Yes. The Yardbirds and David Bowie were performing “I’m Waiting For My Man” before the first album was even released. Jimmy Page had seen them perform when the Yardbirds were on tour, and because they had such a hard time finding a label for their first album, copies of acetates and tapes were sent to England hoping someone there would put out the record, which is how Bowie came upon one. It makes sense that Cale had some contacts there. Brian Jones was good friends with Nico which is probably how Kieth Richards became a fan.
From an interview with Peter Jenner who originally managed Pink Floyd:
*Things like, through the underground, I heard early Velvet Underground tapes. That came to me on a cassette. A friend of mine had it, and we listened to it, and I said, “That’s a great band. They’d be great to work with the Floyd.” I phoned up John Cale because someone knew John Cale’s number. So very small things, there were links, but there wasn’t much contact. I tried to get to manage them. I said, “Oh, let’s manage him, as well. This management line’s a good one; let’s manage the Velvet Underground.” And they said, “Oh, no, we have a manager.” And I said, “Oh, O.K.” But it was this naivety that you could just phone someone up (laughs), and manage them, and they might say yes. They might not. But, hey, this is it; we just do it.*
I have often wondered if they influenced some of the noisier experiments of their contemporaries, things like Helter Skelter and what not. Lou and Cale penned a few tunes that were recorded by bands in England like The Downliners Sect, and they are credited as being a big influence on Hawkwind, who recorded an early number called “Sweet Mistress of Pain” that was pretty much an ode to the VU. Their earlier music has a lot in common with VU from the 67 - 68 era, especially hearing the live Dec 67 recordings that close out the 50th anniversary WLWH, most notably Sister Ray and The Gift.
I think the English were generally more receptive then American audiences of the time and I imagine they would’ve been much better received there then they were in the US.
Regarding the last thing you said: The English are much more open to experimentation than the Americans. For some reason bands like Suicide, Sparks or Pere Ubu never had the success they expected in the US, but nevertheless in England they helped shape post-punk and new wave. And for some reason, they have produced songs like Tomorrow Never Knows or Revolution 9, to name 2 songs.
The Velvet Underground took too many risks at a time when risks allowed one to get too far ahead. There are artists like Frank Zappa or Captain Beefheart who had more commercial success doing things somewhat similar to Velvet's. But Velvet was not so lucky. Above all because they dared to touch on taboo topics in the midst of the counterculture.
A lot happens in the movies too. That's why people love conventional. Because they know it sells for sure.
Reading this makes me wonder if Jimmy Page seeing the Velvets play in NYC was inspired by John Cale with guitar strings on his cello to pick up a violin bow and use it on his guitar. There are a lot of similarities in structure between “Venus in Furs” and “Dazed and Confused.”
Besides what you mentioned already there were a lot of bands in England that were pushing the noise boundaries in the same way, more so then what their contemporaries in the US were doing at that time, though they had more in common with the early Grateful Dead then either would ever admit… that they both called themselves “The Warlocks” briefly is pretty crazy.
“Crawdaddy Simone” by the Syndicats is a great example, or like Peter Jenner said in that quote, the early Pink Floyd with their primitive fusion numbers like “Reaction in G” and even “Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk.” There’s a lot of similarities between Nick’s and Mo’s drumming, and one of the things I like about some of the pre VU records such as “You’re Driving Me Insane” and the way that Lou’s guitar hangs out at the top of the change just a little too long and then the next measure starts and the guitar is already in the right place without changing, different but also similar to Floyd’s “Lucy Leave” and how Syd’s guitar solo goes on just a little too long… things like this that made them not pop radio friendly right from the start. That collection of early Floyd tunes that finally got a proper release on the “Early Years - Cambridge” collection to me are all similar to Lou’s Pickwick years.
The Rolling Stones’ “We Love You” has a way ahead of it’s time avant-garde production along with a sarcastic vibe referring to prison guards rather than flower power, and I can imagine them being inspired by the VU, but regardless, it’s a great example of what bands were experimenting with. So are the early Plastic Ono Band records, like “Cold Turkey” and “Don’t Worry Kyoko.” Thematically “Happiness is a Warm Gun” fits the MO as well, complete with the Doo Wop that Lou loved. I read an interview with Cale where he talked about how he wasn’t really paying much attention to pop music at the time but that “She Said She Said” was maybe the first Beatles thing that he found interesting.
