Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes
Velvet Underground is a long time
favorite of mine (I'm sure many other people too haha), and really changed my perspective on rock history. These guys weren't a mainstream success by any stretch, yet they influenced every band from the late '60s on. They were always considered the "musicians' musicians", although I feel like this younger generation has definitely embraced them and their place in the pantheon of rock. Their songs are interestingly poppy, definitely influenced by '50s rock (sort of proto-punk), but super dark; there is a constant thread of angst and misery throughout their stuff, although some of it is hopeful and even happy (though rarely lol).
Listen to Pale Blue Eyes by Velvet Underground here.
This is a (tortured) love song,
written and sung by Lou Reed, and is a really beautiful piece of music. According to the Wikipedia, it was written about a woman Reed loved, although she was married AND didn't have blue eyes haha. The arrangement is awesome, and I love the timbre of the whole piece; the guitar is beautifully simple, and the sadness in the lyrics is palpable.