Overview

Of the many chapters here, this is among the more diffuse. It looks into the pre-Punk years in New York City, exploring a place where the visual arts, avant garde music, Rock and Roll, and life at the fringes were mixing in unusual ways and throwing off a range of products. As the lessons will demonstrate, the Velvet Underground is perhaps more significant to the chapter than any other group. Working with Andy Warhol, testing the limits with songs that referenced a kind of underworld offputting to many, staging live shows that verged on so-called performance art, the Velvet Underground prefigured and kicked off much of what was to come.

One of the lessons will allow students a chance to study the Chelsea Hotel and its role in bringing an artistic community together. From writer William Burroughs to Singer-Songwriter Leonard Cohen, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe to Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, the Chelsea was a spot where you expected to see someone who was doing something that was shaking up the various worlds of creativity. Somehow, what happened at the Chelsea, those conversations across the arts and the hotel's collective creative spirit touched many in the city, whether they lived there or not. What came out, in this time in New York City, were musicians who broke down boundaries.

Among the topics covered in these lessons will be Lou Reed's career, from the Velvet Underground into his solo years and various collaborations; Andy Warhol's effect on New York City's music culture; and case studies of a range of artists and acts, including John Cale (also a Velvet Underground member), the Rolling Stones (much a part of New York City in the 1970s), Bruce Springsteen (courtesy the bridges and tunnels leading from New Jersey), and, though less well known, Mink DeVille. In different ways, it was a group of artists with an exceptionally visual approach to writing. They were storytellers, capturing the strangeness and beauty of a city that offered dreams and just as often shattered them.

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Lessons

lesson:
The New York City Underground

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Art/Design, General Music

How did New York bands interact with the city's art scene to create something new?

Featured Resources

Video

video:
Redondo Beach

<p>Of the many chapters here, this is among the more diffuse. It looks into the pre-Punk years in New York City, exploring a place where the visual arts, avant garde music, Rock and Roll, and life at the fringes were mixing in unusual ways and throwing off a range of products. As the lessons will demonstrate, the Velvet Underground is perhaps more significant to the chapter than any other group. Working with Andy Warhol, testing the limits with songs that referenced a kind of underworld offputting to many, staging&nbsp;live shows that verged on so-called performance art, the Velvet Underground prefigured and kicked off much of what was to come.</p> <p>One of the lessons will allow students a chance to study the Chelsea Hotel and its role in bringing an artistic community together. From writer William Burroughs to Singer-Songwriter Leonard Cohen, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe&nbsp;to Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, the Chelsea was a spot where you expected to see someone who was doing something that was shaking up the various worlds of creativity. Somehow, what happened at the Chelsea, those conversations across the arts and the hotel's collective creative spirit touched many in the city, whether they&nbsp;lived there or not. What came out, in this time in New York City, were musicians who broke down boundaries.</p> <p>Among the topics covered in these lessons will be Lou Reed's career, from the Velvet Underground into his solo years and various collaborations;&nbsp;Andy Warhol's effect on New York City's music culture;&nbsp;and case studies of a range of artists and acts, including John Cale (also a Velvet Underground member), the Rolling Stones (much a part of New York City in the 1970s), Bruce Springsteen (courtesy the bridges and tunnels leading from New Jersey), and, though less well known, Mink DeVille. In different ways, it was a group of artists with an exceptionally visual approach to writing. They were storytellers, capturing the strangeness and beauty of a city that offered dreams and just as often shattered them.</p>

