“White Light/White Heat” by The Velvet Underground
(Words/Music: Lou Reed, Album: White Light/White Heat, Verve 1968)

While reading England’s Dreaming, author Jon Savage spends a little time describing the appeal of pre-punk bands like Velvet Underground. Perhaps the most repeated characteristic of the bands that influenced Malcolm McLaren and the Sex Pistols was the band’s ability to do something new. In a song like “White Light/White Heat,” VU takes what could be a very simple 50’s-style rock rock and messes it up considerably. First, they use a fuzz to distort the guitars which gives it a more modern “spaced-out” sound. Second, the vocals are more spoken than sung. These two combine to make a song that just drives ahead with a limited melody (although chord changes are recognizable) until it completely falls apart into chaos at the end. By this point, I have recognized that McLaren adored anything that reorganized a standard, be it 40s or 50s clothes that were “updated” or classic rock songs that were twisted through the use of technology and other studio tricks. Oddly, as much as McLaren was trying to take down tradition, he kept trying to find the new “pop’ by slightly altering the past (as opposed to completely breaking from everything). And I bet he’s still kicking himself for not creating a band like VU before Warhol did it.

More Velvet Underground: AmazonMP3 - last.fm - AllMusic - eMusic

lennnoxismm:

Heroin by The Velvet Underground

“I really don’t care anymore
About all the Jim-Jim’s in this town
And all the politicians makin’ busy sounds
And everybody puttin’ everybody else down
And all the dead bodies piled up in mounds”

(Source: poorintestines, via hey-paul)

45andsingle:

COWBOY JUNKIES - Sweet Jane

45rpm single

Mickey: “The whole world’s coming to an end, Mal.”

Outstanding cover of a legendary song.

(via 45andsingle-deactivated20111006)

“Dirty Blvd.” by Lou Reed

(Words/Music: Lou Reed, Album: New York, Sire Records 1989)

When I first became aware of the legend of Lou Reed and read his book of poetry and lyrics, Between Thought and Expression, I knew he was an integral part of Velvet Underground and had some hits as a solo artist (most notably, “Walk on the Wild Side”). However, I had little knowledge of the other aspects of Lou Reed’s career. At the time, his most recent album was New York which has been described as his most conceptual album since all of the songs deal with one topic: life in New York City. And the most representative song on the album and the most played single was “Dirty Blvd.” which tells the story of a poor child named Pedro as he tries to make his way with little parental and social support in a society which only encourages people with big dreams (of being a “doctor or lawyer”) and forgets those who just struggle to get by. Reed’s “singing” style, which is more speaking than singing, allows the listener to fully grasp the story of the lyrics and the meaning behind them without getting caught up in any of the more musical aspects like melody. Truly, this song, and many of Ree’d songs, seem more like spoken word backed up with music than actual songs and they connect more with people than songs which rely mainly on a catchy hook. To Reed’s credit, the chorus including “Dirty Boulevard’ is catchy enough that I end up singing it anyway, but what I really remember at the end of the song is the imagery of such phrases as “the Statue of bigotry” and “the whores are calling the cops out for a suck.” This honest and real imagery, no doubt borrowed from Reed’s lifetime of experience in NYC, is what makes him and his songs so well respected in the musical community.

More Lou Reed: AmazonMP3 - last.fm - AllMusic - eMusic

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“Heroin” by Billy Idol

(Words/Music: Lou Reed, Album: Cyberpunk, Chrysalis 1993)

I will admit that when I first heard this song in 1999, I hated it. It reeked of everything I disliked about music and the music industry. It seemed like a contrived attempt by a once relevant artist to re-establish his street credibility by attaching himself to an eternally underground (no pun intended) song and artist. In addition, it also seemed to be an attempt to merge the legendary underground with new, hip underground movement of the cyberpunk off-shoot of science fiction writing and industrial/electronica music. That these things could all together at once seemed, well, contrived. The fact that I was not an “early adopter” of industrial or electronica music didn’t help the song’s case. Needless to say, this downloaded song would sit on my hard drive for years before I listened to it again. 

As I became more versed in this particular musical style, I began to understand and appreciate what Idol was trying to do and his efforts to reinvent himself and begin a new stage in his career seemed more genuine to me. Not only was he paying homage to those who pushed the envelope before him like Lou Reed and Velvet Underground (and Patti Smith’s version of “Gloria” from which the “Jesus died for somebody’s ins but not mine” lines were taken), but he was bringing their legendary messages to a new genre and audience who would probably appreciate them. To put this album in context, it was released a year before Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral and two years before Moby’s Everything Is Wrong albums, both of which introduced their respective genres to the mainstream. Perhaps having first listened to Idol’s “Heroin” in 1999, six years after it was released, gave me a skewed perspective of its relevance. I believed the song to be taking advantage of the new underground musical styles, when in fact he was one of the first mainstream artists to embrace them. 

More Billy Idol: AmazonMP3 - last.fm - AllMusic - eMusic

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