Reed’s first group with Cale was the Primitives, a short-lived group assembled to issue budget-priced recordings and support an anti-dance single written by Reed, “The Ostrich”, to which Cale added a viola passage. Reed and Cale recruited Sterling Morrison —a college classmate of Reed’s at Syracuse University —as a replacement…
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The next single, ” My Generation “, followed in October.
In July 1965, Reed, Cale and Morrison recorded a demo tape at their Ludlow Street loft without MacLise, because he refused to be tied down to a schedule and would turn up to band practice sessions only when he wanted.
Phillips in April 1965
In 1965, after being introduced to the Velvet Underground by filmmaker Barbara Rubin , Andy Warhol became the band’s manager and suggested they use the German-born singer Nico (born Christa Päffgen) on several songs. Warhol’s reputation helped the band gain a higher profile. He helped the band secure a recording…
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The next single, ” My Generation “, followed in October. Townshend had written it as a slow blues, but after several abortive attempts, it was turned into a more powerful song with a bass solo from Entwistle. The song used gimmicks such as a vocal stutter to simulate the speech…
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“I Can’t Explain” became popular with pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline . Pirate radio was important for bands as there were no commercial radio stations in the UK and BBC Radio played little pop music. The group gained further exposure when they appeared on the TV programme Ready…
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The debut album My Generation was released in late 1965.
After pressure from his parents and advice from his college tutors, Klose quit in mid-1965 and Barrett took over lead guitar.
Later that year, they became the resident band at the Countdown Club near Kensington High Street in London, where from late night until early morning they played three sets of 90 minutes each.