Released: 1967
Whilst whether the The Velvet Underground were one of the most influential bands of the 20th century probably isn’t in doubt and the why would take days to explain to anybody born after the release of Definitely Maybe, the question rarely asked is how.
Let’s set aside the conception in some circles that they were primarily Andy Warhol’s house band (Although a residency at the artist’s Cinematheque shows was where they were a bona fide entity according to Sterling Morrison). Let’s also discount actual sales, although their later works weren’t a total disaster commercially.
The reason for the ‘how’ in case you were wondering is that the people who loved them most were musicians. In many cases they’d been directly inspired by them and whom in more than a few examples were prepared to openly factor that influence into their own product. I’m Waiting For The Man was a relatively upbeat chapter, at least compared to their harsh visions of junkie life on Heroin and the atonal Venus In Furs. Has other musicians not loved it, The Velvet Underground and Nico would just have been another druggy cul-de-sac performed by some for whom a literal 15 minutes of fame had called. But they did – and as a result their place alongside Bowie, Kraftwerk, the Ramones and The Beatles as the last century’s titanic ghosts is assured in perpetuity.
The Voice Of Unreason 