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The Velvet UndergroundFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to navigationJump to searchThis article is about the band. For the self-titled albums see The Velvet Underground & Nico and The Velvet Underground (album); for the book see The Velvet Underground (book)This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "The Velvet Underground" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(March 2019)(Learn how and when to remove this template message)The Velvet UndergroundThe Velvet Underground reformed in 1993. From left to right: Morrison (at back), Tucker, Cale and ReedBackground informationAlso known asThe WarlocksThe Falling SpikesOriginNew York City, New York, U.S.GenresArt rock[1]proto-punk[2]avant-garde[3]experimental rock[4]Years active1964–1973, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1996LabelsVerveAtlanticPolydorMGMMercuryCotillionAssociated actsNicoTheatre of Eternal MusicWebsitevelvetundergroundmusic.comPast membersLou ReedJohn CaleSterling MorrisonAngus MacLiseMoe TuckerDoug YuleWalter PowersWillie AlexanderThe Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in 1964 in New York City by singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitaristSterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise (replaced by Moe Tucker in 1965). The band was initially active between 1965 and 1973, and was briefly managed by the pop artist Andy Warhol, serving as the house band at the Factory and Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable events from 1966 to 1967. Their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (with German-born singer and model Nico), was released in 1967 to critical indifference and poor sales but has become critically acclaimed; in 2003, Rolling Stone called it the "most prophetic rock album ever made."[5][6]The band's integration of rock and the avant-garde achieved little commercial success during its existence, but it is now recognized as one of the most influential bands in rock, underground, experimental, and alternative music.[7][8]The provocative subject matter, musical experiments, and often nihilisticattitudes explored in the band's work proved influential in the development ofpunk rock and new wave music.[7]In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the band No. 19 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".[9]In 2017, a study ofAllMusic's catalog indicated the Velvet Underground as the fifth most frequently cited artist influence in its database.[10]The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 by Patti Smith.Contents1History1.1Pre-career and early stages (1964–1966)1.2Andy Warhol and the Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966–1967)1.3The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)1.4White Light/White Heat and Cale's departure (1968)1.5Doug Yule joins and The Velvet Underground (1969)1.6Year on the road and the "lost" fourth album (1969)1.7Loaded, Tucker's pregnancy and Max's residency (1970)1.8Reed's departure and release of Loaded (1970)1.9Live at Max's, Squeeze & Final VU shows (1970–1973)1.10Post-VU developments (1972–1990)1.11Reunions and death of Morrison (1990–1996)1.12NYPL reunion, death of Reed and Grammys concert (2009–2017)2Legacy3Line-ups3.1Timeline4Discography5See also6References7External linksHistory[edit]Pre-career and early stages (1964–1966)[edit]The foundations for what would become the Velvet Underground were laid in late 1964. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Lou Reedhad performed with a few short-lived garage bands and had worked as a songwriter for Pickwick Records (Reed described his tenure there as being "a poor man's Carole King").[11]Reed met John Cale, a Welshman who had moved to the United States to study classical music upon securing a Leonard Bernstein scholarship. Cale had worked with experimental composers John Cage, Cornelius Cardew and La Monte Young, and had performed with Young's Theatre of Eternal Music, though was also interested in rock music.[12]Young's use of extended drones would be a profound influence on the band's early sound. Cale was pleasantly surprised to discover that Reed's experimentalist tendencies were similar to his own: Reed sometimes used alternative guitar tunings to create a droning sound. The pair rehearsed and performed together; their partnership and shared interests built the path towards what would later become the Velvet Underground.Reed's first group with Cale was the Primitives, a short-lived group assembled to issue budget-priced recordings and support an anti-dance single written by Reed, "The Ostrich", to which Cale added a viola passage. Reed and Cale recruitedSterling Morrison—a college classmate of Reed's at Syracuse University—as a replacement for Walter De Maria, who had been a third member of the Primitives.[13]Reed and Morrison both played guitars, Cale played viola, keyboards and bass and Angus MacLise joined on percussion to complete the initial four-member unit. This quartet was first called the Warlocks, then the Falling Spikes.[14]The Velvet Underground by Michael Leigh was a contemporary mass market paperback about the secret sexual subculture of the early 1960s; Cale's friend and Dream Syndicate associate Tony Conrad showed it to the group, and MacLise made a suggestion to adopt the title as the band's name.[15]According to Reed and Morrison, the group liked the name, considering it evocative of "underground cinema", and fitting, as Reed had already written "Venus in Furs", a song inspired by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's book of the same name, which dealt with masochism. The band immediately and unanimously adopted The Velvet Underground as its new name in November 1965.The newly named Velvet Underground rehearsed and performed in New York City. Their music was generally much more relaxed than it would later become: Cale described this era as reminiscent of beat poetry, with MacLise playing gentle "pitter and patter rhythms behind the drone".[16]In July 1965, Reed, Cale and Morrison recorded a demo tape at their Ludlow Street loft without MacLise, because he refused to be tied down to a schedule and would only turn up to band practice sessions when he wanted.[17][18]When he briefly returned to Britain, Cale attempted to give a copy of the tape to Marianne Faithfull,[19]hoping she would pass it on toMick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones. Nothing ever came of this, but the demo was eventually released on the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See.Manager and music journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the group's first paying gig—$75 ($596 in 2018 dollars[20]) to play atSummit High School, in Summit, New Jersey, opening for the Myddle Class. When they decided to take the gig, MacLise abruptly left the group, protesting what he considered a sellout; he was also unwilling to be told when to start and stop playing. "Angus was in it for art", Morrison reported.[11]MacLise was replaced by Maureen "Moe" Tucker, the younger sister of Morrison's friend Jim Tucker. Tucker's playing style was rather unusual: she generally played standing up rather than seated and had an abbreviated drum setup of tom-toms,snare and an upturned bass drum, using mallets as often as drumsticks, and rarely using cymbals (she admits that she always hated cymbals).[21]When the band asked her to do something unusual, she turned her bass drum on its side and played standing up. After her drums were stolen from one club, she replaced them with garbage cans brought in from outside. Her rhythms, at once simple and exotic (influenced by the likes of Babatunde Olatunji and Bo Diddley records), became a vital part of the group's music, despite Cale's initial objections to the presence of a female drummer.[22]The group earned a regular paying gig at the Café Bizarre and gained an early reputation as a promising ensemble.Andy Warhol and the Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966–1967)[edit]In 1965, after being introduced to the Velvet Underground by filmmaker Barbara Rubin,[23]Andy Warhol became the band's manager and suggested they use the German-born singer Nico (born Christa Päffgen) on several songs. Warhol's reputation helped the band gain a higher profile. He helped the band secure a recording contract with MGM's Verve Records, with himself as nominal "producer", and gave the Velvets free rein over the sound they created.During their stay with Andy Warhol, the band became part of his multimedia roadshow, Exploding Plastic Inevitable, which combined Warhol's films with the band's music, which made use of minimalist devices, such as drones. Warhol included the band with his show in an effort to "use rock as a part of a larger, interdisciplinary-art work based around performance" (McDonald).[full citation needed]They played shows for several months in New York City, then traveled throughout the United States and Canada until its last installment in May 1967.[24]During a short period in September 1966, when Cale was ill, the avant-garde musician Henry Flynt, and Richard Mishkin, who had played in Reed's first group at university,[25]took turns to cover for him.[26]The show included 16 mm film projections by Warhol, combined with a stroboscopic-light show designed by Danny Williams. Because of the punishing lights, the band took to wearing sunglasses onstage.[27]Early promo posters referred to the group as the "erupting plastic inevitable". This soon changed to "the exploding plastic inevitable".In 1966, MacLise temporarily rejoined the Velvet Underground for a few EPI shows when Reed was suffering from hepatitisand unable to perform. For these appearances, Cale sang and played organ, Tucker switched to bass guitar and MacLise was on drums. Also at these appearances, the band often played an extended jam they had dubbed "Booker T", after musician Booker T. Jones. Some of these performances have been released as a bootleg; they remain the only record of MacLise with the Velvet Underground.According to Morrison, MacLise is said to have regretted leaving the Velvet Underground and wanted to rejoin, but Reed specifically prohibited this and made it clear that this stint was only temporary. It should be noted, however, that MacLise still behaved eccentrically with time and commerce and went by his own clock: for instance, he showed up half an hour late to one show and carried on with a half-hour of drumming to compensate for his late arrival, long after the set had finished.[17]In December 1966, Warhol and David Dalton designed Issue 3 of the multimedia Aspen.[28]Included in this issue of the "magazine", which retailed at $4 ($31 in 2018 dollars[20]) per copy and was packaged in a hinged box designed to look like Fab laundry detergent, were various leaflets and booklets, one of which was a commentary on rock and roll by Lou Reed, another an EPI promotional newspaper. Also enclosed was a 2-sided flexi disk: side one produced by Peter Walker, a musical associate of Timothy Leary; and side two titled "Loop", credited to the Velvet Underground but actually recorded by Cale alone. "Loop", a recording solely of pulsating audio feedback culminating in a locked groove, was "a precursor to [Reed's] Metal Machine Music", say Velvets archivists M.C. Kostek and Phil Milstein in the book The Velvet Underground Companion.[29]"Loop" also predates much industrial music.The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)[edit]Main article: The Velvet Underground & NicoNico at Andy Warhol'sExploding Plastic Inevitable, where she performed with the Velvet Underground, circa 1967At Warhol's insistence, Nico sang with the band on three songs of their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. The album was recorded primarily in Scepter Studios in New York City during April 1966, but for reasons unclear, some songs were rerecorded at TTG Studios in Los Angeles, along with the new song "Sunday Morning", later in the year withTom Wilson producing. The album was released by Verve Records the following year in March 1967. The album cover is famous for its Warhol design: a yellow banana sticker with "Peel slowly and see" printed near the tip. Those who did remove the banana skin found a pink, peeled banana beneath.Eleven songs showcased the Velvets' dynamic range, veering from the pounding attacks of "I'm Waiting for the Man" and "Run Run Run", the droning "Venus in Furs" and "Heroin", the chiming and celestial "Sunday Morning", to the quiet "Femme Fatale" and the tender "I'll Be Your Mirror", as well as Warhol's own favorite song of the group, "All Tomorrow's Parties".[30]Kurt Loder would later describe "All Tomorrow's Parties" as a "mesmerizing gothic-rockmasterpiece".[30]Closing out the album was the avant-garde "The Black Angel's Death Song", followed by the lengthy, feedback-laden "European Son", which Reed dedicated to his Syracuse professor Delmore Schwartz.The overall sound was propelled by Reed and Nico's deadpan vocals, Cale's droning viola, bass and keyboards, Reed's experimental avant-garde guitar, Morrison's often R&B- or country-influenced guitar, and Tucker's simple but steady and tribal-sounding beat with sparse use of cymbals. A technique used on many songs was the "drone strum", an eighth-note rhythm guitar style used by Reed.[31]Although Cale was the band's usual bassist, if he switched to viola or keyboards, Morrison would normally play bass. Despite his proficiency on the instrument, Morrison hated playing bass.[32][33]Conversely, some songs had Reed and Morrison playing their usual guitars with Cale on viola or keyboards, but with nobody playing bass.The album was released on March 12, 1967 (after a lengthy delay by Verve) and reached No. 171 on Billboard magazine'sTop 200 charts.