If you like: The Velvet Underground or simply punk rock and new wave, Loaded is an essential album for your collection.
About: The Velvet Underground were largely ignored during their original run from the mid-‘60s into the early ‘70s, but few bands would cast as long a shadow in terms of innovation and influence. Playing music that was boldly uncompromising both sonically and lyrically, The Velvet Underground infused rock & roll with the daring of the avant-garde and the poetic realism of post-beat literature. Too far ahead of their time for pop music’s mainstream, the VU made a profound impression on thoughtful listeners, many of whom would go on to make groundbreaking music of their own, and they would belatedly be acknowledged as one of rock's most important groups. Their four studio albums–1967’s The Velvet Underground & Nico, 1968’s White Light/White Heat, 1969’s The Velvet Underground, and 1970’s Loaded–are all essential documents, and 2015’s The Complete Matrix Tapes is superb evidence of their power as a live act.
    Historians often hail the group for their incalculable influence upon the punk and new wave of subsequent years, and while the Velvets were undoubtedly a key touchstone of the movements, to focus upon these elements of their vision is to only get part of the story. The group was uncompromising in its music and lyrics, to be sure, sometimes espousing a bleakness and primitivism that would inspire alienated singers and songwriters of future generations. But the band’s colorful and oft-grim soundscapes were firmly grounded in strong, well-constructed songs that could be as humanistic and compassionate as they were outrageous and confrontational. The member most responsible for these qualities was guitarist, singer, and songwriter Lou Reed, whose sing-speak vocals and gripping narratives came to define street-savvy rock & roll. *^{via Richie Unterberger}
A favorite track: Sweet Jane