The Rough Guide to The Velvet Underground Cover Image

The Rough Guide to The Velvet Underground: Book

$14.99 USD
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The Rough Guide to The Velvet Underground Cover Image
The Rough Guide to The Velvet Underground: Book

The Rough Guide to The Velvet Underground: Book

[The Velvet Underground] By Peter Hogan

Item: 74-1843535881
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Description
Sporting shades and feedback-heavy sounds, the Velvets straddled art and rock, changing popular music forever, and sowing the seeds for punk, grunge, and thousands of countercultural four-chord wonders. The Rough Guide to The Velvet Underground explores: The Velvet Story: How Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale, and the others emerged from the New York scene, their successes and excesses and what happened to each in their solo years. Velvet Music: From their 1967 debut with Nico to their 1993 reunion with all the tales behind the tunes. Velvet Universe: Everybody who was anybody in the Velvet's world, taking in Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick, David Bowie, Delmore, Schwaretsz, and Brian Eno. Velvet Goldmine: The "Underground" on screen, the Velvets' New York, clubs, influences, covers, websites, and more.

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Additional Details
Series: Rough Guide
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN10: 1-84353-588-2
ISBN13: 978-1-84353-588-1
UPC: 9781843535881
SKU: 74-1843535881

More about this title

About the Author: Peter Hogan

Peter Hogan is a music journalist and author known for his work in the Rough Guide series, bringing rigorous research and accessible writing to complex musical histories. His approach combines cultural context with musical detail, making him effective at helping readers understand not just what happened, but why it mattered.

Why we love this

This book gives music teachers and serious students the cultural and historical context they need to understand why the Velvet Underground mattered so profoundly. Rather than just listing facts, Hogan traces the band's emergence from the New York underground through their influence on punk, grunge, and alternative rock, making it invaluable for anyone teaching popular music history or exploring countercultural movements through music.

What to expect

Reading this book feels like getting backstage access to one of rock's most artistically fearless eras. You'll navigate the creative tension between Lou Reed's provocative songwriting, John Cale's experimental arrangements, and Andy Warhol's visual genius, all while understanding how three chords and feedback could genuinely change music forever.

Who it's for

Music history teachers, rock history courses, students writing research papers on punk and alternative rock origins, and musicians curious about the foundational figures who shaped modern rock music. This book works equally well for high school electives and college seminars on music and culture.

How to use it

Assign chapters as required reading in music history units focused on rock's evolution from the 1960s onward, or use the Velvet Universe section to deepen discussions about artistic collaboration and countercultural influence. The book works especially well in interdisciplinary courses that connect music, visual art, and social history.

Skills your students will build

  • understanding rock music history and the influence of avant-garde art on popular music
  • recognizing how experimental composition techniques shaped punk and alternative rock
  • analyzing the relationship between musicians, visual artists, and cultural movements
  • contextualizing songwriting within specific geographic scenes and historical moments

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