Taking sides: Slade v The Velvet Underground

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Which was the better band and why? All those who openly prefer white noise, calculated irony and studied cool to anti-hip, super-popular, singalonga glam pop, now is the time to come out of yer closets.

The answers to this most fundamental of questions will sort the wheat from the chaff.

― Venga, Thursday, 9 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I prefer the Velvet Underground. But that's because I prefer studied, smart music to sing-along-a-rocka music. th evelvet underground were important in in seperating the wheat from the chaff,i think. much like the stooges the took the aspects of rock most thrilling to a person of education (force, simplicity, etc) and divided them from some of it's more unpleasant elements (unbridled machismo, sustained rhythms, etc). Far more than the Beatles, who were a couple of rich englishmen with space to piss in buckets and release it (something i hope one day to do with a frequency modulator and sampler, to bait al the peope who use such assertions), the Velvet Underground made it possible for rock to be art. Slade, on the other hand, were a danceable rock band driven y a likeable man with muttonchops and a guitarist with a deeply hilarious fringe. Slade in Residence is perhaps the only time Bob Mortimer has attempted realism.

studied cool...
how does one become cool without having studied human behaviur and response? be proud to be hip and smart!

― matthew james, Thursday, 9 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Velvets are always teh coolest band. Becaue of Mo of course.

― anthony, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Cale-era VU over Slade over post-Cale VU

― dave q, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Every item in that description of the VU is false. Studied cool? Mo Tucker? Okay, so you had the sunglasses, but you also had the honest emotion of I'll Be Your Mirror and so on. Which brings me to the white noise point when some of the best and most recognized velvets songs were tuneful and nearly acoustic. And the noise, where it was, wasn't white so much as explorations of transforming rock's then-standard rhythmic and harmonic norms through introduction of drone techniques. And calculated irony? I refer you once again to I'll Be Your Mirror et al. Calculated irony was mid-70s post Berlin Reed. Not to mention which, the VU didn't study cool -- Reed invented the fucker.

― Sterling Clover, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

A draw, of course: Slade invented the Pistols, esp. rhythm-wise and Holder's voice is harder and scarier and rockier than Reed's; VU really only invented indie. However Noddy's little-known 1976 exp.alb. Metal Machine Singalong is a big disappointment.

― mark s, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Velvet Underground invented post-punk a decade before punk happened.

― scott, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Slade also responsible for horror that was Oasis.

― Richard Tunnicliffe, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

post-punk = indie w/o major chords

RT: haven't we had this argt already? The Gallaghers keep SAYING "Slade" but I can't really hear it: Oasis anthemism (also Slade anthemism) comes from the Beatles anyway, cept Slade did it well and Oasis (and the Beatles) didn't. Oasis rhythmism = pretty mediocre, which is why they stopped mattering so quickly.

― mark s, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I have one Slade album and one VU album, both on vinyl so I can't listen to them to check. But which one would I put on first? Slade.

― Tom, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

MS, yes, I think we (meaning whole board) have. I saw most of a TV prog about Slade last night which featured obligatory Noel Gallagher talking head which is what made me bring it up. The anthemic thing probably does come straight from the Beatles, but it's the combination of that with the rock guitars and vague stompiness (tho I agree about Oasis poor rhythmism) which connects the two in my head. To me Oasis sound like they're trying to do what Slade did but not really pulling it off.

― Richard Tunnicliffe, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'Poor rhythymism' - is that just a technical term for 'lack of syncopation'? Why does everything have to be 'fonkay'? Velvets = Oasis for 'plod', but 'plod' has its uses too!

― dave q, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I don't like Slade at all, though I want to sample their cry of: "Cum on feel the NOIZE!" as an intro to a superdistorted Noise track. Suffice it to say I love Velvet Underground. Especially on WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT (no surprises there for those who know my taste in music!).

― Kodanshi, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Luckily, life doesn't really force us to make such decisions. As much as I love the Velvets, I also like Slade. Is the debate more about who is "cooler" or wore better sunglasses? As far as catchy songs go, it's Slade, hands down.

― Sean, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

However Noddy's little-known 1976 exp.alb. Metal Machine Singalong is a big disappointment.

No fair. I was going to do that joke. Only in my version, it was called Metal Masheen Muzic

― jamesmichaelward, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

But your version is funnier, jmw. Now *I* am cross I did not think of it.

― mark s, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

VU, obviously.

But Slade are a much underrated band, with enjoyable romper stomper big hits. Nice.

― The Dirty Vicar, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I openly prefer white noise to either of these bands. Although the only thing I've heard from Slade is by Quiet Riot, which was my favorite song when I was about 8.

― Kris, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

But Slade are a much underrated band, with enjoyable romper stomper big hits. Nice.

I misread the penultimate word in that sentance - not a nice image

― jamesmichaelward, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

In America, we only had Slade's "Run Run Away" or whatever... they were nothing here, and we might only be familiar with their tunes through Quiet Riot's mediocre versions. But Velvet Underground's third album is where it's at... and believe it or not, a good morning sex record.

― Andy, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I just realised the word I misread was the last word in that sentance. Full stops denote the end of sentances. I do know that. I just forget sometimes.

― jamesmichaelward, Friday, 10 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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