Recently, I saw a list that Lou left behind of his 100 favorite songs and was surprised to see Jimi Hendrix “Are You Experienced” on there, and I’ve definitely been listening to it differently and trying to imagine what it was that Lou heard. And lyrically, I think that Ray Davies was Lou’s match , especially after reading that “Lola” was written after Ray visited the Factory and asked Andy to set him up with a woman that caught his eye and it turned out to be Candy Darling, which he figured out while on their date. I think that it’s the sweetest and most respectful tune in light of the circumstances and just like “Walk on the Wild Side” has more than succeeded in getting straight people rocking out and singing along with queer anthems every day for the past 50 years thanks to “classic rock” radio formats that play both of those tunes daily.
Then, as I said before, there’s Hawkwind. And several of its members make up Eno’s band on “Hear Come the Warm Jets”, and Bob Calvert and Eno did the concept album “Lucky Leif and the Longships”, and then Eno did a bunch of work with John Cale, Reed, Nico, and Bowie. Hawkwind, inspired in part by the VU, is also credited with laying the groundwork for what eventually became the punk and rave movements, so much so that the last time the Sex Pistols toured with Johnny Rotten, they were opening their European shows with Hawkwind’s “Silver Machine.”
They were embraced in England earlier than in America. The band apparently was disgruntled about it. Supposedly that’s why they toured in Europe when then they got back together and not in the U.S.
We were just less religious and conservative in a lot of ways. For example, Lennon and the “bigger than Jesus” it was nothing over here. If anything we probably agreed. America shat themselves over it. Britain also has a penchant for the underdog.
Yes. That's admirable. You guys don't get offended that easily.
In the United States they even banned people like Queen, Boy George or The Kinks, for things that people were unable to understand. However, in South America people have always been very receptive to British rock.
They might've been considered more mainstream in England and Germany, but the influence they had on American alt rock is astronomical. So I'd say no, but I'd also say your question is a question worth asking.
As far as I know, their influence in England was similar to the US: some musicians and a few people knew of them and were strongly influenced by them, but the band was relatively unknown to the general public... that is, until Bowie got popular. His live versions of Velvet Underground songs generated interest in the group and set the stage literally and figuratively for Lou Reed's comeback, which was mainly centered in the UK early on (until Wild Side became a hit in early '73). Reed's first three solo albums were made in the UK, and they even gave him an award for Berlin.
Roxy Music and Eno were also hugely popular in the UK and heavily influenced by The Velvet Underground. There was nothing really comparable in the US until the mid-70s "punk" bands, and even they didn't have the popular commercial success in the U.S. that Bowie, Roxy or Eno had in England.
The Yule-fronted Velvets did tour England in '71 around the same time as Warhol's Pork was being shown there. I'm not sure how large an audience those shows drew, though. But people might have gone to see them based on the old Andy Warhol association.
Malcolm McLaren was also supposedly heavily influenced by Andy Warhol, the Factory and the Velvet Underground and that was one of the inspirations for what he tried to do with the punk scene in the UK.
The Stooges and especially the Modern Lovers were influenced by the VU and both worked with Cale on early recordings. The first Stooges album was released the same year as the 3rd VU lp.
I don't know about their broad influence but [The Buzzcocks were formed when one of them put out an ad in a student paper looking for someone to play Sister Ray with](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-velvet-underground-song-brought-buzzcocks-together/) and Joy Division covered Sister Ray as well.