[34]The commercial growth of the album was hampered by a legal claim: as the album's back cover included a photo of the group on stage with an unauthorised image projected behind them of actor Eric Emerson from a Warhol motion picture, Chelsea Girls, Emerson made a claim of $500,000 ($3,756,986 in 2018 dollars[20]) for use of his image.[35]Instead of compensating Emerson for damages, MGM Records canceled all distribution of the album for nearly two months until the legal problems were settled (by which time the record had lost its modest commercial momentum), and the still was airbrushed out of the remaining copies of the album.[35]By the time the record was re-distributed into stores, it faced stiff competition in the marketplace. The album was re-distributed at nearly the same time as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in June 1967, which further hindered the release.[36][page needed]Regarding MGM/Verve's delay in releasing the album, Warhol's business manager Paul Morrissey once offered the following: "Verve/MGM didn't know what to do with The Velvet Underground and Nico because it was so peculiar. They did not release it for almost a year. Tom Wilson at Verve/MGM only bought the album from me because of Nico. He saw no talent in Lou [Reed]."[36]In 1982, Brian Eno said that while the album sold only 30,000 copies in its early years, "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band."[37]White Light/White Heat and Cale's departure (1968)[edit]Main article: White Light/White HeatNico moved on after the Velvets severed their relationship with Andy Warhol. Reed once commented on their leaving Warhol: "He sat down and had a talk with me. 'You gotta decide what you want to do. Do you want to keep just playing museums from now on and the art festivals? Or do you want to start moving into other areas? Lou, don't you think you should think about it?' So I thought about it, and I fired him. Because I thought that was one of the things to do if we were going to move away from that…"[38]Steve Sesnick was soon brought in as a replacement manager, much to the chagrin of Cale, who believes that Sesnick tried to push Reed as band leader at the expense of band harmony. Both Cale and Reed called Sesnick a "snake" in different interviews after leaving the band.[39]In September 1967, the Velvet Underground began recording their second album, White Light/White Heat, with Tom Wilson as producer.The band performed live often, and their performances became louder and harsher and often included extendedimprovisations.Warhol arranged for the band to get an endorsement deal with Vox to enable them to use Vox equipment, including special effects pedals and an organ, for free.[40][41]Sterling Morrison felt they were the first American band to get a Vox endorsement.[42]Sterling Morrison offered the following input regarding the recording:There was fantastic leakage 'cause everyone was playing so loud and we had so much electronic junk with us in the studio—all these fuzzers and compressors. Gary Kellgren, who is ultra-competent, told us repeatedly: "You can't do it—all the needles are on red." and we reacted as we always reacted: "Look, we don't know what goes on in there and we don't want to hear about it. Just do the best you can." And so the album is fuzzy, there's all that white noise...we wanted to do something electronic and energetic. We had the energy and the electronics, but we didn't know it couldn't be recorded...what we were trying to do was really fry the tracks.[43]Cale has said that while the debut had some moments of fragility and beauty, White Light/White Heat was "consciously anti-beauty".[44]The title track sets a harsh opening; bassist Cale overdubbing a piano that has been described as "a cross between Jerry Lee Lewis and Henry Cowell".[45]Along with brash songs like "Sister Ray" and "I Heard Her Call My Name", there was the darkly comic "The Gift", a short story written by Reed and narrated by Cale in his deadpan Welsh accent. The meditative "Here She Comes Now" was later covered by Galaxie 500, Cabaret Voltaire, and Nirvana, among others. The album was released on January 30, 1968, entering the Billboard Top 200 chart for two weeks, at number 199.Tensions were growing: the group was tired of receiving little recognition for its work, and Reed and Cale were pulling the Velvet Underground in different directions. The differences showed in the last recording sessions the band had with John Cale in 1968: three pop-like songs in Reed's direction ("Temptation Inside Your Heart", "Stephanie Says" and "Beginning to See the Light") and a viola-driven drone in Cale's direction ("Hey Mr. Rain"). Further, some songs the band had performed with Cale in concert, or that he had co-written, were not recorded until after he had left the group (such as "Walk It and Talk It", "Ride into the Sun", and "Countess from Hong Kong").Reed called Morrison and Tucker to a meeting at the Riviera Cafe in the West Village without Cale's knowledge, and informed them that Cale was out of the band; when Morrison objected, Reed said it was either Cale was sacked or the Velvets were dissolved.[46]Neither Morrison nor Tucker was happy with the idea, but faced with a choice of either no Cale or no band at all, the pair reluctantly sided with Reed.[7][47]It has often been reported that before Cale's departure (following White Light/White Heat) there was a struggle between his creative impulses and Reed's: Cale's experimentalist tendencies had contrasted with Reed's more conventional approach. According to Tim Mitchell, however, Morrison reported that while there was creative tension between Reed and Cale, its impact has been exaggerated over the years.[48]Cale played his last show with the band at the Boston Tea Party in September 1968 and was fired shortly afterwards.According to Michael Carlucci, a friend of Robert Quine, "Lou told Quine that the reason why he had to get rid of Cale in the band was Cale's ideas were just too out there. Cale had some wacky ideas. He wanted to record the next album with the amplifiers underwater, and [Lou] just couldn't have it. He was trying to make the band more accessible."[citation needed][who?]Ultimately, Morrison was dispatched by Reed to tell Cale that he was out of the band.[49]Doug Yule joins and The Velvet Underground (1969)[edit]Main article: The Velvet Underground (album)The Velvet Underground with Yule; from left to right: Reed, Tucker, Yule, and MorrisonBefore work on their third album started, Cale was replaced by musician Doug Yuleof the Boston group the Grass Menagerie, who had been a close associate of the band.[50]Yule, a native New Yorker, had moved to Boston to attend Boston University as a theater major, but left the program after one year to continue playing music.[51]Yule had first seen the Velvets perform at a student event at Harvard University in Cambridge in early 1968,[52]and when the band played at the Boston Tea Party later that year, the band stayed at Yule's apartment on River Street, which he happened to be renting from their road manager, Hans Onsager (who worked closely with their manager Steve Sesnick). It was during this period that Morrison heard Yule playing guitar in his apartment, and mentioned to Reed that Yule was practicing guitar and was improving quickly.[53]It was following this discussion that led to a phone call from Steve Sesnick inviting Yule to meet with the band at Max's Kansas City in New York City in October 1968 to discuss joining the Velvets before two upcoming shows in Cleveland, Ohio, at the club La Cave.[54][55]Upon meeting Reed, Sesnick and Morrison at Max's, Yule was asked to handle bass and organ duties in the band, and he would soon contribute vocals as well. After several months of shows in the US, the band swiftly recorded their third album The Velvet Underground in late 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood, California. It was released in March 1969. The cover photograph was taken by Billy Name. The LP sleeve was designed by Dick Smith, then a staff artist at MGM/Verve. Released on March 12, 1969, the album failed to make Billboard's Top 200 album chart.The harsh, abrasive tendencies on the first two records were almost entirely absent on their third album. This resulted in a gentler sound influenced by folk music, prescient of the songwriting style that would soon form Reed's solo career. While Reed had covered a vast range of lyrical subjects on the first two Velvet Underground albums, the lyrical themes of the third album were more "intimate" in nature. Reed's songwriting also covered new emotional ground as well, as heard in the songs "Pale Blue Eyes", "Jesus", "Beginning to See the Light", and "I'm Set Free". The personal tone of the album's subject matter resulted in Reed's desire to create a "closet" mix that boosted the vocals to the forefront, while reducing the album's instrumentation. The second (and more widely distributed) mix is the stereo mix done by MGM/Verve staff recording engineer Val Valentin. Another factor in the change of sound was the band's Vox amplifiers and assorted fuzzboxes were rumored to have been stolen from an airport while they were on tour and they obtained replacements by signing a new endorsement deal with Sunn. In addition, Reed and Morrison had purchased matching Fender 12-string electric guitars, but Doug Yule plays down the influence of the new equipment.Morrison's ringing guitar parts and Yule's melodic bass guitar and harmony vocals are used prominently on the album.[according to whom?]Reed's songs and singing are subdued and confessional in nature,[according to whom?]and he shared lead vocals with Yule, particularly when his own voice would fail under stress.[56]Doug Yule sang the lead vocal on "Candy Says" (about the Warhol superstar Candy Darling), which opens the LP, and a rare Moe Tucker lead vocal is used on "After Hours", which closes the album, because Reed felt her "innocent" voice was more believable for a sad song.[57]The album has the experimental track "The Murder Mystery", which utilised all four band members (Reed, Yule, Tucker and Morrison) reading different lyrics, sometimes simultaneously, as well as the ballad "Pale Blue Eyes".Year on the road and the "lost" fourth album (1969)[edit]The Velvet Underground spent much of 1969 on the road both in the US and Canada, and not making much headway commercially. Despite these commercial setbacks, the band focused on performing live shows on the road, playing both re-worked songs from their past albums, and debuting new songs that would find their way onto the Loaded album, such as "New Age", "Rock and Roll", and "Sweet Jane". While the band continued to do extended improvisations in their live shows, by 1969 they were focusing on tight live performances,[citation needed]and several of the live shows the band played during this period would end up released as live albums many years later. The live album 1969: The Velvet Underground Live (with Reed, Yule, Morrison & Tucker) was recorded in October 1969 but not released until 1974, on Mercury Records, at the urging of rock critic Paul Nelson, who worked in A&R for Mercury at the time. Nelson asked singer-songwriter Elliott Murphyto write liner notes for the double album. In his notes, Murphy described a scene 100 years in the future, with a student taking a class on "classical rock'n'roll" and listening to the Velvet Underground. He wondered what the student would make of the music and concluded, "I wish it was a hundred years from today (I can't stand the suspense)".[58][59]During this period the band played a series of shows in November 1969 at the Matrix and the Family Dog venues in San Francisco; recordings of these shows were released in 2001, as a triple live album, Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes, which included the line up of Reed, Yule, Morrison and Tucker. During 1969 the band recorded on and off in the studio, creating a lot of promising material (both singles and one-offs) that were never officially released at the time due to disputes with their record label. What many consider to be the prime songs of these recording sessions were released years later, in 1985, in a compilation album called VU. The album VU marks the transitional sound between the whisper-soft third album and the band's movement to the later pop rock song-style of their final record, Loaded.[according to whom?]Two of the songs the Velvets recorded during this period were later used on film soundtracks: "Stephanie Says" was used in the 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums; "I'm Sticking With You" has a rare Moe Tucker–Lou Reed dual-lead vocal track, with Doug Yule accompanying on piano, and was included in the film Juno.The rest of the recordings, as well as some alternative takes and instrumental tracks were later bundled on Another Viewwhich was released in 1986. After Reed's departure, he later reworked a number of these songs for his solo records over the years: "Stephanie Says", "Ocean", "I Can't Stand It", "Lisa Says", and "Andy's Chest", as well as "She's My Best Friend", which had been originally sung by Doug Yule.By 1969 the MGM and Verve record labels had been losing money for several years. A new president, Mike Curb, was hired and he decided to cancel the recording contracts of 18 of their acts who supposedly glorified drugs in their lyrics, including their many controversial and unprofitable acts. The drug or hippie-related bands were released from MGM, and the Velvets were on his list, along with Eric Burdon and the Animals and Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. Nonetheless MGM insisted on retaining ownership of all master tapes of their recordings and according to an MGM representative in a Rolling Stonearticle from 1970, "it wasn't eighteen groups, [Curb] was misquoted. The cuts were made partly to do with the drug scene—like maybe a third of them had to do with drug reasons. The others were dropped because they weren't selling." Lou Reed would later remark in the 1987 issue of Creem that while he did not believe that MGM dropped the Velvets for drug associations, he did acknowledge, "We wanted to get out of there."