Peer Comment

Lalith- 

I enjoyed reading your post and think it was well researched and written. The Velvet Underground was ahead of their time and it wasn’t realized just how influential they would be on music, specifically experimental and punk music, until the 80s. While their music wasn’t widely accepted during their time as a group, it would certainly live on in groups such as the Misfits, Brian Eno, REM, etc. as you mentioned in your post. You were able to explain the band’s history and influences well, and I think you were very thorough in those explanations. 

The only thing that I noticed was a bit vague was the explanation of the roles and backgrounds of John Cale and Lou Reed. Cale and Reed were the founders of the group, eventually dropping a couple people to replace them with drummer Maureen Tucker, and Reed’s college friend, Sterling Morrison on guitar. Cale was the primary composer and arranger for the group, while Reed wrote most of the lyrics. Cale was a prodigy on Piano and Violin and was classically trained. He came to the U.S. to pursue a Bernstein Scholarship and he worked with several legendary composers before meeting Reed and starting the Velvet Underground. Reed was a songwriter for Pickwick Records and a rock musician from Long Island. 

The group was definitely very unique and their image as an avant-garde “art band” was something that had never been seen before. Warhol’s production and management of the band was indeed crucial to developing that image. His addition of Nico to the band was something that really made a difference in the bands commercial and musical impact. You explained that with detail in your post. 

Overall, I feel that you have a very strong, well-written post and have done your research. You were detailed where it was necessary, but probably could have gone a little further in depth with a few things that may have benefited the reader. Good job! Keep up the good work! I am looking forward to reading future posts.




In response to:
http://lalithrao.blogspot.com/2011/12/velvet-underground-nico.html