Double Elvis

Discrease and as a production of Double Elvis

The stories about the Velvet Underground are insane. They sang candidly about heroin

speed in SNM. And those subjects would be controversial even now, but at the time

in the 1960s, they were completely taboo, unheard of, and pop music. No one's

saying about drugs and sex like that, but no one was the Velvet Underground. Their

members included drug dealers and junkies, and their perverted stage show,

offended liberal hippies. Their first manager, Andy Warhol, nearly died during an

assassination attempt that left him physically and mentally shattered for the

rest of his life. Their songwriter, Lou Reed, was hell-bent on transcending the

art scene to achieve major commercial success no matter who stood in his way.

Despite of him because of all these things, the Velvet Underground made great

music. Some of the most cutting-edge music, music that predicted punk rock, music

that launched a thousand bands. Unlike that clip I played for you at the top of

the show, that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop for my Melotron called

Union Square Dance MK1. I played you that loop because I can't afford the

rights to Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel. And why would I play you that

specific slice of gucucu cheese could I afford it? Because that was the number

one song in America on June 3rd, 1968. And that was the day that the Velvet

Underground's former manager, Andy Warhol, was declared clinically dead. A moment

that had ramifications on both the future of the band and the future of rock and roll.

On this episode, speed in heroin, sex fetishes, and assassination attempt,

...