The 1973 album Lou Reed worried would kill his career: “If only they knew”
Commercial suicide.

Avant-garde and proto-indie, you might say that The Velvet Underground were ahead of their time, but that would be a misnomer that implies their time has, indeed, since arrived.
With the literary iconoclasm of Lou Reed, the baroque wizardry of John Cale, the scrappy punk sound of Sterling Morrison’s guitar, Moe Tucker’s melodic drumming, and the uber-artistry of Nico in the mix, they were fated to be New York arthouse band too ahead of the counterculture curve to ever make it big in their own time.
The ultimate comedown anthem.
The beginning of rock’s new age.