video:
Sheena is a Punk Rocker

<p>Of the many chapters here, this is among the more diffuse. It looks into the pre-Punk years in New York City, exploring a place where the visual arts, avant garde music, Rock and Roll, and life at the fringes were mixing in unusual ways and throwing off a range of products. As the lessons will demonstrate, the Velvet Underground is perhaps more significant to the chapter than any other group. Working with Andy Warhol, testing the limits with songs that referenced a kind of underworld offputting to many, staging&nbsp;live shows that verged on so-called performance art, the Velvet Underground prefigured and kicked off much of what was to come.</p> <p>One of the lessons will allow students a chance to study the Chelsea Hotel and its role in bringing an artistic community together. From writer William Burroughs to Singer-Songwriter Leonard Cohen, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe&nbsp;to Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, the Chelsea was a spot where you expected to see someone who was doing something that was shaking up the various worlds of creativity. Somehow, what happened at the Chelsea, those conversations across the arts and the hotel's collective creative spirit touched many in the city, whether they&nbsp;lived there or not. What came out, in this time in New York City, were musicians who broke down boundaries.</p> <p>Among the topics covered in these lessons will be Lou Reed's career, from the Velvet Underground into his solo years and various collaborations;&nbsp;Andy Warhol's effect on New York City's music culture;&nbsp;and case studies of a range of artists and acts, including John Cale (also a Velvet Underground member), the Rolling Stones (much a part of New York City in the 1970s), Bruce Springsteen (courtesy the bridges and tunnels leading from New Jersey), and, though less well known, Mink DeVille. In different ways, it was a group of artists with an exceptionally visual approach to writing. They were storytellers, capturing the strangeness and beauty of a city that offered dreams and just as often shattered them.</p>

video:
Imagination and Liberation

<p>Of the many chapters here, this is among the more diffuse. It looks into the pre-Punk years in New York City, exploring a place where the visual arts, avant garde music, Rock and Roll, and life at the fringes were mixing in unusual ways and throwing off a range of products. As the lessons will demonstrate, the Velvet Underground is perhaps more significant to the chapter than any other group. Working with Andy Warhol, testing the limits with songs that referenced a kind of underworld offputting to many, staging&nbsp;live shows that verged on so-called performance art, the Velvet Underground prefigured and kicked off much of what was to come.</p> <p>One of the lessons will allow students a chance to study the Chelsea Hotel and its role in bringing an artistic community together. From writer William Burroughs to Singer-Songwriter Leonard Cohen, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe&nbsp;to Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, the Chelsea was a spot where you expected to see someone who was doing something that was shaking up the various worlds of creativity. Somehow, what happened at the Chelsea, those conversations across the arts and the hotel's collective creative spirit touched many in the city, whether they&nbsp;lived there or not. What came out, in this time in New York City, were musicians who broke down boundaries.</p> <p>Among the topics covered in these lessons will be Lou Reed's career, from the Velvet Underground into his solo years and various collaborations;&nbsp;Andy Warhol's effect on New York City's music culture;&nbsp;and case studies of a range of artists and acts, including John Cale (also a Velvet Underground member), the Rolling Stones (much a part of New York City in the 1970s), Bruce Springsteen (courtesy the bridges and tunnels leading from New Jersey), and, though less well known, Mink DeVille. In different ways, it was a group of artists with an exceptionally visual approach to writing. They were storytellers, capturing the strangeness and beauty of a city that offered dreams and just as often shattered them.</p>

