2008 Woodie Awards
Bands suffer from laziness
Joseph Froemming
Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: Opinions
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I have seen many great bands fall victim to what I recently discovered as a musical disease. It is what I call the "Velvet Underground Syndrome," or "VUS," and it has some grave side effects.
The Velvet Underground was an amazing band featuring Lou Reed and John Cale that came out of the 1960s flower power scene with proto-punk style song structure and lyrical content about heroin, how to score heroin and the joys of doing heroin.
Their sound was basic, but innovative. Unfortunately, many new bands adapt this style, which makes their music boring, pompous and often horrible.
All too often when a band I like releases a boring album, I'll check their MySpace account and low and behold about 99 percent of the time they will cite The Velvet Underground as an influence.
I'm not hating on The Velvet Underground, they are one of my favorite bands. It is just that when other bands try to incorporate a Velvet Underground style into their music, it becomes awful to the ears.
"VUS" has infected many talented bands over the years. Sonic Youth, for example, has become so ill with this disease they have released untold numbers of awful records trying to sound like The Velvet Underground. It has made their body of work unbearable.
Recently, the band Wilco was struck by this illness. Their past few records have been boring and terrible, and it is no secret that Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy has decided to emulate The Velvet Underground, leading to horrible results.
Also, the indie hip hop label Anticon has been signing too many new acts suffering from "VUS." This was usually a very reliable record label for anyone to find new and experimental hip hop and pop. Now it is suffering badly from "VUS"
So far, no cure is known for "VUS," and it is spreading fast. If you have a favorite band, write them a letter letting them know they should not try to emulate The Velvet Underground. This just might prevent a great band from becoming just another victim of "VUS"
The Velvet Underground was an amazing band featuring Lou Reed and John Cale that came out of the 1960s flower power scene with proto-punk style song structure and lyrical content about heroin, how to score heroin and the joys of doing heroin.
Their sound was basic, but innovative. Unfortunately, many new bands adapt this style, which makes their music boring, pompous and often horrible.
All too often when a band I like releases a boring album, I'll check their MySpace account and low and behold about 99 percent of the time they will cite The Velvet Underground as an influence.
I'm not hating on The Velvet Underground, they are one of my favorite bands. It is just that when other bands try to incorporate a Velvet Underground style into their music, it becomes awful to the ears.
"VUS" has infected many talented bands over the years. Sonic Youth, for example, has become so ill with this disease they have released untold numbers of awful records trying to sound like The Velvet Underground. It has made their body of work unbearable.
Recently, the band Wilco was struck by this illness. Their past few records have been boring and terrible, and it is no secret that Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy has decided to emulate The Velvet Underground, leading to horrible results.
Also, the indie hip hop label Anticon has been signing too many new acts suffering from "VUS." This was usually a very reliable record label for anyone to find new and experimental hip hop and pop. Now it is suffering badly from "VUS"
So far, no cure is known for "VUS," and it is spreading fast. If you have a favorite band, write them a letter letting them know they should not try to emulate The Velvet Underground. This just might prevent a great band from becoming just another victim of "VUS"