Sabaragamuwa University Journal Volume 11 Number 1; December 2012, pp 33-73 ISSN 1391-3166 A Nihilistic Delirium to Catharsis the Fantasy for a Better World: A Historical and Literary Re-contextualization of the Musical Role of Velvet Underground Mahesh Hapugoda Department of Languages, Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, P.O. Box - 02, Belihul-Oya.
[email protected] Abstract Velvet Underground (referred as Velvets from here on in this essay) is one of the most authentic, influential but least talked rock bands in the history of rock music, whose contribution is greatly forgotten in presence of the high popularity of the commercial form of rock. Started in 1966, the Velvets successfully articulated the avant-garde movement in 1950s and the European eliticism to create an independent, nihilistic and subversive form of rock which was later known as punk. Their style was the most self-expressive and pessimistic rock structure to go in between the hippie psychedelia influenced by existentialism and German expressionism; the two most influential ideological reactions which dominated the intellectual and literary tradition for decades in the post-war Europe. Without identifying with both hegemonic strands, the Velvets pertinently invented their own independent way to express the most profound and authentic feelings of their generation. They were later celebrated for their intellectual and artistic use of rock with great amount of experiments along side avant-gardism. In their poignantly arranged, de-aesthetic songs, though inspired by the use of heroin, have shown an imagination for the need of a better world. This paper will research how their self-expressive, nihilistic and notorious dreams which actually meant to get rid of the era’s desperation can be literary re-articulated to vision a futuristic better world.