.   And I'm sure that  
> some kind of nostalgia for the "dark side of the 60s" is part of  
> it.     However-  I'm one of those others who loves Pynchon's style  
> and themes, etc.  but can barely remember Velvet Underground  
> specifics.    I don't think I was ever attracted to the dark side of  
> anything.   I was close enough to know that it was scary out there.   
> And I'm no Pollyanna but the old "flower-power"  attitude was closer  
> to my perspective in the 60s than Velvet Underground.    I remember  
> the name -  I remember the song Sunday Morning - it just wasn't one  
> of my favorites.   Crosby, Stills and Nash did some stuff, too -  
> Paranoia and so on.
>
> This is UK oriented but it seems pretty much about right to me:
> http://users.bathspa.ac.uk/sprm1/files/late%2060s%20-%20the%20dark%20side.PDF
>
> Bekah
> a senior-hippie now  (omg