30 Songs in 30 Days Challenge – Day 28 – the very naughty one

My lovely and talented friend Sarah (see day 1 for link) started this challenge.

I am going to do this the way Sarah did – a song every day and with a few lines about why I like each artist and song, and why it is significant for me. I am as much about the music as the words by the way, so I have to like both if I include a song.

Please feel free to join in this challenge with your own lists!

‘Venus in Furs’ by the Velvet Underground

If you thought yesterday’s song was naughty….

1967’s ‘Velvet Underground and Nico’ is rightly considered one of the finest debut albums of all time and it gets played a lot here. I first became aware of the VU via a TV documentary in 1986 and vividly recall Nico performing ‘Femme Fatale’ on this show. I went out and tracked down a ‘Best of… ‘ album on vinyl and played it constantly. When the CD age arrived I bought their debut album. There is something other-worldly about their sound, possibly as a result of John Cale’s electric viola. This song about BDSM must have been a real shocker at the time.

Never part of the hippy/psychedelic scene the VU were part of Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable tour in 1966 and guest vocalist/collaborator Nico only stayed for one album. Lou Reed handles the vocals on this one and they are very sinister sounding indeed.