[49]Loaded, Tucker's pregnancy and Max's residency (1970)[edit]Main article: LoadedCotillion Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records that specialized in blues and Southern soul) signed the Velvet Underground for what would be its final studio album with Lou Reed: Loaded. The album's title refers to Atlantic's request that the band produce an album "loaded with hits". Though the record was not the smash hit the company had anticipated, it contains the most accessible pop the Velvet Underground had performed,[according to whom?]and two of Reed's best-known songs,[according to whom?]"Sweet Jane" and "Rock and Roll".By the recording of Loaded, Doug Yule played a more prominent role in the band, and with Reed's encouragement, sang the lead vocal on four songs: "Who Loves the Sun", which opened the album, "New Age", "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" and the final track, "Oh! Sweet Nuthin". Yule once commented on the recording of Loaded: "Lou leaned on me a lot in terms of musical support and for harmonies, vocal arrangements. I did a lot on Loaded. It sort of devolved down to the Lou and Doug recreational recording."[60]While the third Velvets' LP was recorded mostly live in a collaborative atmosphere, the bulk of Loaded was crafted in the studio. In addition to handling all the bass and piano duties on Loaded, Yule also contributed several lead guitar parts and played drums on five of the album's ten tracks (most notably on the songs "Rock and Roll" and "Sweet Jane")[61]since Moe Tucker (who was credited as the album's drummer) was absent on maternity leave to have her first child, a daughter named Kerry. Other drum parts were performed by engineer Adrian Barber, session musician Tommy Castanaro, and Billy Yule(Doug Yule's younger brother), who was still in high school at the time.[62]During the sessions, Sterling Morrison resumed his undergraduate studies at the City College of New York. Although he contributed guitar tracks to the album, he began to split his time between classes, the sessions and the gigs at Max's, thus leaving Reed and Yule to handle the bulk of the arrangements.[63]It was during the Loaded recording sessions that the Velvets (with Billy Yule deputizing on drums) secured a now-legendary nine-week residency (from June 24 – August 28, 1970) at the New York nightclub Max's Kansas City, playing two lengthy sets per night, and showcasing altered arrangements of older songs from their previous albums, as well as showcasing the new material that would soon make up Loaded. Reed's last live performance with the band at Max's was informally recorded and was released two years later in 1972 as Live at Max's Kansas City, also on Atlantic Records.Reed's departure and release of Loaded (1970)[edit]Disillusioned with the lack of progress the band was making, and facing pressure by manager Steve Sesnick, Reed decided to quit the band during the last week of the Max's Kansas City shows in August 1970. Although Reed had informed Tucker, who was attending the show but not playing with the band because of her pregnancy, that he planned to leave the group on his last evening, he did not tell Morrison or Yule. In a 2006 interview, Yule said Sesnick waited until one hour before the band was scheduled to take the stage the following night before notifying him that Reed was not coming. "I was expecting [Lou] to show up, I thought he was late." Yule blamed Sesnick for Reed's departure. "Sesnick had engineered Lou's leaving the group. He and Lou had a relationship where Lou had depended on him for moral support, and he trusted him, and Sesnick basically said 'screw you.' ... It must have been hard for Lou to hear that because he depended on him, so he quit."[64]While Loaded was finalized and mixed, it had yet to be mastered and was not set to be released by Atlantic until November of that year. Reed often said he was completely surprised when he saw Loaded in stores. He also said, "I left them to their album full of hits that I made".Reed was perturbed about a verse being edited from the Loaded version of "Sweet Jane".[65]"New Age" was changed as well: as originally recorded, its closing line ("It's the beginning of a new age" as sung by Yule) was repeated many more times.[citation needed]A brief interlude in "Rock and Roll" was also removed. (For the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See, the album was presented as Reed intended;[citation needed]the "Fully Loaded" two-disc edition includes the full versions of "Sweet Jane" and "New Age".) On the other hand, Yule has pointed out that the album was for all intents and purposes finished when Reed left the band and that Reed had been aware of most, if not all, of the edits.[66]Live at Max's, Squeeze & Final VU shows (1970–1973)[edit]With manager Steve Sesnick looking to fill bookings (following the departure of Lou Reed), and with the pending release ofLoaded in November 1970, the band, now with Sterling Morrison on guitar, Moe Tucker on drums, Walter Powers on bass, and Doug Yule taking over lead vocals and guitar, played periodic shows to promote the album from November 1970 to August 1971, playing shows around the U.S.[67]By this juncture, Sterling Morrison had received his degree from the City College of New York. Following a show in Houston, Texas, he left the group in August 1971 to pursue a Ph.D. in medieval literature at the University of Texas at Austin. He had packed an empty suitcase and when the time came for the band to return to New York City, he told them at the airport that he was staying in Texas and quitting the band—the last founding member to quit.[68]Morrison's replacement was singer/keyboard player Willie Alexander. This brief line-up of the band played several shows in the US and Canada in September 1971, and in October & November 1971 the band did several shows in England, Wales, and the Netherlands to support the 1971 European release of Loaded, some of which are collected on the 2001 box set Final V.U.[69]Following a single show in Pennsylvania in early January 1972, the lineup of Yule, Tucker, Alexander and Powers disbanded.[69]In May 1972, Atlantic released Live at Max's Kansas City, the recording of the Velvet Underground's final performance with Reed (also with Doug Yule, Morrison, and Billy Yule) made by a fan, Brigid Polk, on August 23, 1970. Due to publicity around the release, and growing interest in the Velvet Underground in Europe, Sesnick was able to secure a single album deal with Polydor in the UK, and a handful of promotional shows were booked in the UK in November and December 1972. After Sesnick reached out to Yule, a new Velvet Underground lineup was quickly assembled by Yule to do the UK shows. This brief lineup of the Velvet Underground consisted of Yule, guitarist Rob Norris (later of The Bongos), bassist George Kay (Krzyzewski), and drummer Mark Nauseef. After Sesnick failed to show up in London to meet the band with the necessary equipment and tour funds,[70]they played the handful of dates to secure enough money for flights back to the US, and Yule left the band when the brief tour ended in December 1972. It was during this brief period in the UK that Yule recorded the Polydor album (ultimately titled Squeeze) under the Velvet Underground name virtually by himself, with only the assistance ofDeep Purple drummer Ian Paice and a few other session musicians in an unspecified London studio. While Yule intended to recruit Tucker to play drums on Squeeze, Sesnick vetoed his decision and claimed she was "too expensive" to hire.[71]Squeeze was released in February the following year, 1973, in Europe only, with minimal promotion by the label, and was held in low regard by fans and critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes that the album received "uniformly terrible reviews" upon initial release,[72]and in the early 1970s, the NME Book of Rock counted it as "a Velvet Underground album in name only".[73]When asked about Squeeze, Yule hinted that band manager Steve Sesnick orchestrated the album purely as a money ploy. "Sesnick dumped the second iteration of the band in England with no money and no equipment and just left us there to find our way back. He gave me six copies of Squeeze as pay. I never got any money. When you sign with ASCAP orBMI you get an advance. He not only made an arrangement with them but actually signed as me and took the money."[74]Despite the negative reviews of the album upon its initial release, in recent years the album has been revisited by both critics and musicians with more sympathetic and favorable reviews. In 2011 music writer Steven Shehori included Squeeze in his "Criminally Overlooked Albums" series for The Huffington Post, and in a lengthy review of the album, offered the following positive assessment of Squeeze: "if you pluck it from the shackles of its murky back-story, Squeeze is nothing short of a quintessential listening experience."[75]The UK band Squeeze took their name from its title according to band member Chris Difford, who offered the following opinion of the album in a 2012 interview: "It's an odd record, but the name came from that, definitely. ... In a retrospective way I really enjoy it. It has kind of a naivety about it."[76]Although Yule had put an end to the Velvet Underground in late 1972, a band with him, Billy Yule, George Kay and guitarist Don Silverman (later known as Noor Khan) was incorrectly billed as the Velvet Underground for two shows in Boston and Long Island. The band members objected to the billing (instigated by their tour manager); according to Yule, the promoter was not supposed to bill the band as the Velvet Underground.[69]In late May 1973, the band and the tour manager parted ways, thus bringing the Velvet Underground to an end until the classic line-up of Reed, Tucker, Morrison and Cale would reunite in the 1990s.Post-VU developments (1972–1990)[edit]Reed, Cale and Nico teamed up at the beginning of 1972 to play a concert in Paris at the Bataclan club. This concert was bootlegged, and finally received an official release as Le Bataclan '72 in 2003. Before that, Cale and Nico had developed solo careers. Nico had also begun a solo career with Cale producing a majority of her albums. Reed started his solo career in 1972 after a brief sabbatical. Sterling Morrison was a professor for some time, teaching Medieval Literature at the University of Texas at Austin, then became a tugboat captain in Houston for several years. Moe Tucker raised a family before returning to small-scale gigging and recording in the 1980s; Morrison was in several touring bands, including Tucker's band.Yule subsequently toured with Lou Reed and played on the latter's Sally Can't Dance album, and Yule (at Reed's request) also contributed guitar and bass tracks to Reed's album Coney Island Baby, which can be heard in the Bonus Edition of the album (released in 2002). Yule became a member of American Flyer, then dropped out of the music industry altogether before reappearing in the early 2000s.In 1985 Polydor released the album VU, which collected unreleased recordings that might have constituted the band's fourth album for MGM in 1969 but had never been released. Some of the songs had been recorded when Cale was still in the band. More unreleased recordings of the band, some of them demos and unfinished tracks, were released in 1986 asAnother View.On July 18, 1988, Nico died of a cerebral haemorrhage following a bicycle accident.Czech dissident playwright Václav Havel was a fan of the Velvet Underground, ultimately becoming a friend of Lou Reed. Though some attribute the name of the 1989 "Velvet Revolution", which ended more than 40 years of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia, to the band, Reed pointed out that the name Velvet Revolution derives from its peaceful nature—that no one was "actually hurt" during those events.[77]Reed has also given at least one radio interview where he stated that it was called the Velvet Revolution because all of the dissidents were listening to the Velvet Underground leading up to the overthrow, and this music was an inspiration for the events that followed. After Havel's election as president, first of Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic, Reed visited him in Prague.[78]On September 16, 1998, at Havel's request, Reed performed in the White House at a state dinner in Havel's honor hosted by President Bill Clinton.[79]Reunions and death of Morrison (1990–1996)[edit]This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(February 2017)(Learn how and when to remove this template message)In 1990, Reed and Cale released Songs for Drella, a song cycle about Andy Warhol, who had died in 1987. Though Morrison and Tucker had each worked with Reed and Cale since the Velvet Underground had broken up, Songs for Drellawas the first time the pair had worked together in decades, and speculation about a reunion began to form, fueled by the one-off appearance by Reed, Cale, Morrison and Tucker to play "Heroin" as the encore to a brief Songs for Drella set inJouy-en-Josas, France. Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison also joined John Cale for an encore at his show at New York University on December 5, 1992.The Reed–Cale–Morrison–Tucker lineup officially reunited without Yule (whose inclusion had been championed by Morrison) in 1992, commencing activities with a European tour beginning in Edinburgh on June 1, 1993, and including a performance at Glastonbury which appeared on an NME front cover. Cale sang most of the songs Nico had originally performed. As well as headlining (with Luna as the opening act), the Velvets performed as supporting act for five dates of U2's Zoo TV Tour. With the success of the Velvet Underground's European reunion tour, a series of US tour dates were proposed, as was anMTV Unplugged broadcast, and possibly even some new studio recordings. Before any of this could come to fruition, Cale and Reed fell out again, breaking up the band once more.On August 30, 1995, Sterling Morrison died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma after returning to his hometown of Poughkeepsie, New York, at age 53. When the classic lineup of the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, Reed, Tucker, and Cale reformed the Velvet Underground for the last time. Doug Yule was not inducted and did not attend. At the ceremony, the band was inducted by Patti Smith, and the trio performed "Last Night I Said Goodbye to My Friend", written in tribute to Morrison.NYPL reunion, death of Reed and Grammys concert (2009–2017)[edit]In December 2009, to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the band's formation, Reed, Tucker and Yule (with Cale not present) gave a rare interview at the New York Public Library.[80]The Velvet Underground continues to exist as a New York–based partnership managing the financial and back catalog aspects for the band members. In January 2012, the surviving members of the band initiated legal action against the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts over unauthorised use of the debut album's banana design.[81][82]Forty-fifth anniversary box sets of the band's first four studio albums, including significantly expanded bonus material, appeared from 2012 to 2015; the live box set The Complete Matrix Tapes, comprising remixed and remastered versions of a series of professionally recorded 1969 performances, also appeared in 2015.On October 27, 2013, Lou Reed died at his home in Southampton, New York, aged 71. He had undergone a liver transplant earlier in the year.[83]John Cale responded to Reed's passing by saying, "The world has lost a fine songwriter and poet…I've lost my 'school-yard buddy'".[84]In 2017, John Cale and Maureen Tucker reunited to perform “I'm Waiting for the Man” at the Grammy Salute to Music Legends concert.[85]Legacy[edit]The Velvet Underground is regarded as one of the most influential bands in rock history. Their first four albums were included in Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[86]They were ranked the 19th greatest artist by the same magazine[87]and the 24th greatest artist in a poll by VH1. In 1996 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[88]Critic Robert Christgau considers them "the number three band of the '60s, after the Beatles and James Brown and His Famous Flames".[89]AllMusic wrote that "Few rock groups can claim to have broken so much new territory, and maintain such consistent brilliance on record, as the Velvet Underground during their brief lifespan [...] the Velvets' innovations -- which blended the energy of rock with the sonic adventurism of the avant-garde, and introduced a new degree of social realism and sexual kinkiness into rock lyrics -- were too abrasive for the mainstream to handle."[7]Line-ups[edit]YearBandRecordingsVocals, guitarBass, keyboards, viola, vocalsGuitar, bass, backing vocalsPercussionApril–November 1965Lou ReedJohn CaleSterling MorrisonAngus MacLiseDisc 1 of Peel Slowly and See (1995; minus MacLise)December 1965 – September 1968Lou ReedJohn CaleSterling MorrisonMaureen TuckerThe Velvet Underground & Nico (1967), White Light/White Heat (1968), two tracks on VU(1985), three tracks on Another View (1986), discs 2–3 of Peel Slowly and See (1995)Vocals, guitarBass, keyboards, guitar, vocalsGuitar, bass, backing vocalsPercussionSeptember 1968 – August 1970Lou ReedDoug YuleSterling MorrisonMaureen TuckerThe Velvet Underground (1969), Loaded (1970; minus Tucker), Live at Max's Kansas City (1972; minus Tucker), 1969: The Velvet Underground Live (1974), eight tracks on VU (1985), six tracks on Another View (1986), discs 4–5 of Peel Slowly and See (1995), Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes (2001)Vocals, guitar, keyboardsBassGuitarDrumsNovember 1970 – August 1971Doug YuleWalter PowersSterling MorrisonMaureen TuckerStudio demo of two songs, "She'll Make You Cry" and "Friends" (as yet unreleased)Vocals, guitarBassKeyboards, vocalsDrumsOctober 1971 – December 1971Doug YuleWalter PowersWillie AlexanderMaureen TuckerDiscs 1–2 and part of disc 4 of Final V.U. 1971–1973 (2001)Vocals, various instrumentsJanuary 1972 – February 1973Doug Yule---------Squeeze (1973), discs 3–4 of Final V.U. (2001), both with hired handsVocals, guitarBass, keyboards, viola, vocalsGuitar, bass, backing vocalsPercussionJune 1990; November 1992 – July 1993Lou ReedJohn CaleSterling MorrisonMaureen TuckerLive MCMXCIII (1993)Vocals, guitarBass, keyboards, vocals-Percussion1996Lou ReedJohn CaleMaureen TuckerRock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony2009Lou ReedDoug YuleMaureen TuckerGroup interview at the New York Public LibraryTimeline[edit]

Politics of the United StatesThe United States is a federal republic and representative democracy in which the president, Congress and federal courts share powers reserved to the national government, according to its Constitution. The federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments.The executive branch is headed by the president and is formally independent of both the legislature and the judiciary. The cabinet serves as a set of advisers to the president. They include the vice president and heads of the executive departments. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The judicial branch (or judiciary), composed of the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, exercises judicial power. The judiciary's function is to interpret the United States Constitution and federal laws and regulations. This includes resolving disputes between the executive and legislative branches. The federal government's structure is codified in the Constitution.Two political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, have dominated American politics since the American Civil War, although smaller parties exist such as the Libertarian Party, the Green Party and the Constitution Party. Generally, the Democratic Party is also known as the center-left liberal party within the United States, while the Republican Party is also known as a center-right conservative party.There are a few major differences between the political system of the United States and that of most other developed democracies. These include greater power in the upper house of the legislature, a wider scope of power held by the Supreme Court, the separation of powers between the legislature and the executive and the dominance of only two main parties. Third parties have less political influence in the United States than in other democratically run developed countries; this is because of a combination of stringent historic controls. These controls take shape in the form of state and federal laws, informal media prohibitions and winner-take-all elections and include ballot access issues and exclusive debate rules. There have been five United States presidential elections in which the winner lost the popular vote.Political cultureMain article: Political culture of the United StatesScholars from Alexis de Tocqueville to the present have found a strong continuity in core American political values since the time of the American Revolution in the late 18th century.Colonial origins[edit]Main article: Colonial history of the United StatesSome of Britain's North American colonies became exceptional in the European world for their vibrant political culture, which attracted the most talented and ambitious young men into politics.Reasons for this American exceptionalism included:Suffrage was the most widespread in the world, with every man who owned a certain amount of property allowed to vote. While fewer than 20% of British men could vote, a majority of white American men were eligible. While the roots of democracy were apparent, nevertheless deference was typically shown to social elites in colonial elections. That deference declined sharply with the American Revolution.In each colony, elected bodies, especially the assemblies and county governments, decided a wide range of public and private business. Topics of public concern and debate included land grants, commercial subsidies, and taxation, as well as oversight of roads, poor relief, taverns, and schools. Americans spent a great deal of time in court, as private lawsuits were very common. Legal affairs were overseen by local judges and juries, with a central role for trained lawyers. This promoted the rapid expansion of the legal profession, and the dominant role of lawyers in politics was apparent by the 1770s, as attested by the careers of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, among many others.The North American colonies were exceptional in the world context because of the growth of representation of different interest groups. Unlike in Europe, where royal courts, aristocratic families and established churches exercised control, the American political culture was open to merchants, landlords, petty farmers, artisans, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Quakers, Germans, Scotch Irish, Yankees, Yorkers, [citation needed]and many other identifiable groups. Over 90% of the representatives elected to the legislature lived in their districts, unlike in the United Kingdom where it was common to have an absentee member of Parliament.None of the colonies had political parties of the sort that formed in the 1790s, but each had shifting factions that vied for power.American ideologyRepublicanism, along with a form of classical liberalism, remains the dominant ideology. Central documents include the Declaration of Independence (1776), Constitution (1787), The Federalist Papers (1788), Bill of Rights (1791), and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (1863), among others. The political scientist Louis Hartz articulated this theme in American political culture in The Liberal Tradition in America (1955). Hartz saw the antebellum South as breaking away from this central ideology in the 1820s as it constructed a fantasy to support hierarchical, feudal society. Others, such as David Gordon of the libertarian, Alabama-based Mises Institute argue that the secessionists who formed the Confederacy in 1861 retained the values of classical liberalism. Among the core tenets of this ideology are the following:Civic duty: Citizens have the responsibility to understand and support the government, participate in elections, pay taxes, and perform military service.Opposition to Political corruptionDemocracy: The government is answerable to citizens, who may change the representatives through elections.Equality before the law: The laws should attach no special privilege to any citizen. Government officials are subject to the law just as others areFreedom of religion: The government can neither support nor suppress religionFreedom of speech: The government cannot restrict through law or action the personal speech of a citizen; a marketplace of ideasIn response to Hartz and others, political scientist Rogers M. Smith argued in Civic Ideals (1999) that in addition to liberalism and republicanism, United States political culture has historically served to exclude various populations from access to full citizenship. Terming this ideological tradition "ascriptive inegalitarianism," Smith traces its relevance in nativist, sexist, and racist beliefs and practices alongside struggles over citizenship laws from the early colonial period to the Progressive Era, and further political debates in the following century.At the time of the United States' founding, agriculture and small private businesses dominated the economy, and state government left welfare issues to private or local initiative. Laissez-faire ideology was largely abandoned in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Between the 1930s and 1970s, fiscal policy was characterized by the Keynesian consensus, a time during which modern American liberalism dominated economic policy virtually unchallenged. Since the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, laissez-faire ideology, as explained especially by Milton Friedman, has once more become a powerful force in American politics.While the American welfare state expanded more than threefold after World War II, it has been at 20% of GDP since the late 1970s.As of 2014 modern American liberalism, and modern American conservatism are engaged in a continuous political battle, characterized by what The Economist describes as "greater divisiveness [and] close, but bitterly fought elections."Usage of "left–right" politicsMain article: Usage of "left–right" politics in the United StatesThe modern American political spectrum and the usage of the terms "left–right politics", "liberalism", and "conservatism" in the United States differs from that of the rest of the world. According to American historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (writing