So why is The Velvet Underground’s Loaded on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
As I’ve discussed with other albums from The Velvet Underground covered on this wild journey through the best 1,000 albums ever, my appreciation and love for this band skyrocketed during the course of compiling and producing this massive project.
Loaded is an album that kept absolutely demanding to be placed ever higher in the rankings, until here it sits within the Top 125.
Not only does Loaded contain the iconic TVU tracks “Sweet Jane” and “Rock & Roll,” but it also includes a song that I’ve become absolutely obsessed with in recent years.
I’ve talked a lot about how when I really get into a song, I’ll just play it over and over again. Well, multiply that by some insane factor with “Cool It Down.” It starts off equal parts mysterious, groovy, and slightly odd and off-kilter. And then that glorious chorus kicks in – you know you better COOL IT DOWN – and I feel like running (not walking, mind) to a karaoke stage and booming out the lyrics to the back of the very rafters.
Which is to say: “Cool It Down” is incredible. A perfect song by a band that often gets a lot of love these days within raging social media debates about “What is the #1 American band of all time?”*
* My answer to that one might change based on the day, but I’d give strong consideration to The Velvet Underground for Top 5 status. Contenders for #1 include Nirvana, R.E.M., and The Doors.
What’s amazing about Loaded is how rangy it is, sound-wise, while maintaining a very strong and high quality TVU vibe and energy throughout.
“Who Loves the Sun” leans into psychedelic pop with an almost Byrds-y energy that’s dynamic and delightful.
There seems to be any number of opinions about what this song is about. My take is that there’s a subversive mystique here that’s intriguing enough that it makes me think about different things each time I listen to it. Which is quite a trick, I’d think.
Who loves the sun
Who cares that it makes plants grow
Who cares what it does
Since you broke my heart
Who loves the wind
Who cares that it makes breezes
Who cares what it does
Since you broke my heart
And then “Train Round the Bend” moves to a very different part of the musical spectrum as a kind of stomping, proto-punk number. The key here is energy – every track on Loaded feels fully alive.
Moving back to the duo of “Rock & Roll” and “Sweet Jane” – I used the word iconic above and didn’t do so lightly. “Rock & Roll” grooves and swings (you might even say it rocks), while “Sweet Jane” is intimate and beautiful and catchy and all kinds of wonderful. I also dig that Lou Reed seems to take on a little bit of a Bob Dylan affectation on this one.
And man oh man does The Velvet Underground have an ability to craft a dead simple but catchy chorus.
Some stats & info about The Velvet Underground – Loaded
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Art Rock, New York Bands, Psychedelic Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was Loaded released? 1970
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #124 out of 1,000
The Velvet Underground’s Loaded on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Velvet Underground’s Loaded that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
She started shakin’ to that fine fine music, you know her life was saved by rock ‘n roll.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.