Velvet Underground, the

US avant-garde rock group 1965–72; they re-formed briefly in 1993. Their experiments with dissonance and abrasive sounds proved highly influential in subsequent decades, as did the street-smart lyrics of guitarist and vocalist Lou Reed. Their albums include The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967), White Light/White Heat (1968), Loaded (1970), and VU (1985). Songs like ‘Waiting for the Man’, ‘Heroin’, ‘Venus in Furs’, and ‘Sweet Jane’ have become classics, and the Velvet Underground's sound, image, and attitude have been widely imitated and invoked.

At the outset, the Velvet Underground provided the live music for US artist Andy Warhol's touring multimedia shows called the ‘Exploding Plastic Inevitable’, with another of his protégées, Nico (Christa Paffgen, 1938–1988) sharing the vocals; after the first album they broke with Warhol.

The band was formed in New York, and comprised Lou Reed, John Cale, a Welsh viola, bass, and keyboard player then studying with the avant-garde US composer La Monte Young, Sterling Morrison on bass and rhythm guitar, and Maureen Tucker on drums. Reed ousted Cale in 1968, dominated the third album, The Velvet Underground (1968), and left the band in 1970 during the recording of Loaded; the final line-up contained none of the original members.

A Velvet Underground reunion took place with the original line-up in Paris in 1991 and led to a European tour in 1993.