The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground & Nico was a 60’s rock group that was put together with a German model. The group was guided in an avant-garde direction by the artist Andy Warhol, together creating prolific 60’s pre-punk type of rebellious, undirected music.

Lou Reed and John Cale attended the same college and came together because of their love of music. They formed a group with their friends called Velvet Underground. John Cale was an experimental producer type, and Lou Reed was the rebellion of the group, leading them in different directions with his innovative ideas.


Andy Warhol got together with The Velvet Underground, and brought in German model Nico. Andy’s idea was to put music, art, and film together and create something no one had ever seen before. They took the act on the road, and created pop art.

The Velvet Underground & Nico had no boundaries. As the creators of pop art, the group wrote music in whatever fashion they pleased. Backed by an inexperienced drummer, who held the backbeat of their music, and Cale and Reed basically jamming out, and making “amateur”, rebellious music with their friends (aka: The Velvet Underground). Their sound was known to have the feedback, distortion, and other types of background noise. They were one of the first groups to completely control their music, and didn’t care who liked it, even though they had a large cult following. The Velvet Underground just did what they wanted.

As a music professional, The Velvet Underground is inspiring because they made music they wanted to make. They didn’t care who liked them really, as long as they got to express themselves the way they wanted. I also appreciate the fact that they put themselves out there and created something new. Artists that aren’t afraid to make their own sound, and be set apart from the norm, are inspiring to me.