Book Review: Do What You Fear Most: The History of the Velvet Underground

I count myself as a serious fan of the writing and scholarship of Richie Unterberger. One of his earliest books, 1998’s Unknown Legends of Rock ‘n’ Roll ranks among my favorite titles. His keen reportorial sense, interviewing skills and context-rich storytelling prowess come together brilliantly in that book, hipping me to no end of didn’t-know-about-that-one artists.

Subsequent books – among them Urban Spacemen & Wayfaring Strangers, Won’t Get Fooled Again: The Who from Lifehouse to Quadrophenia and The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film only increased further my admiration for the man and his work. I didn’t read his book about Bob Marley and the Wailers because, frankly, the topic didn’t rank near the top of those that interested me. (So much to read, so little time, etc.)

And the same may well have been true of his new history of the Velvet Underground, Do What You Fear Most. The VU are one of those acts about which I’m more or less in the category of “respect them and their importance but don’t derive much pleasure from listening to them.” That, with the notable exception of most of Loaded, which I very much enjoy.

But when I was offered a review copy, I figured that because I do enjoy his writing, I’d give it a chance. Yet when I received it, I was more than a little concerned by its volume: 800 pages(!) That, I feared, might be a bit much on a group that doesn’t rank among my favorites. But I dutifully dug in.

And to my surprise and delight, I was hooked within a few pages. As one could easily guess based merely on the page-count, Unterberger’s approach is, well, exhaustive. But as I soon discovered, the word that truly best describes it is forensic. He doesn’t do a ton of new, first-hand research or reporting; while he did conduct many interviews, much of what he presents is based on work that has come before (Victor Bockris’ book on Lou Reed, etc.). But Unterberger skillfully draws from other accounts and weaves their information together in a way that provides insight that simply wasn’t obvious before.

Unterberger’s approach throughout Do What You Fear Most might be summed up this way (my paraphrasing words here): “Person A said this. Conventional wisdom and popular lore believe that. Another VU scholar insists this other thing. But based on what we know from documented contextual clues, here’s what is most likely to be the truth.” With that perspective, Unterberger aims for (and brilliantly succeeds at) a debunking of countless – and I do mean countless – stories that have risen up around the legend of the Velvet Underground.

Put another way, forget what you think you know about the VU, and read Richie Unterberger’s book. You’ll come away knowing more, and having received a thoughtful, balanced and nuanced chronicling of the group, its members, its relationships with pivotal figures (Steve Sesnick, Andy Warhol, Gerard Malanga, etc. etc.) and – most critically – the band’s importance.

In fact, it’s in exploring that last point – the VU’s legacy – in which Unterberger excels most notably. Without (metaphorically) beating the reader over the head with the point, he argues for the major cultural and musical relevance of the Velvet Underground, making the case in a way that I, for one, haven’t encountered before. Reading Do What You Fear Most may result in the reader coming away with a larger appreciation for just how groundbreaking (and yet, at times surprisingly accessible) the VU truly was. As if that were the book’s only achievement, it would already rank as a must-read for any rock fan. But it’s better even than that.

Unterberger places the period’s solo work by Cale and Nico (and other figures in the VU’s orbit) into the larger context. He doesn’t make outsize claims as to the alleged greatness of titles like The Marble Index, but he does describe them in a way that helps make all of the pieces fit together. And – somewhat amusingly – he emphasizes (in admirably less-than-overt fashion) the extraordinary extent to which Lou Reed mined his Velvets-era writing for, well, a good chunk (and often the highest heights) of his subsequent career.

All that said, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I heaped unmitigated praise upon Unterberger’s latest book. And I do have one bone to pick, even if it’s a point that other readers/reviewers may well not share. On the plus side, the author makes a strong case for just how important Doug Yule is to the larger VU story. He points out that Yule appeared on more officially-released VU music than John Cale during the band’s original run. Good on him for that.

But from my perspective, and against that backdrop, he gives very short shrift to Squeeze, the post-Lou Reed VU album. Yes, for many (Most? All?) it’s a VU-in-name-only release, what with Yule playing everything save drums (which are covered by no less a figure than Deep Purple’s Ian Paice). But while the album is critically maligned and pretty much unavailable in physical form, it is nowhere – nowhere, I say – as dreadful as its reputation suggests. In fact, fans of Loaded in particular might find it a notch or two better than just okay. Dreadful it is not. And in light of the larger picture, I would have enjoyed a bit more coverage of the record.

But that, I will readily admit, is a rather anorak-ish perspective. Set that quibble aside and Do What You Fear Most is unassailably great. It’s an important work of scholarship, an engrossing read (I plowed through its 800 pages inside of a week, it was so unputdownable) and an essential piece of music journalism/history. Bravo.

Do What You Fear Most: The History of the Velvet Underground is set for publication on June 16.