The Velvet Forum

Hi, I'm looking to find the source of this quote, attributed to Lester Bangs. I'm after the quote in whole, not just the first clause:

Modern music starts with the Velvets, and the implications and influence of what they did seems to go on forever.

Sheila Klein wrote: ↑18 May 2022 17:37 Hi, I'm looking to find the source of this quote, attributed to Lester Bangs. I'm after the quote in whole, not just the first clause:

Modern music starts with the Velvets, and the implications and influence of what they did seems to go on forever.

in Up-tight [p126]:
"I belong to the generation for whom The Velvet Underground was our Beatles and Dylan combined. I don't care who did feedback first, or if Lou Reed 'sang like Dylan' - modern music begins with The Velvets, and the implications and influence of what they did seem to go on forever. 'Black Angel's Death Song' alone is still ahead of its time, and of course all the other stuff sounds right up to date over a decade later. Who else has created a body of work of which this can be said? The only thing I think would be a mistake in thanking them for this precious gift would be romanticising them too much. --Lester Bangs (New York Rocker)"

As far as I understand the quote is originally from the 1980.Jul-Aug issue of New York Rocker, p23-29. "An Inevitable Explosion", extented 7-page Velvet Underground special, incl.amongst many others texts by Lester Bangs and Gerard Malanga.
I don't have this NY Rocker in any format [hardcopy, paper copy, scan, hint... hint...], so can't prove it. If any body has it, please check it and reply with some kind of proof...

Great find -- thank you.

I remember that Rocker issue. I did a two-page spread for it that constituted an illustrated timeline of the Velvets' career. I'm almost afraid to look at it now, realizing that I probably got a lot of things wrong. I strove, though, to get the facts as correct as I could, and it was in the course of that project that I came to meet and interview Maureen and Sterling.

I'm still striving to things right, which is what's led me to ask about this before I use the quote in my article.

--Phil

I have that copy of NY Rocker and can confirm that the Lester Bangs quote comes from there. But the quote in Uptight is not the whole thing - there is a sentence in NY Rocker which is not in Uptight.

Did you find it Phil or do you still need it? I doubt that the NY Rocker article was the origin of Lester's words - it sounds like a section from a larger essay.

do you still need this? I could photograph it - it's too big for my scanner


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I don't have this NY Rocker in any format [hardcopy, paper copy, scan, hint... hint...], so can't prove it. If any body has it, please check it and reply with some kind of proof...
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