[jpr703]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chadbang Nice summation, VixAjax.

No joke! VU rocks, but it does take a little "getting used to."

 

[Denim]

I'm warming up to them musically and now have a better understand of their influance to other musicians, thanks the the previous posters. I picked up "NYC Man: The Collection" by Lou Reed and The Best of VU. I've caught myself singing "Run, run, run ..." in my head more than once.

Speaking of Davie Bowie, I also picked up Mott The Hoople: "The Ballad of Mott: A Retrospective". I never knew Bowie was so influential in the development of so many bands. He was mentioned in the notes for Mott for teaching them how to use a studio, among other contributions.

 

[VicAjax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denim I'm warming up to them musically and now have a better understand of their influance to other musicians, thanks the the previous posters. I picked up "NYC Man: The Collection" by Lou Reed and The Best of VU. I've caught myself singing "Run, run, run ..." in my head more than once. Speaking of Davie Bowie, I also picked up Mott The Hoople: "The Ballad of Mott: A Retrospective". I never knew Bowie was so influential in the development of so many bands. He was mentioned in the notes for Mott for teaching them how to use a studio, among other contributions.

excellent... glad you're giving the Velvet Underground another chance.

my own first encounter with VU came when i was 15, after i picked up R.E.M.'s B-side compilation, Dead Letter Office. two fantastic VU covers had me intrigued, so i picked up Nico. holy ****. i had never heard anything like it. i ended up buying all their other albums the next week.

then about a year later, i saw Pete Buck and Mike Mills at Hartsfield airport in Atlanta. i didn't have an R.E.M. album with me, but i had White Light/White Heat on cassette, and i asked them to autograph the inside jacket. Mike Mills laughed and said "I've never signed someone else's album before." unfortunately, i was too starstruck to explain the signifigance.


...

oh... and for years, i thought "All the Young Dudes" was a Bowie song, until i was informed he wrote it for Mott the Hoople.

 

[Brent Hutto]

I recently saw a brand-new Tom Stoppard play called Rock 'N Roll and a couple of the main characters worshipped the Velvet Underground. A major offstage presence in the play was a Prague band called Plastic People of the Universe which started out as a VU-cover band and eventually became a cause celebre during the aftermath of 1968 Soviet invasion.

I haven't gotten around to it yet but I've been meaning to stop off at the local used-music shop and grab and Velvet Underground album for a listen. I'll say this much for Stoppard, the old word wrangler has exquisite taste in music.

 

[VicAjax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto I recently saw a brand-new Tom Stoppard play called Rock 'N Roll and a couple of the main characters worshipped the Velvet Underground. A major offstage presence in the play was a Prague band called Plastic People of the Universe which started out as a VU-cover band and eventually became a cause celebre during the aftermath of 1968 Soviet invasion. I haven't gotten around to it yet but I've been meaning to stop off at the local used-music shop and grab and Velvet Underground album for a listen. I'll say this much for Stoppard, the old word wrangler has exquisite taste in music.

Plastic People of the Universe is a great example of the Czech enthusiasm for the experimental/avant garde. they took their name from a Zappa song, and were big fans of Beefheart, as well.

Stoppard may well have heard of them because one of their big fans and supporters was Vaclav Havel, who was an avant garde playwright (in sort of the same vein as Italy's Dario Fo) before he became the president of the newly liberated Czech Republic. he was also a huge Zappa fan, erecting a statue of him in Prague. it's an interesting little game of "Six Degrees of Separation.

Havel was a true rennaissance man. i've never been to Prague, but i'm dying to... i'm quite fond of their embrace of the strange.

 

[Brent Hutto]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VicAjax Stoppard may well have heard of them because one of their big fans and supporters was Vaclav Havel, who was an avant garde playwright (in sort of the same vein as Italy's Dario Fo) before he became the president of the newly liberated Czech Republic.

I think Stoppard and Havel have been acquainted for quite a while. Havel actually attended the premiere of the play (a couple weeks before I saw it) as did Ivan Jirous and Paul Wilson from the Plastics. For that matter Mick Jagger and Dave Gilmour were also there, it was quite the buzz in the papers earlier this summer. Here is a little blurb you might find interesting

http://www.radio.cz/en/article/80581

The play used brief (and LOUD) snippets of various rock songs from each era during blackouts for scene changes. Among many others there was one brief bit of Plastic People of the Universe music and IIRC an onstage record player "played" a Velvet Underground song at one point in Act One.

 

[gratefulshrink]

LOL, I'm glad some people have even heard of Plastic People of the Universe, let alone actually like them.

I hadn't known they were fans of VU/Zappa/Beefheart, but it makes perfect sense.