in 1956), "Liberalism in the American usage has little in common with the word as used in the politics of any European country, save possibly Britain". Liberalism in Canada also has a similar usage as in the United States. Schlesinger noted that American liberalism does not support classical liberalism's commitment to limited government and laissez-faire economics.Because those two positions are instead generally supported by American conservatives, historian Leo P. Ribuffo noted in 2011, "what Americans now call conservatism much of the world calls liberalism or neoliberalism."In American politics, the Democratic Party is commonly known as the dominant center-left liberal national party, while the smaller Green Party is known for being closer to the progressive anti-capitalist left-wing of modern American politics. The Republican Party is commonly known as the dominant right-wing national party, and the alternative Libertarian Party attracts some independent-leaning voters who tend to be more social liberal on social issues and fiscally conservative on economic policy.Suffrage[edit]Main article: Voting rights in the United StatesThe right of suffrage is nearly universal for citizens eighteen years of age and older. All states and the District of Columbia contribute to the electoral vote for president. However, the District, and other U.S. holdings like Puerto Rico and Guam, lack federal representation in Congress. These constituencies do not have the right to choose any political figure outside their respective areas. Each commonwealth, territory, or district can only elect a non-voting delegate to serve in the House of Representatives.Women's suffrage became an important issue after the American Civil War of 1861-65. After the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1870, giving African-American men the right to vote, various women's groups wanted the right to vote as well. Two major interest groups formed. The first group was the National Woman Suffrage Association, formed by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, that wanted to work for suffrage on the federal level and to push for more governmental changes, such as the granting of property rights to married women.The second group, the American Woman Suffrage Association formed by Lucy Stone, aimed to give women the right to vote.In 1890, the two groups merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). The NAWSA then mobilized to obtain support state-by-state, and by 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote.Student activism against the Vietnam War in the 1960s prompted the passage of the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen, the legal age of the draft.State governmentSee also: State governments of the United StatesStates governments have the power to make laws that are not granted to the federal government or denied to the states in the U.S. Constitution for all citizens. These include education, family law, contract law, and most crimes. Unlike the federal government, which only has those powers granted to it in the Constitution, a state government has inherent powers allowing it to act unless limited by a provision of the state or national constitution.Like the federal government, state governments have three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The chief executive of a state is its popularly elected governor, who typically holds office for a four-year term (although in some states the term is two years). Except for Nebraska, which has unicameral legislature, all states have a bicameral legislature, with the upper house usually called the Senate and the lower house called the House of Representatives, the House of Delegates, Assembly or something similar. In most states, senators serve four-year terms, and members of the lower house serve two-year terms.The constitutions of the various states differ in some details but generally follow a pattern similar to that of the federal Constitution, including a statement of the rights of the people and a plan for organizing the government. However, state constitutions are generally more detailed.Local governmentSee also: Urban politics in the United StatesThe United States has 89,500 local governments, including 3,033 counties, 19,492 municipalities, 16,500 townships, 13,000 school districts, and 37,000 other special districts that deal with issues like fire protection.Local governments directly serve the needs of the people, providing everything from police and fire protection to sanitary codes, health regulations, education, public transportation, and housing. Typically local elections are nonpartisan—local activists suspend their party affiliations when campaigning and governing.About 28% of the people live in cities of 100,000 or more population. City governments are chartered by states, and their charters detail the objectives and powers of the municipal government. The United States Constitution only provides for states and territories as subdivisions of the country, and the Supreme Court has accordingly confirmed the supremacy of state sovereignty over municipalities. For most big cities, cooperation with both state and federal organizations is essential to meeting the needs of their residents. Types of city governments vary widely across the nation. However, almost all have a central council, elected by the voters, and an executive officer, assisted by various department heads, to manage the city's affairs. Cities in the West and South usually have nonpartisan local politics.There are three general types of city government: the mayor-council, the commission, and the council-manager. These are the pure forms; many cities have developed a combination of two or three of them.Mayor-councilThis is the oldest form of city government in the United States and, until the beginning of the 20th century, was used by nearly all American cities. Its structure is like that of the state and national governments, with an elected mayor as chief of the executive branch and an elected council that represents the various neighborhoods forming the legislative branch. The mayor appoints heads of city departments and other officials, sometimes with the approval of the council. He or she has the power of veto over ordinances (the laws of the city) and often is responsible for preparing the city's budget. The council passes city ordinances, sets the tax rate on property, and apportions money among the various city departments. As cities have grown, council seats have usually come to represent more than a single neighborhood.CommissionThis combines both the legislative and executive functions in one group of officials, usually three or more in number, elected citywide. Each commissioner supervises the work of one or more city departments. Commissioners also set policies and rules by which the city is operated. One is named chairperson of the body and is often called the mayor, although his or her power is equivalent to that of the other commissioners.Council-managerThe city manager is a response to the increasing complexity of urban problems that need management ability not often possessed by elected public officials. The answer has been to entrust most of the executive powers, including law enforcement and provision of services, to a highly trained and experienced professional city manager.The city manager plan has been adopted by a large number of cities. Under this plan, a small, elected council makes the city ordinances and sets policy, but hires a paid administrator, also called a city manager, to carry out its decisions. The manager draws up the city budget and supervises most of the departments. Usually, there is no set term; the manager serves as long as the council is satisfied with his or her work.County governmentThe county is a subdivision of the state, sometimes (but not always) containing two or more townships and several villages. New York City is so large that it is divided into five separate boroughs, each a county in its own right. On the other hand, Arlington County, Virginia, the United States' smallest county, located just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is both an urbanized and suburban area, governed by a unitary county administration. In other cities, both the city and county governments have merged, creating a consolidated city–county government.In most U.S. counties, one town or city is designated as the county seat, and this is where the government offices are located and where the board of commissioners or supervisors meets. In small counties, boards are chosen by the county; in the larger ones, supervisors represent separate districts or townships. The board collects taxes for state and local governments; borrows and appropriates money; fixes the salaries of county employees; supervises elections; builds and maintains highways and bridges; and administers national, state, and county welfare programs. In very small counties, the executive and legislative power may lie entirely with a sole commissioner, who is assisted by boards to supervise taxes and elections. In some New England states, counties do not have any governmental function and are simply a division of land.Municipal governmentThousands of municipal jurisdictions are too small to qualify as city governments. These are chartered as towns and villages and deal with local needs such as paving and lighting the streets, ensuring a water supply, providing police and fire protection, and waste management. In many states of the US, the term town does not have any specific meaning; it is simply an informal term applied to populated places (both incorporated and unincorporated municipalities). Moreover, in some states, the term town is equivalent to how civil townships are used in other states.The government is usually entrusted to an elected board or council, which may be known by a variety of names: town or village council, board of selectmen, board of supervisors, board of commissioners. The board may have a chairperson or president who functions as chief executive officer, or there may be an elected mayor. Governmental employees may include a clerk, treasurer, police and fire officers, and health and welfare officers.One unique aspect of local government, found mostly in the New England region of the United States, is the town meeting. Once a year, sometimes more often if needed, the registered voters of the town meet in open session to elect officers, debate local issues, and pass laws for operating the government. As a body, they decide on road construction and repair, construction of public buildings and facilities, tax rates, and the town budget. The town meeting, which has existed for more than three centuries in some places, is often cited as the purest form of direct democracy, in which the governmental power is not delegated, but is exercised directly and regularly by all the people.Campaign finance[edit]Main article: Campaign finance in the United StatesSuccessful participation, especially in federal elections, requires large amounts of money, especially for television advertising. This money is very difficult to raise by appeals to a mass base, although in the 2008 election, candidates from both parties had success with raising money from citizens over the Internet, as had Howard Dean with his Internet appeals. Both parties generally depend on wealthy donors and organizations—traditionally the Democrats depended on donations from organized labor while the Republicans relied on business donations.[citation needed] This dependency on donors is controversial, and has led to laws limiting spending on political campaigns being enacted (see campaign finance reform). Opponents of campaign finance laws cite the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, and challenge campaign finance laws because they attempt to circumvent the people's constitutionally guaranteed rights. Even when laws are upheld, the complication of compliance with the First Amendment requires careful and cautious drafting of legislation, leading to laws that are still fairly limited in scope, especially in comparison to those of other countries such as the United Kingdom, France or Canada.Fundraising plays a large role in getting a candidate elected to public office. Without money, a candidate may have little chance of achieving their goal. In the 2004 general elections, 95% of House races and 91% of senate races were won by the candidates who spent the most on their campaigns. Attempts to limit the influence of money on American political campaigns dates back to the 1860s. Recently, Congress passed legislation requiring candidates to disclose sources of campaign contributions, how the campaign money is spent, and regulated use of "soft money" contributions.Political parties and electionsThe United States Constitution does not mention political parties, primarily because the Founding Fathers did not intend for American politics to be partisan. In Federalist Papers No. 9 and No. 10, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, respectively, wrote specifically about the dangers of domestic political factions. In addition, the first president of the United States, George Washington, was not a member of any political party at the time of his election or during his tenure as president. Washington hoped that political parties would not be formed, fearing conflict and stagnation.Nevertheless, the beginnings of the American two-party system emerged from his immediate circle of advisers. Hamilton and Madison ended up being the core leaders in this emerging party system.In modern times, in partisan elections, candidates are nominated by a political party or seek public