120 - The History of the Velvet Underground with Richie Unterberger

120 - The History of the Velvet Underground with Richie Unterberger

Author: Rock n Roll Book Club June 14, 2026 Duration: 44:08

We turn our attention to one of the most influential bands of all time, The Velvet Underground for the first time with biographer Richie Unterberger. 


Lou Reed grew up in suburban Freeport, Long Island listening to the first wave of rock & roll. 


Later at Syracuse University Reed began to write future Velvet Underground tracks including Heroin & I’m Waiting For The Man, while there he also met future Velvets guitarist Sterling Morrison. 


Meanwhile in Garnant, Wales a young John Cale was a musical child prodigy, later moving to Goldsmiths College in London & on to New York on a music scholarship. 


After graduating Lou Reeds ends up at budget record label Pickwick Records writing songs on demand for immediate release. 


Through Pickwick, Lou Reed & John Cale meet & Lou begins to visit John in his Ludlow Street apartment in Manhattan. 


Also in New York, Lou coincidentally bumps into Sterling Morrison & he joins them in what becomes The Velvet Underground, all living together in Ludlow Street. 


The band take their name from a pulp novel by Michael Leigh & drummer Moe Tucker replaces Angus MacLise to complete the classic lineup. 



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Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell

Music by Andy Maxwell


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The Music Maps Podcast from the Rock n Roll Book Club isn't your typical music show. It's an audio expedition where geography is the guide. Every episode starts with a specific location-a city, a venue, a forgotten roadside attraction-and uses that place as a launchpad to explore the sounds, stories, and scenes connected to it. You might find yourself deep in the blues clubs of Chicago one week and tracing the underground punk threads of a small European town the next. The conversations are wide-ranging, connecting the dots between iconic artists and obscure movements, all anchored to a point on the map. Listening to this podcast feels like adding a new, richly detailed pin to a global atlas of musical influence. It’s about the context behind the chords and the cultural soil from which genres grow. The result is a continuously evolving, deeply human portrait of how music and place are inextricably linked, one fascinating destination at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Music Maps Podcast
Podcast Episodes
103 - The Undertones, Teenage Kicks & John Peel with Mickey Bradley [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:01
This week we celebrate 50 years of The Undertones with the one & only Mickey Bradley - our starting point is Derry in the late 1970s as we trace the formation of the band at the O’Neill house on Beechwood Avenue. Althoug…
101 - The Blitz with Robert Elms [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:32
This week esteemed writer & broadcaster Robert Elms joins us to tell us about the legendary Blitz nightclub in London’s Convent Garden. Back then Central London looked very different to today - back then it was an empty…
100 - Dexys Midnight Runners with Kevin Rowland [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Join us to celebrate 100 episodes of Music Maps with the mighty Kevin Rowland to discuss hew recent memory Bless Me Father & the story of Dexys Midnight Runners. We start with Kevin’s early years in Wolverhampton, the fa…
99 - Ringo Starr & The Beatles with Tom Doyle [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17:40
Our starting point is the breakup of The Beatles as writer Tom Doyle joins us to talk through the life of Ringo Starr, his biography is out now. His debut album Sentimental Journey arrives in March of 1970 & is quickly f…
98 - A Certain Ratio - Live At Hurrah 1980 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:19
Join us for a live conversation linked to the recent release of ACR:NYC - Live at Hurrah 1980, with A Certain Ratio, director Merrill Aldighieri - moderated by Dave Haslam.45 years after A Certain Ratio’s first performan…
97 - Pulp with Mark Webber (Sheffield) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:30
Join us to hear all about Pulp with Mark Webber - Mark found his way into the band by way of running the fan club (Pulp People) before eventually joining full time in 1995.Mark's wonderful new book 'I'm With Pulp Are You…
96 - 1995 with Anna Doble [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:17
Join us to round out 2025 by travelling back 30 years to 1995 with writer Anna Doble. Among much more we discuss the battle of Britpop with Blur v Oasis, the disappearance of Richie Edwards & the return of the Manic Stre…
95 - David Bowie with Paul Morley [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:23:01
This week we are joined by music writer Paul Morley to guide us through the early years of David Bowie - from his early life in Brixton & Bromley through to his formative experiences in Soho, his early bands & his origin…
94 - Del Amitri with Justin Currie (Glasgow) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:21
This week we welcome Del Amitri frontman Justin Currie to talk us through the history of the band - starting in Glasgow in the early 1980s following in the footsteps of the success of the Sound Of Young Scotland on Postc…