They called themselves the Velvet Underground, their name inspired by a 1963 paperback depicting sexual subcultures.
Then, Reed showed him some of the other material he was working on, gritty, confrontational songs that took drug use, sadomasochism, and existential despair as their subject matter.Ĭale says he admired Reed's abilities but thought his potential was being wasted, so they started collaborating and were soon joined by Reed's college classmate Sterling Morrison on rhythm guitar and Maureen "Moe" Tucker on drums. Pickwick thought Reed's novelty dance song "The Ostrich" had commercial potential, so together they enlisted members of Young's circle to back him at live promotional gigs, where Cale noticed that Reed was tuning all six of his guitar strings to the same note, an experiment in tonality that resembled the way he was layering and extending notes to create sonic drones. At the same time, Welshman John Cale was playing viola in minimalist composer La Monte Young's musical ensemble. In 1964, Lou Reed was turning out trendy pop singles for the budget label Pickwick records. Paul Morrissey, Andy Warhol, Lou Reed and Moe Tucker from archival photography in a split-screen frame from "The Velvet Underground."