{"id":30324,"date":"2026-01-07T05:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T10:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=30324"},"modified":"2025-11-05T10:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:56:14","slug":"take-five-pop-leaning-tracks-from-the-velvet-underground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/07\/take-five-pop-leaning-tracks-from-the-velvet-underground\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: Pop-leaning Tracks from the Velvet Underground"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Velvet Underground are one of rock\u2019s paradoxes. During the group&#8217;s time together, the New York City based band never achieved widespread popularity; their most commercially successful album \u2013 the 1967 debut <em>The Velvet Underground &amp; Nico<\/em> \u2013 reached only the No. 171 spot on the <em>Billboard<\/em> 200 chart on its original release. And while the VU released several singles during their original run, not a single one of them charted.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the Velvet Underground exerted a massive influence upon rock music, especially its avant garde and punk variants. The classic lineup \u2013 Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker \u2013 made music that was uncompromising, both sonically any lyrically. As Brian Eno famously said with only a touch of hyperbole, \u201cThe first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The VU\u2019s edgy, streetwise character certainly scared off some potential fans. And that\u2019s unfortunate, because alongside skronky noisefests like \u201cThe Black Angel\u2019s Death Song\u201d and the horror show of \u201cThe Gift,\u201d the band crafted some surprisingly tuneful songs, built around hooks, sweet melodies and even chirpy harmonies. On the 30th anniversary of the band\u2019s career-spanning boxed set <em>Peel Slowly and See<\/em>, here are five catchy songs from the Velvet Underground.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cSunday Morning\u201d from <em>The Velvet Underground &amp; Nico<\/em> (1967)<\/strong><br \/>\nThe dreamy pop of \u201cSunday Morning\u201d would be one the Velvet Underground\u2019s most uncharacteristic tunes. Written by Lou Reed, it features a plaintive vocal, lovely celesta work by John Cale, and washes of guitar that evoke the feel of a string orchestra.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Xhbyj8pqUao?si=aCCHshJHfIOBnTy4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI\u2019ll Be Your Mirror\u201d from <em>The Velvet Underground &amp; Nico<\/em> (1967)<\/strong><br \/>\nAt the behest of \u201cmanager\u201d Andy Warhol, German vocalist Nico (born Christa P\u00e4ffgen) was added to the group in time for its recorded debut. Nico would sing lead on three songs included on <em>The Velvet Underground &amp; Nico<\/em>. As with most of the songs on that LP, the tunes were solely composed by Lou Reed. \u201cI\u2019ll Be Your Mirror\u201d found Nico giving an unusually gentle vocal performance, as opposed to her more strident tone on the better known \u201cFemme Fatale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZudHYTya-dQ?si=QAzd01Ns_ttTpk6m\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cStephanie Says\u201d (recorded 1968, released on 1985\u2019s <em>VU<\/em>)<\/strong><br \/>\nNever a pop group in the traditional sense, the Velvet Underground did have the ability to craft accessible material. But oftentimes, such songs were seen as not fitting into the band\u2019s overall aesthetic, and were shelved. That seems to have been the case with \u201cStephanie Says,\u201d recorded in 1968 but held back from release until the posthumous <em>VU<\/em> album of rarities was released more than two decades after the group\u2019s demise. On his 1973 solo album <em>Berlin<\/em>, however, Lou Reed re-recorded the song, titling it \u201cCarolyn Says II.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P4tS67TDo6Y?si=LSzaK86Gg932dsbT\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cPale Blue Eyes\u201d from <em>The Velvet Underground<\/em> (1969)<\/strong><br \/>\nSinger, songwriter and violist John Cale had exited the Velvet Underground by the time the group recorded its third album. In his place came guitarist Doug Yule. That change brought a more mainstream and melodic character to the fore in the group\u2019s songs. Lou Reed \u2013 who was now the de facto leader of the band \u2013 didn\u2019t want his voice to be the only lead vocal on the album, so for \u201cCandy Says,\u201d a tune that Reed considered one of his best, Yule sang lead. Yet on the gentle \u201cPale Blue Eyes,\u201d Reed sang lead. The song was memorably covered many years later by R.E.M.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KisHhIRihMY?si=k8naAnkP60GjHLEd\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWho Loves the Sun\u201d from <em>Loaded<\/em> (1970)<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Velvet Underground\u2019s disparate qualities \u2013 gritty, ambitious musical ideas and an underutilized ability to craft pop gems \u2013 came together brilliantly on \u201cWho Loves the Sun,\u201d a standout track from their fourth album, <em>Loaded<\/em>. Written by Lou Reed, the song features a lead vocal by Doug Yule, with cheery \u201cba ba ba ba\u201d backing vocals of the sort more commonly associated with the Turtles or Spanky and Our Gang than the edgy New Yorkers of the Velvet Underground. Yet for many listeners, it\u2019s one of the greatest VU tracks of all time.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AqVWBVbytXo?si=qFoSwCahikI9qxhi\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Velvet Underground are one of rock\u2019s paradoxes. During the group&#8217;s time together, the New York City based band never achieved widespread popularity; their most commercially successful album \u2013 the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2316],"class_list":["post-30324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-velvet-underground","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30326,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30324\/revisions\/30326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}