The Velvet Underground is the Coolest. Here's Why.

The Velvet Underground is a completely killer 1960's rock band and crucial member of the F-List for several reasons: 1. They were waaaay too cool to have never had a number one hit.  2. Lou Reed on lead vocals (enough said)...no, not enough said.  Lou Reed was the coolest.  He was cool because he DID NOT care.  He did not care if he was cool, or innappropriate, or boring, he did life just exactly as he wanted to do it.  Lucky for him, he WAS cool, just innappropriate enough to get attention, and absolutely never boring.  (Cool mom, write that down.)  He really couldn't sing.  His vocals were all basically spoken.  But still, he spoke and meant them.  The subtle inflection in his voice when he sang doo da doo da doodadoo was his signature.  Velvet wouldn't be Velvet without Lou. 

And, the rest of the list:  3. Andy Warhol: producer  4. Nico  5. Pale Blue Eyes

Andy Warhol, who rings in at number 3, having produced the first Velvet records automatically makes the band worth a second look.  He was pretty weird, but very cool.  Warhol saw art in The Velvet Underground even when no one else did.  Warhol was far from being a mother, but he still provides inspiration to becoming a very cool momsie.  Cool mom inspirational goal: find beauty in something where no one else can, just like Andy.  I will start with finding beauty in my recent $50 hair cut which consisted of a lot of hair gel and a light dusting of about half of my split ends on the back of my shirt.  The "Diva Curl Cut" she called it.  More intriguing than effective.  And the reception/waiting area was very similar to a 1990's DMV.  I'll find the art in there somewhere, just give me a minute.      

Number 5, Pale Blue Eyes is a Velvet ballad that will make your heart hurt.  It's one of those songs that you can't help but play again and will still feel a little jipped when it's over.

Number 4. Nico and all her 60's glam.  Her voice is totally bizarre and fantastically mezmorizing.  I have a memory of sitting in my boyfriend-now-hubby's car, saying goodbye as I was about to leave town for the weekend.  We were listening to "These Days" by Nico on repeat.  It's funny how some memories become so significant to our lives, while at the time the memory is being made, its significance is overlooked.  This is one of those memories.  Every time I hear this song I think of that night, lingering for a long goodbye in the car, in the dark, and then getting out of the car with the song continuing on in my head, feeling his eyes on me as I walked away.  I don't think he knows this night still runs through my mind.  Nothing significant or "naughty" happened in the car that night, just us and Nico.