video:
Walk on the Wild Side

<p>Of the many chapters here, this is among the more diffuse. It looks into the pre-Punk years in New York City, exploring a place where the visual arts, avant garde music, Rock and Roll, and life at the fringes were mixing in unusual ways and throwing off a range of products. As the lessons will demonstrate, the Velvet Underground is perhaps more significant to the chapter than any other group. Working with Andy Warhol, testing the limits with songs that referenced a kind of underworld offputting to many, staging&nbsp;live shows that verged on so-called performance art, the Velvet Underground prefigured and kicked off much of what was to come.</p> <p>One of the lessons will allow students a chance to study the Chelsea Hotel and its role in bringing an artistic community together. From writer William Burroughs to Singer-Songwriter Leonard Cohen, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe&nbsp;to Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, the Chelsea was a spot where you expected to see someone who was doing something that was shaking up the various worlds of creativity. Somehow, what happened at the Chelsea, those conversations across the arts and the hotel's collective creative spirit touched many in the city, whether they&nbsp;lived there or not. What came out, in this time in New York City, were musicians who broke down boundaries.</p> <p>Among the topics covered in these lessons will be Lou Reed's career, from the Velvet Underground into his solo years and various collaborations;&nbsp;Andy Warhol's effect on New York City's music culture;&nbsp;and case studies of a range of artists and acts, including John Cale (also a Velvet Underground member), the Rolling Stones (much a part of New York City in the 1970s), Bruce Springsteen (courtesy the bridges and tunnels leading from New Jersey), and, though less well known, Mink DeVille. In different ways, it was a group of artists with an exceptionally visual approach to writing. They were storytellers, capturing the strangeness and beauty of a city that offered dreams and just as often shattered them.</p>

video:
Aversion to Performing and Giving Interviews

<p>Of the many chapters here, this is among the more diffuse. It looks into the pre-Punk years in New York City, exploring a place where the visual arts, avant garde music, Rock and Roll, and life at the fringes were mixing in unusual ways and throwing off a range of products. As the lessons will demonstrate, the Velvet Underground is perhaps more significant to the chapter than any other group. Working with Andy Warhol, testing the limits with songs that referenced a kind of underworld offputting to many, staging&nbsp;live shows that verged on so-called performance art, the Velvet Underground prefigured and kicked off much of what was to come.</p> <p>One of the lessons will allow students a chance to study the Chelsea Hotel and its role in bringing an artistic community together. From writer William Burroughs to Singer-Songwriter Leonard Cohen, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe&nbsp;to Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, the Chelsea was a spot where you expected to see someone who was doing something that was shaking up the various worlds of creativity. Somehow, what happened at the Chelsea, those conversations across the arts and the hotel's collective creative spirit touched many in the city, whether they&nbsp;lived there or not. What came out, in this time in New York City, were musicians who broke down boundaries.</p> <p>Among the topics covered in these lessons will be Lou Reed's career, from the Velvet Underground into his solo years and various collaborations;&nbsp;Andy Warhol's effect on New York City's music culture;&nbsp;and case studies of a range of artists and acts, including John Cale (also a Velvet Underground member), the Rolling Stones (much a part of New York City in the 1970s), Bruce Springsteen (courtesy the bridges and tunnels leading from New Jersey), and, though less well known, Mink DeVille. In different ways, it was a group of artists with an exceptionally visual approach to writing. They were storytellers, capturing the strangeness and beauty of a city that offered dreams and just as often shattered them.</p>

Print Journalism

article:
Bruce Springsteen: Little Egypt From Asbury Park

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SITS cross-legged on his half-made bed, and surveys the scene. Records are strewn across the room, singles mostly, intermixed with empty Pepsi bottles, a motley of underwear, socks and jeans, half-read and half-written letters, an assortment of tapes, and a copy of Richard Williams' Out of His Head, the biography of Phil Spector. The space is small, but Bruce and the two friends listening to Harold Dorman's 'Mountain of Love' don't mind. They're listening for the final few bars of 'Mountain', in which the drummer collapses and loses the beat – the song slows down to a noticeably improper...

article:
New York: Plug in to the Nerve-ends of the Naked City

In downtown Manhattan the rock 'n' roll war rages on as potential crown princes of Punkdom battle for recognition.. NICK KENT interprets the action IN MANHATTAN you're either uptown or down town and there's really no halfway house to dissolve into while in transit. You case your bearings purely on instinct as the yellow cab careers awkwardly down, down, down from the uptown three-star 51st and 3rd Mafioso hotel (ageing Hawaiian bellboys/the overbearing aroma of styrofoam in the Coffee Shop/the tight-lipped Italianate retired hit-man of a receptionist who always makes you wait for the key, nodding suspiciously to the grease-ball house...