The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 953

Number 953

Velvet Underground

"Heroin"

(1967)
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Genre:Rock

I was only 2 when this song came out so i wasn't into Heroin (there's a pun in that somewhere) Rock Historians love this group, they love it for the fact the music is underground, they love it for the weird "Andy Warhol" input and they love it because the song is so obscure, dark and murky. With those combinations it has to be a classic right? right?

"One would be hard pressed to name a rock album whose influence has been as broad and pervasive as The Velvet Underground and Nico. While it reportedly took over a decade for the album's sales to crack six figures, glam, punk, new wave, goth, noise, and nearly every other left-of-center rock movement owes an audible debt to this set. While The Velvet Underground had as distinctive a sound as any band, what's most surprising about this album is its diversity. Here, the Velvets dipped their toes into dreamy pop ("Sunday Morning"), tough garage rock ("Waiting for the Man"), stripped-down R&B ("There She Goes sounds like a typical rAgain"), and understated love songs ("I'll Be Your Mirror") when they weren't busy creating sounds without pop precedent. Lou Reed's lyrical exploration of drugs and kinky sex (then risky stuff in film and literature, let alone "teen music") always received the most press attention, but the music Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Maureen Tucker played was as radical as the words they accompanied. The bracing discord of "European Son," the troubling beauty of "All Tomorrow's Parties," and the expressive dynamics of "Heroin," all remain as compelling as the day they were recorded. While the significance of Nico's contributions have been debated over the years, she meshes with the band's outlook in that she hardly rock vocalist, and if Andy Warhol's presence as producer was primarily a matter of signing the checks, his notoriety allowed The Velvet Underground to record their material without compromise, which would have been impossible under most other circumstances. Few rock albums are as important as The Velvet Underground and Nico, and fewer still have lost so little of their power to surprise and intrigue more than 30 years after first hitting the racks". ~ [Mark Deming]

What I agree mostly with is, if a group can change the sound of rock, and from it spawns Glam, Punk, New Wave, Goth etc, then it must be as important as the Historians say.
However, what i find hard is, if this "revolutionary" album only sold a few thousand records, how does this particular song make it a classic? Let alone Rolling Stone Magazine rant and rave how popular and fantastic it is to the masses? The Beatles released Sergeant Pepper and that changed music the way it was to that very point, BUT it sold millions and YES that does make it a classic.

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This is why i "PooBah" Rolling Stone Magazine sometimes for their choices of "The Top 500 Hundred Songs and Albums Of All Time"
How does Velvet Underground make it to the "Prestigious List" and leave out the classic David Gray's album "White Ladder" ??? Which sold millions! *bangs head on desk*

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Conclusion: Only the "collective common people" should vote for "Prestigious Lists" and not the "Experts/Critics" I ask you.

For Lou Reed & John Cale see Number 918

For The Beatles see Number 489, #587, #894 & #947

What does Rolling Stone think of V U? [do i have to?]
The Velvet Underground never sold many records, but, as many have said, it seems like every one of the group's fans went out and started a band. While The Velvet Underground's songs were constructed on the same three chords and 4/4 beat employed by most late-'60s rockers, the Velvets were unique in their intentional crudity, in their sense of beauty in ugliness, and in their lyrics. In the age of flower power they spoke in no uncertain terms of social alienation, sexual deviancy, drug addiction, violence, and hopelessness. Both in their sound and in their words, the songs evoked the exhilaration and destructiveness of modern urban life. The group’s music and stance were of seminal importance to David Bowie, the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Mott the Hoople, Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, R.E.M., Sonic Youth, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Luna, and countless others of the protopunk, punk, and postpunk movements. ~ [Source:from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Simon & Schuster, 2001]

For David Bowie see Number 494, #513, & #634

For Roxy Music see Number 569

For R.E.M see Number 597 & #712

Wait for it............... Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number 448 (aarrgghhhh) and the Album ranked at Number 13 *mutter mumble*

This song has a crowbarred rating of 53.1 out of 108