10 Amazing Rock Albums With Terrible Production
1. White Light/White Heat - Velvet Underground
No band tries to make something that sounds terrible from the start. Unless your name is Frank Zappa or Captain Beefheart, most people want their listeners to at least enjoy themselves while listening to their music. After coming off one of the most unprofessional classics of all time though, the Velvet Underground decided to get even more raw on White Light/ White Heat.
The production values don't sneak up on you either, with the blast of noise on the title track being a clear indication of where everything is headed. For most of this record, the Velvets made a clear decision to make something much more abrasive than what they had done before, using more dissonant sounds from John Cale's viola and utilizing guitar feedback to make songs that sound like they are one big wall of noise.
In some ways, this is the kind of production values that gave punk rock its main character, with songs like Sister Ray droning on and on for 17 minutes with some of the most brutal sounding drumming of the time. Then again, this was not meant to be one of the biggest albums of all time because the Velvets themselves never wanted to be. This is the kind of album that you reserve for when you're in a bad mood and just need something harsh to vent your frustration.