![]() When Jefferson Airplane and the Beatles experimented, they kept one foot firmly in the pop world. They seemed to make the case that there was a future for bands who got off on jamming and/or harsh distortion. Unlike those LPs, The Velvet Underground & Nico and The Grateful Dead didn’t sound like mainstream albums with experimental flourishes - they sounded like rock albums targeted squarely at a niche audience. But in March of 1967, the Grateful Dead and the Velvet Underground achieved something unseen on albums like Are You Experienced?, Surrealistic Pillow and Sgt. Obviously, that period produced a plethora of experimental-leaning rock classics. Execs saw a potential to cash in on the growing counterculture, and they cast a wide net to find the next big thing. It’s not a coincidence that iconic innovators like Jefferson Airplane and Frank Zappa (not to mention forgotten genre-benders like The United States of America and The Peanut Butter Conspiracy) all scored major label deals during this time. With big-name artists taking chances on albums and succeeding wildly with critics and (for the most part) audiences (think Revolver, “Good Vibrations”) the music business started investing in more adventurous bands, whether they had beards and wore tie-dye or sported leather and sunglasses. Perhaps not coincidentally, that was the same year Andy Warhol became interested in managing/funding the Velvet Underground, and it was also the year the Warlocks became the Grateful Dead.īut 1966 was the year that teed things up for both bands’ debuts. These two didn’t share much in common when in came to music, but the fact that the Grateful Dead and the Velvet Underground both debuted on wax during March 1967 isn’t just a coincidence, either - 1967 was primed to be the year underground rock fired off its opening salvos.Įven though Bo Diddley had been experimenting with rock since its onset, it wasn’t until 1965 - a decade after debut singles from Chuck Berry and Little Richard - that mainstream artists like the Beatles and Dylan started taking risks with rock on LPs such as Rubber Soul and Highway 61 Revisited, demonstrating both its sonic possibilities and the commercial potential of mixing avant inclinations with good ole rock n’ roll. ![]() Eerily, early incarnations of the Grateful Dead and the Velvet Underground went by the name “The Warlocks” at different points in their careers.īut to pretend Lou Reed and Jerry Garcia shared an alt-rock kinship, or were alternate sides of the same collector’s coin, would be too glib. And both outsider rock outfits were fronted by a 1942-born man who suffered tragedy early in life: Within the same year, Garcia lost part of his middle finger and his father as a teenager, Reed’s parents subjected him to electroshock therapy for homosexual tendencies. Both bands were prone to circuitous instrumental tangents on stage, and both scaled back that part of their repertoire for the debut albums (with the notable exceptions of the lengthy “European Son” and “Viola Lee Blues,” which close The Velvet Underground & Nico and The Grateful Dead, respectively). The impact of illicit substances on both LPs is undeniable, although the Dead tended to celebrate the freewheeling hippie drug culture and its mind-expanding capabilities, while Lou Reed reveled in the danger and depression of addiction. On the Dead’s album cover, Jerry Garcia smiled beneath an American flag top hat - compare that to Lou Reed snarling at you from behind sunglasses on the back cover of The Velvet Underground & Nico.Īnd yet there were similarities. ![]() ![]() The Grateful Dead’s cover was a wacky, visually stuffed collage The Velvets’ first album cover was a simple but quirky piece of pop art (a yellow banana with peel-able label) designed by Andy Warhol. The Dead took cues from blues, country and folk the VU drew inspiration from early rock n’ roll, R&B and avant drone music.Įven their album art exemplified this disparity. The Dead flourished in the Haight-Ashbury hippie scene, which Lou Reed actively despised. The Dead were from San Francisco the VU hailed from New York City. ![]() Bographically, the bands shared little in common. The Velvet Underground’s distorted, lo-fi dispatches from New York City’s underbelly were a far cry from The Grateful Dead’s psychedelic, bluesy hoedown in 1967. Taylor Swift Brings Out Surprise Guest Ice Spice for 'Karma' Remix Live Debutĭespite this superficial similarity, the Velvets and the Dead couldn’t be more diametrically opposed. ![]()
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