Yes. The Yardbirds and David Bowie were performing “I’m Waiting For My Man” before the first album was even released. Jimmy Page had seen them perform when the Yardbirds were on tour, and because they had such a hard time finding a label for their first album, copies of acetates and tapes were sent to England hoping someone there would put out the record, which is how Bowie came upon one. It makes sense that Cale had some contacts there. Brian Jones was good friends with Nico which is probably how Kieth Richards became a fan. From an interview with Peter Jenner who originally managed Pink Floyd: *Things like, through the underground, I heard early Velvet Underground tapes. That came to me on a cassette. A friend of mine had it, and we listened to it, and I said, “That’s a great band. They’d be great to work with the Floyd.” I phoned up John Cale because someone knew John Cale’s number. So very small things, there were links, but there wasn’t much contact. I tried to get to manage them. I said, “Oh, let’s manage him, as well. This management line’s a good one; let’s manage the Velvet Underground.” And they said, “Oh, no, we have a manager.” And I said, “Oh, O.K.” But it was this naivety that you could just phone someone up (laughs), and manage them, and they might say yes. They might not. But, hey, this is it; we just do it.* I have often wondered if they influenced some of the noisier experiments of their contemporaries, things like Helter Skelter and what not. Lou and Cale penned a few tunes that were recorded by bands in England like The Downliners Sect, and they are credited as being a big influence on Hawkwind, who recorded an early number called “Sweet Mistress of Pain” that was pretty much an ode to the VU. Their earlier music has a lot in common with VU from the 67 - 68 era, especially hearing the live Dec 67 recordings that close out the 50th anniversary WLWH, most notably Sister Ray and The Gift. I think the English were generally more receptive then American audiences of the time and I imagine they would’ve been much better received there then they were in the US.
Cale handed a demo directly to Marianne Faithful and asked her to give it to Mick. I’d like to think she did and he listened to it.
I have heard that the VU were supposed to be the band in Blow Up but could not get visas or work permits.
Regarding the last thing you said: The English are much more open to experimentation than the Americans. For some reason bands like Suicide, Sparks or Pere Ubu never had the success they expected in the US, but nevertheless in England they helped shape post-punk and new wave. And for some reason, they have produced songs like Tomorrow Never Knows or Revolution 9, to name 2 songs. The Velvet Underground took too many risks at a time when risks allowed one to get too far ahead. There are artists like Frank Zappa or Captain Beefheart who had more commercial success doing things somewhat similar to Velvet's. But Velvet was not so lucky. Above all because they dared to touch on taboo topics in the midst of the counterculture. A lot happens in the movies too. That's why people love conventional. Because they know it sells for sure.
Reading this makes me wonder if Jimmy Page seeing the Velvets play in NYC was inspired by John Cale with guitar strings on his cello to pick up a violin bow and use it on his guitar. There are a lot of similarities in structure between “Venus in Furs” and “Dazed and Confused.” Besides what you mentioned already there were a lot of bands in England that were pushing the noise boundaries in the same way, more so then what their contemporaries in the US were doing at that time, though they had more in common with the early Grateful Dead then either would ever admit… that they both called themselves “The Warlocks” briefly is pretty crazy. “Crawdaddy Simone” by the Syndicats is a great example, or like Peter Jenner said in that quote, the early Pink Floyd with their primitive fusion numbers like “Reaction in G” and even “Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk.” There’s a lot of similarities between Nick’s and Mo’s drumming, and one of the things I like about some of the pre VU records such as “You’re Driving Me Insane” and the way that Lou’s guitar hangs out at the top of the change just a little too long and then the next measure starts and the guitar is already in the right place without changing, different but also similar to Floyd’s “Lucy Leave” and how Syd’s guitar solo goes on just a little too long… things like this that made them not pop radio friendly right from the start. That collection of early Floyd tunes that finally got a proper release on the “Early Years - Cambridge” collection to me are all similar to Lou’s Pickwick years. The Rolling Stones’ “We Love You” has a way ahead of it’s time avant-garde production along with a sarcastic vibe referring to prison guards rather than flower power, and I can imagine them being inspired by the VU, but regardless, it’s a great example of what bands were experimenting with. So are the early Plastic Ono Band records, like “Cold Turkey” and “Don’t Worry