September 13, 2002

The Velvet Underground: an 'Intellectual's Band'

To the Editor:

I'm amazed that Scott McLemee's article about academics and punk makes no mention of the Velvet Underground ("Safety Pin as Signifier," August 2). The Velvets, whose contrarian first album appeared in 1967, at the height of the hippie era, were the quintessential intellectual's band and the first to combine a hard-edged urban rock sensibility with avant-garde aesthetics. They are widely acknowledged to have inspired the musical trends in England and New York that

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