Op-comic: What my 5-year-old taught me about the Velvet Underground

December 27, 2024 by Miller Sanford

I recently introduced my five-year-old daughter to my favorite band, The Velvet Underground. She said, "This is terrible."

Unlike me, she wasn't a fan of their early work. Except for songs of their debut featuring Nico, "because she's a girl."

Their first two albums were driven by the twin personalities of John Cale and Lou Reed, a marriage of avant-garde and pop.

The dark nihilism of their early work contrasted with hippie music of the '60s and resonated with me when I first heard it.

It also aligned with the story I told myself as a young person about being an artist, asking, "But what does it mean?"

Reed, fed up with poor sales, kicked Cale out of the band. Their next two albums were more conventional rock. I hated them.

Darker themes were replaced by joyous ones. But watching someone you love enjoy something has a way of dispelling snobbery.

My daughter has made me reconsider and expand what "good" art is. The Velvet Underground's later work is for Elika and me.

Reed sings, "I'm beginning to see the light. Now, it's kinda softer... and I just wanna tell you, everything was alright."

Navied Mahdavian is a cartoonist and writer. He is a contributor to the New Yorker and author of the graphic memoir “This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America.”

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