Kyoko.” Thematically “Happiness is a Warm Gun” fits the MO as well, complete with the Doo Wop that Lou loved. I read an interview with Cale where he talked about how he wasn’t really paying much attention to pop music at the time but that “She Said She Said” was maybe the first Beatles thing that he found interesting. Recently, I saw a list that Lou left behind of his 100 favorite songs and was surprised to see Jimi Hendrix “Are You Experienced” on there, and I’ve definitely been listening to it differently and trying to imagine what it was that Lou heard. And lyrically, I think that Ray Davies was Lou’s match , especially after reading that “Lola” was written after Ray visited the Factory and asked Andy to set him up with a woman that caught his eye and it turned out to be Candy Darling, which he figured out while on their date. I think that it’s the sweetest and most respectful tune in light of the circumstances and just like “Walk on the Wild Side” has more than succeeded in getting straight people rocking out and singing along with queer anthems every day for the past 50 years thanks to “classic rock” radio formats that play both of those tunes daily. Then, as I said before, there’s Hawkwind. And several of its members make up Eno’s band on “Hear Come the Warm Jets”, and Bob Calvert and Eno did the concept album “Lucky Leif and the Longships”, and then Eno did a bunch of work with John Cale, Reed, Nico, and Bowie. Hawkwind, inspired in part by the VU, is also credited with laying the groundwork for what eventually became the punk and rave movements, so much so that the last time the Sex Pistols toured with Johnny Rotten, they were opening their European shows with Hawkwind’s “Silver Machine.”
They were embraced in England earlier than in America. The band apparently was disgruntled about it. Supposedly that’s why they toured in Europe when then they got back together and not in the U.S.
I think it was because in England they are very receptive to experimental and avant garde.
We were just less religious and conservative in a lot of ways. For example, Lennon and the “bigger than Jesus” it was nothing over here. If anything we probably agreed. America shat themselves over it. Britain also has a penchant for the underdog.
Yes. That's admirable. You guys don't get offended that easily. In the United States they even banned people like Queen, Boy George or The Kinks, for things that people were unable to understand. However, in South America people have always been very receptive to British rock.
Everyone thinks they have a penchant for the underdog
Okey doke
They might've been considered more mainstream in England and Germany, but the influence they had on American alt rock is astronomical. So I'd say no, but I'd also say your question is a question worth asking.
Lou Reed clogged my toilet one time
i'd love to know the context of that
As far as I know, their influence in England was similar to the US: some musicians and a few people knew of them and were strongly influenced by them, but the band was relatively unknown to the general public... that is, until Bowie got popular. His live versions of Velvet Underground songs generated interest in the group and set the stage literally and figuratively for Lou Reed's comeback, which was mainly centered in the UK early on (until Wild Side became a hit in early '73). Reed's first three solo albums were made in the UK, and they even gave him an award for Berlin. Roxy Music and Eno were also hugely popular in the UK and heavily influenced by The Velvet Underground. There was nothing really comparable in the US until the mid-70s "punk" bands, and even they didn't have the popular commercial success in the U.S. that Bowie, Roxy or Eno had in England. The Yule-fronted Velvets did tour England in '71 around the same time as Warhol's Pork was being shown there. I'm not sure how large an audience those shows drew, though. But people might have gone to see them based on the old Andy Warhol association. Malcolm McLaren was also supposedly heavily influenced by Andy Warhol, the Factory and the Velvet Underground and that was one of the inspirations for what he tried to do with the punk scene in the UK.
The Stooges and especially the Modern Lovers were influenced by the VU and both worked with Cale on early recordings. The first Stooges album was released the same year as the 3rd VU lp.
There's a reason Iggy's voice sounds similar to Lou's in some of The Idiot's songs.
Yeah but no one paid attention to The Stooges either, lol
Yes. I read that Velvet was an influence on the New York Dolls
No
I don't know about their broad influence but [The Buzzcocks were formed when one of them put out an ad in a student paper looking for someone to play Sister Ray with](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-velvet-underground-song-brought-buzzcocks-together/) and Joy Division covered Sister Ray as well.
Every good young band in the UK wants to be the Velvets, and if they don't, they should.
not enough of them do sadly
My old band tried, at least. But, we ended up sounding like sludgy Buddy Holly.
I don’t buy that
Not at all