Check Out How Your Favorite Musicians Stumbled Into Choosing Their Now-Iconic Names

The Velvet Underground Were The Original 50 Shades Of Grey

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The Velvet Underground wasn’t very famous during their original run between 1964 and 1973 because, in all honestly, they were way ahead of their time. The band mixed rock with the Avante-Garde which wasn’t surprising since Andy Warhol managed them for a few years.

Their name is as shocking and Avante-Garde for the time too. The band was inspired by a novel called The Velvet Underground that explored free sex, group sex, sadomasochism, and homosexual behavior. In 1967, that was not going to endear the public, but in the 1990’s they would become worshipped as pioneers in alternative music.