Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960's. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist. (More from Wikipedia)
For those in the know, Lou Reed's remarkable hit "Walk on the Wild Side" – which peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976 – is a sleazy romp through the world of artist Andy Warhol. As a member of The Velvet Underground – the house band of Warhol's legendary studio The Factory – Lou Reed was certainly a familiar denizen of the Andy Warhol milieu. However, this background was primarily in-jokes that most listeners knew nothing about it, nor did they need to: The song's under-stated musical arrangement provides an ideal setting for Lou Reed's deadpan delivery of lyrics about an entire litany of taboo subjects – transsexuality, drugs, male prostitution and oral sex. And that's not to mention the chorus line – "And the colored girls go doo dah doo, dah doo, doo dah doo, doo dah doo . . . " – and the use of gay slang like "backroom" and "soul food" (the latter in the line ". . . looking for soul food and a place to eat").
Speaking of under-appreciation, don't listen to the film critics who slammed the third entry in the Men in Black Franchise, Men in Black 3. This one has all of the cleverness that was largely missing from the second film (though I have come to enjoy that one as well after the fourth or fifth viewing) and features time travel back to 1969, where Andy Warhol is portrayed as an undercover “man in black”. I thoroughly enjoyed MIB 3 myself.
(March 2013)
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Lyrics are one of the real strengths of Fur, and that is pretty rare among punk rock bands. Full lyric sheets are provided in the CD insert, which is unusual as well. Like the quotation that I have already given for "James Brown", Holly Ramos's lyrics are mostly conversational in nature, like something you might hear at a nightclub. Some of my favorites are just short lines, like "You're great, baby, like a [Andy] Warhol star, that's what you are"; "I'm tired of all the other stars I've f--ked"; "I wear your clothes baby everywhere"; "they say you're a prostitute, you're feelin' bad, but you're looking cute"; "you're not an ocelot, so don't try being something you're not"; and "you're divine baby, what's your sign?" Some are riffs on her own lyrics, my favorite being: "Tell the truth, tell the truth, tell the truth, baby, tell the ta-ru-u-u-uth".
(June 2013/2)
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Goldie and the Gingerbreads was hired to provide the music for a party in 1964 in honor of Andy Warhol's protegé Baby Jane Holzer; other guests included the Rolling Stones. Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records was also present and promptly signed the band.
(October 2013)
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Album sales by the Velvet Underground were low in spite of the prominent connection with legendary pop artist Andy Warhol at the top of his fame. Though officially their producer, Andy Warhol's input was evidently minimal, although he insisted on their including ethereal vocalist Nico on three songs on their first album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967). Warhol also contributed artwork for some of the band's album covers, such as the peelable banana on that album. Brian Eno – another highly experimental musician – is the source of the famous quotation about this album: While selling only 30,000 copies, "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band."
(December 2013)
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Brad Artley of the Richmond Sluts is featured in a documentary on the Brian Jonestown Massacre and another band, the Dandy Warhols called DiG!. (The latter band name is a takeoff on the name of artist Andy Warhol).
