The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground emerged from the late 60s avant-garde as cult heroes, if not commercial ones. Singer and primary songwriter Lou Reed's lyrical exploration of then-subcultural notions of sexuality and kink, drugs, and a certain disaffected swagger would be used as a template by the Velvets' musical successors for decades of rock and roll to follow. Andy Warhol assumed management of the group in 1965, adding to a scenester's scenester mystique that defined a band that walked on the wild side in pretty much every way conceivable in 1960s and 70s America.