office as an independent. Each state has significant discretion in deciding how candidates are nominated, and thus eligible to appear on the election ballot. Typically, major party candidates are formally chosen in a party primary or convention, whereas minor party and Independents are required to complete a petitioning process.Political parties[edit]Main article: Political parties in the United StatesThe modern political party system in the United States is a two-party system dominated by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. These two parties have won every United States presidential election since 1852 and have controlled the United States Congress since 1856. The Democratic Party generally positions itself as left-of-center in American politics and supports a modern American liberal platform, while the Republican Party generally positions itself as right-wing and supports a modern American conservative platform.Third parties and independent voters have achieved relatively minor representation from time to time at local levels. The Libertarian Party is the largest third party in the country, claiming more than 250,000 registered voters in 2013; it generally positions itself as centrist or radical centrist and supports a classical liberal position. Other contemporary third parties include the left-wing Green Party, supporting Green politics, and the right-wing Constitution Party, supporting paleoconservatism.Elections[edit]Further information: Elections in the United StatesUnlike in some parliamentary systems, Americans vote for a specific candidate instead of directly selecting a particular political party. With a federal government, officials are elected at the federal (national), state and local levels. On a national level, the president, is elected indirectly by the people, through an Electoral College. In modern times, the electors virtually always vote with the popular vote of their state. All members of Congress, and the offices at the state and local levels are directly elected.Various federal and state laws regulate elections. The United States Constitution defines (to a basic extent) how federal elections are held, in Article One and Article Two and various amendments. State law regulates most aspects of electoral law, including primaries, the eligibility of voters (beyond the basic constitutional definition), the running of each state's electoral college, and the running of state and local elections.Organization of American political parties[edit]See also: Political party strength in U.S. statesAmerican political parties are more loosely organized than those in other countries. The two major parties, in particular, have no formal organization at the national level that controls membership, activities, or policy positions, though some state affiliates do. Thus, for an American to say that he or she is a member of the Democratic or Republican party, is quite different from a Briton's stating that he or she is a member of the Conservative or Labour party. In the United States, one can often become a "member" of a party, merely by stating that fact. In some U.S. states, a voter can register as a member of one or another party and/or vote in the primary election for one or another party. Such participation does not restrict one's choices in any way. It also does not give a person any particular rights or obligations within the party, other than possibly allowing that person to vote in that party's primary elections. A person may choose to attend meetings of one local party committee one day and another party committee the next day. The sole factor that brings one "closer to the action" is the quantity and quality of participation in party activities and the ability to persuade others in attendance to give one responsibility.Party identification becomes somewhat formalized when a person runs for partisan office. In most states, this means declaring oneself a candidate for the nomination of a particular party and intent to enter that party's primary election for an office. A party committee may choose to endorse one or another of those who is seeking the nomination, but in the end the choice is up to those who choose to vote in the primary, and it is often difficult to tell who is going to do the voting.The result is that American political parties have weak central organizations and little central ideology, except by consensus. A party really cannot prevent a person who disagrees with the majority of positions of the party or actively works against the party's aims from claiming party membership, so long as the voters who choose to vote in the primary elections elect that person. Once in office, an elected official may change parties simply by declaring such intent. An elected official once in office may also act contradictory to many of his or her party's positions (this had led to terms such as "Republican In Name Only").At the federal level, each of the two major parties has a national committee (See, Democratic National Committee, Republican National Committee) that acts as the hub for much fund-raising and campaign activities, particularly in presidential campaigns. The exact composition of these committees is different for each party, but they are made up primarily of representatives from state parties and affiliated organizations, and others important to the party. However, the national committees do not have the power to direct the activities of members of the party.Both parties also have separate campaign committees which work to elect candidates at a specific level. The most significant of these are the Hill committees, which work to elect candidates to each house of Congress.State parties exist in all fifty states, though their structures differ according to state law, as well as party rules at both the national and the state level.Despite these weak organizations, elections are still usually portrayed as national races between the political parties. In what is known as "presidential coattails", candidates in presidential elections become the de facto leader of their respective party, and thus usually bring out supporters who in turn then vote for his party's candidates for other offices. On the other hand, federal midterm elections (where only Congress and not the president is up for election) are usually regarded as a referendum on the sitting president's performance, with voters either voting in or out the president's party's candidates, which in turn helps the next session of Congress to either pass or block the president's agenda, respectively.General developments[edit]See also: History of the United States Republican Party and History of the United States Democratic PartyMost of the Founding Fathers rejected political parties as divisive and disruptive. By the 1790s, however, most joined one of the two new parties, and by the 1830s parties had become accepted as central to the democracy.By the 1790s, the First Party System was born. Men who held opposing views strengthened their cause by identifying and organizing men of like mind. The followers of Alexander Hamilton, were called "Federalists"; they favored a strong central government that would support the interests of national defense, commerce and industry. The followers of Thomas Jefferson, the Jeffersonians took up the name "Republicans"; they preferred a decentralized agrarian republic in which the federal government had limited power.By 1828, the First Party System had collapsed. Two new parties emerged from the remnants of the Jeffersonian Democracy, forming the Second Party System with the Whigs, brought to life in opposition to President Andrew Jackson and his new Democratic Party. The forces of Jacksonian Democracy, based among urban workers, Southern poor whites, and western farmers, dominated the era.In the 1850s, the issue of slavery took center stage, with disagreement in particular over the question of whether slavery should be permitted in the country's new territories in the West. The Whig Party straddled the issue and sank to its death after the overwhelming electoral defeat by Franklin Pierce in the 1852 presidential election. Ex-Whigs joined the Know Nothings or the newly formed Republican Party. While the Know Nothing party was short-lived, Republicans would survive the intense politics leading up to the Civil War. The primary Republican policy was that slavery be excluded from all the territories. Just six years later, this new party captured the presidency when Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860. By then, parties were well established as the country's dominant political organizations, and party allegiance had become an important part of most people's consciousness. Party loyalty was passed from fathers to sons, and party activities, including spectacular campaign events, complete with uniformed marching groups and torchlight parades, were a part of the social life of many communities.By the 1920s, however, this boisterous folksiness had diminished. Municipal reforms, civil service reform, corrupt practices acts, and presidential primaries to replace the power of politicians at national conventions had all helped to clean up politics.Development of the two-party system in the United States[edit]See also: Causes of a two-party systemThis section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(October 2008)(Learn how and when to remove this template message)Since the 1790s, the country has been run by two major parties, beginning with the Federalist vs. the Democratic-Republicans, then the Whigs vs. the Democrats, and now the Democrats and Republicans.Minor or third political parties appear from time to time and tend to advocate for policies dedicated to a specific issue.At various times the Socialist Party, the Farmer-Labor Party and the Populist Party for a few years had considerable local strength, and then faded away—although in Minnesota, the Farmer–Labor Party merged into the state's Democratic Party, which is now officially known as the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. At present, the Libertarian Party is the most successful third party. New York State has a number of additional third parties, who sometimes run their own candidates for office and sometimes nominate the nominees of the two main parties.In the District of Columbia, the D.C. Statehood Green Party has served as a strong third party behind the Democratic Party and Republican Party.Most officials in America are elected from single-member districts and win office by beating out their opponents in a system for determining winners called first-past-the-post; the one who gets the plurality wins, (which is not the same thing as actually getting a majority of votes). This encourages the two-party system; see Duverger's law. In the absence of multi-seat congressional districts, proportional representation is impossible and third parties cannot thrive. Although elections to the Senate elect two senators per constituency (state), staggered terms effectively result in single-seat constituencies for elections to the Senate.Another critical factor has been ballot access law. Originally, voters went to the polls and publicly stated which candidate they supported. Later on, this developed into a process whereby each political party would create its own ballot and thus the voter would put the party's ballot into the voting box. In the late nineteenth century, states began to adopt the Australian Secret Ballot Method, and it eventually became the national standard. The secret ballot method ensured that the privacy of voters would be protected (hence government jobs could no longer be awarded to loyal voters) and each state would be responsible for creating one official ballot. The fact that state legislatures were dominated by Democrats and Republicans provided these parties an opportunity to pass discriminatory laws against minor political parties, yet such laws did not start to arise until the first Red Scare that hit America after World War I. State legislatures began to enact tough laws that made it harder for minor political parties to run candidates for office by requiring a high number of petition signatures from citizens and decreasing the length of time that such a petition could legally be circulated.It should also be noted that while more often than not, party members will "toe the line" and support their party's policies, they are free to vote against their own party and vote with the opposition ("cross the aisle") when they please."In America the same political labels (Democratic and Republican) cover virtually all public officeholders, and therefore most voters are everywhere mobilized in the name of these two parties," says Nelson W. Polsby, professor of political science, in the book New Federalist Papers: Essays in Defense of the Constitution. "Yet Democrats and Republicans are not everywhere the same. Variations (sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant) in the 50 political cultures of the states yield considerable differences overall in what it means to be, or to vote, Democratic or Republican. These differences suggest that one may be justified in referring to the American two-party system as masking something more like a hundred-party system."Gerrymandering[edit]Main article: Gerrymandering in the United StatesThe United States has a long tradition of gerrymandering. In some states, bipartisan gerrymandering is the norm. State legislators from both parties sometimes agree to draw congressional district boundaries in a way that ensures the re-election of most or all incumbent representatives from both parties. Rather than allowing more political influence, some states have shifted