![]() By the 1980s, they were acknowledged not just as one of the most important rock bands of the ’60s, but one of the best of all time, and one whose immense significance cannot be measured by their relatively modest sales. the Velvets’ music was too important to languish in obscurity, though their cult only grew larger and larger in the years following their demise and continued to mushroom through the years. During their time, the group experienced little commercial success though they were hugely appreciated by a cult audience and some critics, the larger public treated them with indifference or, occasionally, scorn. The mid-to-late ’60s was an era of explosive growth and experimentation in rock, but the Velvets’ innovations - which blended the energy of rock with the sonic adventurism of the avant-garde, and introduced a new degree of social realism and sexual kinkiness into rock lyrics - were too abrasive for the mainstream to handle. It was the group’s lot to be ahead of, or at least out of step with, their time. ![]() Hindsight and critical re-appraisal have viewed The Velvet Underground as not just a seminal punk band but also one of the more important bands in the history of rock music.įew rock groups can claim to have broken so much new territory and maintain such consistent brilliance on record, as the Velvet Underground during their brief lifespan. Its poor sales at the time led to the band being dropped by Verve. ![]() By the time of their third album, The Velvet Underground in 1969, Cale had left to be replaced by Doug Yule. By the end of 1967, the band had split with Warhol and Nico splitting from the band as they were at work on their follow-up, White Light/White Heat. It fared even less well than their debut. Commercially, at the time, it never recovered. 171 on Billboard’s album chart, but legal issues over the back cover meant it had to be withdrawn from sale while the artwork was changed. Upon its release in March 1967, The Velvet Underground And Nico made No. His insistence that German-born Nico sings three songs on The Velvet Underground And Nico, as well as his genius, all helped to create the art-meets-music template from which later punk would in part be fashioned. Andy Warhol became the band’s manager in 1965 and his reputation helped their profile and got them a recording contract with Verve Records.
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