redistricting authority from politicians and given it to non-partisan redistricting commissions. The states of Washington, Arizona, and California's Proposition 11 (2008) and Proposition 20 (2010) have created standing committees for redistricting following the 2010 census. Rhode Island and New Jersey have developed ad hoc committees, but developed the past two decennial reapportionments tied to new census data. Florida's amendments 5 and 6, meanwhile, established rules for the creation of districts but did not mandate an independent commission.International election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, who were invited to observe and report on the 2004 national elections, expressed criticism of the U.S. congressional redistricting process and made a recommendation that the procedures be reviewed to ensure genuine competitiveness of Congressional election contests.Political pressure groups[edit]See also: Advocacy group and Lobbying in the United StatesSpecial interest groups advocate the cause of their specific constituency. Business organizations will favor low corporate taxes and restrictions of the right to strike, whereas labor unions will support minimum wage legislation and protection for collective bargaining. Other private interest groups, such as churches and ethnic groups, are more concerned about broader issues of policy that can affect their organizations or their beliefs.One type of private interest group that has grown in number and influence in recent years is the political action committee or PAC. These are independent groups, organized around a single issue or set of issues, which contribute money to political campaigns for U.S. Congress or the presidency. PACs are limited in the amounts they can contribute directly to candidates in federal elections. There are no restrictions, however, on the amounts PACs can spend independently to advocate a point of view or to urge the election of candidates to office."The number of interest groups has mushroomed, with more and more of them operating offices in Washington, D.C., and representing themselves directly to Congress and federal agencies," says Michael Schudson in his 1998 book The Good Citizen: A History of American Civic Life. "Many organizations that keep an eye on Washington seek financial and moral support from ordinary citizens. Since many of them focus on a narrow set of concerns or even on a single issue, and often a single issue of enormous emotional weight, they compete with the parties for citizens' dollars, time, and passion."The amount of money spent by these special interests continues to grow, as campaigns become increasingly expensive. Many Americans have the feeling that these wealthy interests, whether corporations, unions or PACs, are so powerful that ordinary citizens can do little to counteract their influences.Concerns about oligarchy and a diminishing democracySome views suggest that the political structure of the United States is in many respects an oligarchy, where a small economic elite overwhelmingly determines policy and law.Some academic researchers suggest a drift toward oligarchy has been occurring by way of the influence of corporations, wealthy, and other special interest groups, leaving individual citizens with less impact than economic elites and organized interest groups in the political process.A study by political scientists Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin Page (Northwestern University) released in April 2014 suggested that when the preferences of a majority of citizens conflicts with elites, elites tend to prevail.While not characterizing the United States as an "oligarchy" or "plutocracy" outright, Gilens and Page do give weight to the idea of a "civil oligarchy" as used by Jeffrey A. Winters, saying, "Winters has posited a comparative theory of 'Oligarchy,' in which the wealthiest citizens – even in a 'civil oligarchy' like the United States – dominate policy concerning crucial issues of wealth- and income-protection."In their study, Gilens and Page reached these conclusions:When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the US political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it. ... [T]he preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.— Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, 2014E.J. Dionne Jr. described what he considers the effects of ideological and oligarchical interests on the judiciary. The journalist, columnist, and scholar interprets recent Supreme Court decisions as ones that allow wealthy elites to use economic power to influence political outcomes in their favor. "Thus," Dionne wrote, in speaking about the Supreme Court's McCutcheon et al. v. FEC and Citizens United v. FEC decisions, "has this court conferred on wealthy people the right to give vast sums of money to politicians while undercutting the rights of millions of citizens to cast a ballot."Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman wrote:The stark reality is that we have a society in which money is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few people. This threatens to make us a democracy in name only.— Paul Krugman, 2012The effects of oligarchy on democracy and the economy were key points of the 2016 presidential campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.Bernie Sanders said about the Citizens United verdict and the Republicans' rise to power in Congress,I fear that we may be on the verge of becoming an oligarchic form of society where a handful of billionaires control not just the economy, but the political life of this country. And that's just something we're going to have wrestle with.— Bernie Sanders, 2014See alsoOutline of American politicsCriticism of United States foreign policyDeep state in the United StatesFifth Party SystemIssue votingMoney loopPolitical arguments of gun politics in the United StatesPolitical culture of the United StatesPolitical divisions of the United StatesPolitical ideologies in the United StatesAmerican LeftProgressivism in the United StatesModern liberalism in the United StatesAlt-rightConservativism in the United StatesList of political parties in the United StatesConstitution PartyDemocratic PartyGreen PartyLibertarian PartyModern Whig PartyReform PartyRepublican PartySocialist Party USAPolitics of the Southern United StatesReform topicsCampaign finance reform in the United StatesElectoral reform in the United StatesHealth care reform in the United StatesMarijuana law reform in the United StatesTort reform in the United StatesSixth Party SystemTea Party movement

This is not my story, this is a story from another business visionary who as of now made his own effective website design enhancement firm and doing great.What I'm going to show you, is something I never had. A well ordered, extreme guide on the most proficient method to begin a SEO business. I needed to learn everything through experimentation, which took an amazing measure of time and vitality. I wish somebody had posted a definite guide that would have spared me the time and cash I spent taking in the business side of SEO. That being stated, will let you know all that I learned beginning a fruitful SEO business and going from making a couple of hundred dollars a month to making over $120,000 every month. In the end, my SEO organization was so fruitful an enormous office in Chicago gained it, which is the manner by which and why I established MySiteAuditor. In any case, that is another story.How I Got CustomersThe main question any individual who begins an organization ought to ask themselves is, "How would I get clients?" It's a question that I didn't have a response to when I first began. Along these lines, I simply opened up the telephone directory and began cool calling organizations, truly. In the event that you didn't have a web deliver by your name and telephone number I called you. That was my system. On the off chance that your heart is beginning to race and you're starting to sweat, quit stressing. I'm not going to instruct you to icy get anybody out of the telephone directory. Do they even make telephone directories any longer? All through the 10 years my office was good to go, and before I sold my SEO business to a major organization, I created 10 systems on the best way to reliably get SEO clients.1. I Got Ranked on Page #1 of GoogleYou have to end up noticeably fixated and battle like insane to get the chance to page #1 of Google for SEO benefit related watchwords in your land range. More often than not, the best watchword to target clients is "Website optimization" + your city. At the end of the day, in case you're beginning a SEO organization in Albany, New York, you ought to target "Search engine optimization Albany". I'm certain some of you are getting stressed right now since you live in enormous urban communities where other SEO organizations overwhelm the main page of Google. Quit stressing. While you're battling your approach to page #1 of Google for an exceptionally focused watchword, target low hanging organic product like "Search engine optimization administrations Albany", "web optimization organization Albany NY", or "Albany SEO organization". The trap is that you must be on Page #1 for something. This will give you validity when it's an ideal opportunity to settle the negotiations. Will potential clients discover you, as well as in deals gatherings you can likewise point that your SEO business is on the highest point of page #1 of Google for "Search engine optimization organization in Albany". Your potential clients have no clue which watchwords are the hardest catchphrases to focus in SEO; being on page #1 among and in front of your SEO rivals will awe the hell out of potential clients. I can't tally the quantity of clients who revealed to me they acquired our administrations since we were on the highest point of page #1 of Google, in front of our SEO rivals.Remember that I suggest focusing on greater catchphrases like "Search engine optimization Albany" from the very beginning. You'd be astonished how simple it may be to get on page #1. A considerable lot of your SEO rivals neglect to do a pack of simple SEO strategies, and rather they simply depend on their area's age and expert any that is not generally enough. There is more than one approach to skin a feline in SEO. Here are a couple SEO traps I did to rule page #1 of Google for "Chicago SEO", the #1 watchword for SEO benefits in all of Chicago. Remember, my office's site right up 'til today, has reliably remained in the main a few natural spaces in Google.The most effective method to begin a web optimization business2,000 Words – Hardly anybody does this since they are super sluggish or simply don't have a clue about that this basic methodology has exactly the intended effect. In case you're focusing on "Website design enhancement Albany" on your SEO administrations page, then ensure that page has no less than 2,000+ elegantly composed words or more. This worked for me and the information has demonstrated this to fill in also. Look at this diagram underneath by serpIQ. As should be obvious, there is an immediate relationship between's having more words on a page and higher rankings in Google.Correct watchword in URL – I was on page #3 in Google for "Chicago SEO" for quite a while, and after that one day I changed my URL from "http://ocean19.com/web optimization to "http://ocean19.com/chicago-website optimization". Blast! We hopped up like 20 spots with that basic change.Page Optimization – Remember, Google positions pages in their query items, not sites. So concentrate on upgrading one page for maybe a couple catchphrases. My mystery sauce for enhancing a particular page is distributed and yielded for nothing here on MySiteAuditor. When you run a review and view a PDF report you can plainly observe an agenda of all that I do to a website page to upgrade it for an objective catchphrase. In case you're not as of now a client your don't need to pay for this, simply run a free review on MySiteAuditor, then review and take after the report.2. I Offered a Free SEO Audit ToolAs per the 2015 Form Conversion Report by Formstack, just around 1% of little contact shapes (around 4 fields) get rounded out on sites. That implies just 1 out of 100 individuals that visit your SEO organization's site will round out your contact shape. The other 99 will leave your site and presumably never get in touch with you for SEO administrations. This is a colossal issue. Such a large number of potential customers who require SEO visit and leave your site perpetually, never having reached you. You require an approach to get far a greater amount of your guests, and potential clients, to give you their contact data when going to your site. As I brought up before, depending on your contact shape isn't adequate.This is the reason I made MySiteAuditor. I had precisely the same with my office's site. Our movement was not too bad, however our transformations stunk! MySiteAuditor is a white-name, SEO review instrument that is free for your guests. It takes around 5 minutes to set up and add to your SEO organization's site. Simply transfer your logo, hues, and contact data, then effectively implant MySiteAuditor's SEO review device shapes all through your site… then sit tight for new SEO leads in your email inbox. Your guests will love producing a free 9 page SEO review of their site, the length of they enter their web address, an objective watchword, and their email and telephone number.What's Your SEO Score?Enter the URL of any presentation page or blog article and perceive how enhanced it is for one catchphrase or expression.http://catchphrase+ Competitor URLemailtelephoneFilter NowTakes around 15 secondsAttempt it on your site. It's 100% free for 10 days. You needn't bother with any cash or a charge card. Sorry for the pitch, however this is vital. Once more, I truly made MySiteAuditor on the grounds that the contact shapes on my office's site were so problematic.3. I Gave Away Free ResourcesAll through your SEO organization's site, deliberately put free downloads that your guests will love. For instance, do some exploration on estimating in the SEO business, make a basic maybe a couple page report, and give it a route for nothing on your site the length of the guest shares that free download first. In return for offering your site to a speedy snap, your guest gets an exceptionally important asset (with your name on it). It's a gigantic win for you and your guest. Underneath I've recorded my most loved apparatuses for giving endlessly a free download in return for sharing your website.PaywithatweetWorks for a siteEffortlessly introduceFree and paid adaptationsSee an ExampleSocial LockerChips away at WordPress. (Download the module)Free trialOne-time charge (currenlty $24)See a case4. I Made Strategic PartnershipsAround here you'll see that there are numerous offices who have some expertise in one range of advanced promoting. That could be website composition, versatile, web-based social networking, PPC, online PR, and so forth. Customarily, their customers will get some information about SEO administrations which they don't offer. You need to cooperate with these offices. Offer them a standard 10% discoverers charge on the off chance that they send you any business. As it were, whether they send you a customer that you sign for $20,000, send them a check inside 5 days of marking the new customer for $2,000.You can even make this a stride more remote than your opposition by making an official letter with your signature, just to make it sound all the more genuine and authority to your accomplices. In the event that conceivable, attempt to convey it by hand so you can meet your accomplices.It would be ideal if you recollect that you should take additional care of customers that originate from your accomplices. In the event that they're troubled, the main individual they will gripe to is your accomplice. That is bad for future referrals.Remember that you can send accomplices possibilities customers also. That is an extraordinary beginning stage and an astounding indication of good confidence. Sending another accomplice a customer first is an incredible approach to help take care of business. I did this before I sold my office and it was phenomenal. A couple times each month I would get a couple discoverer's charge checks for doing for all intents and purposes nothing, aside from giving out a name and telephone number to a present customer.5. I Gave Referral RewardsIndividuals love to boast about new organizations they are working with. It's a decent and energizing feeling about their future. Exploit this. Give each new customer a referral letter that offers a money compensate for sending and alluding any new customers that your organization signs. This is like the association program, with the exception of I don't trust you need to pay 10%. A straightforward settled sum or little rate of the main contract is sufficient.step by step instructions to begin a website optimization business6. I Answered Questions on QuoraBefore Quora existed, I was on Linkedin Answers answering questions and always trying to be helpful. One day I answered a question some random person was asking, and the recipient was so grateful they sent us a RFP (Request for Proposal). Long story short, we signed that client for $20,000 per month… just by being helpful and answering questions.You should note that it’s never a good idea to pitch your business in QA forums like Quora. Just be helpful. People will see your profile, and hopefully you’ve linked to your company’s website so they can reach out to you for business if needed.Takeaways:Answer SEO related questions on QuoraWhen: Towards the end of each dayHow long: 30 minutes (answer 1-3 questions)Be helpful, and never pitch your services7. I Marked My TerritoryAdding a link to your site in the footer of your client’s sites use to be great for SEO purposes, but not anymore. Today it’s great for getting new business. Add a clause in the contract that lets you put a link to your SEO company’s website in the footer of the page. When you get your client on page #1, potential clients can easily find your link and hire you to do the same for them.My SEO company landed the business of many of the top real estate firms in Chicago simply by adding our name and link in the bottom of a small real estate agent’s website we were working with. We got this guy to page #1 for “Chicago condos” and of course, all of the big real estate firms wanted to know how we did it and if we could do it for them.Note: Use a “No Follow” tag in the link so search engines don’t think you’re trying to manipulate the search results with links. It should look something like the below:<a href=”http://YourDomain.com” rel=”nofollow”>Powered by: XYZ Agency</a>Note: This clause shouldn’t be mandatory. Let your customers remove it if they want. However, many won’t care. You can also use it as leverage. If you’re having a ton of success with a client, offer free or discounted services if you can add your link to their site.8. I Added a Live ChatLive Chats aren’t the most annoying thing in the world anymore. They actually work really great if set up right. We used Olark for the last couple of years and sold thousands and thousand of dollars in deals because of it. With a live chat on your SEO company’s website you’ll get notified when a potential client is on your site. They can message you for help or you can even message them. Think about walking into store. What if you had a questions but the store had no employees on staff? Strange, right? Be in your store at all times in case a potential customer has a question. Live Chats let you do that.starting an seo businessI love Olark because they let you add a profile photo of yourself in the chat window. Transparency is huge. People want to see people they could potentially buy SEO services from.Takeaways:Add Live Chat (like Olark) to your websiteUpload you profile photo so potential customers can see youBe available and helpfulTest different scenarios like engaging with them first9. I Started Offering Web Design ServicesI believe SEO and web design go hand in hand. In fact SEO should be done before, after and during web design and development. If you don’t offer web design and development services, you could be hurting your SEO results and losing business. When you just offer SEO consulting to a third party web design and development team, and don’t do the actual SEO work, much of what you recommend could get lost in translation. Something won’t get implemented properly and something won’t get done at all. This will hurt results and make you look bad.Start off by partnering with a couple local web design freelancers, then start offering web design to your SEO clients. After all, many SEO projects require an overhaul of the client’s site because the development is super old and very SEO unfriendly. Once you’re getting more web design business, and only when you’re getting enough web design business, bring on the web designer full-time.Do not hire a web designer too early. You need to watch your overhead. Partner on a few projects first and when it makes sense, then bring them on a full-time employee.Takeaways:Add a web design service page to your SEO company’s website.Partner with a couple local web design freelancers (do not hire them full time!)Only offer a freelancer a full-time job when you have enough full-time business.Start offering your SEO clients web design and your web design client’s SEO.10. I Outsourced Cold EmailingUse sites like Upwork, the world's largest online workplace to find inexpensive admins that will send cold emails to your target market. This is key because cold emailing is far below your pay grade. An admin level person should be doing this, not you. If fact you can find someone in Asia or India to cold email for a couple dollars per hour.Takeaways:Create a short cold call email templateHire someone for $3 per hour in Asia or India using Upwork, the world's largest online workplaceSet your geographical and industry target market (i.e.; lawyers in Mobile, Alabama)Set your daily and weekly goalsMap every detail out for your admin. Don’t rely on them to make any key decisions.Track your progress.SEO startupIf you want a little more detail about how I got my customers. Check out the guest post I did for the HOTH, a White-label SEO service for SEO agencies.Your WebsiteYour website is the hub of your SEO business. In the 10 years I ran my agency, I had at least 15 different sites. Pay attention, because I’m going to save you a lot of time, energy and AB testing by telling you exactly what worked and what didn’t work. To make this easy, just remember two simple words, “clean” and “simple”. Forget everything else, and ignore everything you see in web design today. Most website are terrible, even the ones created by amazing and talented graphic designers. Here’s why. When a customer comes to your website they want to know three things. Who you are, what you’ve done and how to contact you. That’s it. Everything else is bullshit. This isn’t just my opinion. It’s a conclusion based on analytics and years of obsessive studying and experience.Who You AreTransparency is huge when selling any service. People want to see and hear the person they will be working with. On the other hand, if you were selling a product like a printer, nobody would care who you were. But when you sell SEO services your potential clients want to work with people they know, like and have a relationship with. You can start that relationship on your SEO website by being super transparent. This is beyond important, and so many of your competitors won’t do this. Add real-life photos of you (and members of your team) throughout your website, not just your About page. Create videos of you talking. Let potential clients see and hear you, and you will win more business than your competitors. That is a guarantee!In my 10 years running an agency, the About Us page was the number one most visited page for us and all our service clients. Nothing else came close, not even our pages that showed previous work and case studies.What You’ve DoneYou’re going to need a page dedicated to the success of your current or past customer successes. This is often the second most visited page on your site, next to the About Us page. If possible, ask your happy clients to whip out their iPhone and shoot a 20 second video about their experience with you. Slap that on your website and watch the leads start rolling in.How to Contact YouMake it super easy to contact you. One thing we noticed at my agency was that the more contact forms we had, the more submissions we would get. So we added a contact form on almost every page and our conversions went way up. We also made sure our contact forms were only 4-5 to fields at most. Statistically, that gave us the most conversions. Here’s a blueprint of the perfect contact form that will get the most conversions.CapitalQuite a few people have asked me how to raise capital to start a new business. My response is always, “what for?” They usually have a blank look on their face when I ask that. The reason they often look perplexed is that most people just think you need to raise capital to start a business. We refer to those people as “wantrepreneurs”, not entrepreneurs. Don’t fall for this excuse.mark-cuban“Sweat Equity is the best start up capital” ~ Mark CubanPricingPricing is alway a tricky topic to discuss because everyone tends to price their SEO services a little different. Pricing is based on experience and industry standards. Since there is no turn key solution, pricing tends to fluctuate a lot in the SEO industry. It’s not like buying a printer or a car, so you have to be very strategic in order to get business. It’s also not an industry where the lowest bid wins the client. There are many factors that come in to play.The best way to charge a client is by charging an hourly rate; however, this can be kind of difficult when starting an SEO business. Your clients will not like paying for your learning curve, and they won’t like an open ended price. Fixed pricing seems a lot safer to most clients… until you get bigger and better clients. So, I recommend doing a combination of both an hourly rate and a fixed cost when starting an SEO business. Here’s a break down:FreeSEO Audit – This is on your website and will get your foot in the door.Manual Website SEO Review – Helps you price out the entire project.1 hour consultation – Helps you win the business.Fixed CostsSEO Strategy Report – This is a word document that lays out a 6-12 month plan of attack, based on the SEO audit, site review and consultation.Website and Web Page Optimization – This is making all the initial modifications to the client’s website so Google can properly crawl and index the site. This is often referred to as “on-site” optimization.Hourly CostsMonthly SEO and Reporting – This is how many hours you’re going to spend consulting, creating, reporting and optimizing content to grow your client’s domain authority and improve their rankings in Google.Whether you’re doing work hourly or for a fixed rate, think about how many hours it will take you. Try to be as accurate as possible. If you think an SEO Strategy Report will take about 20 hours, then charge them a fixed rate of about 20 hours. It’s up to you to stay in the time frame. Here’s a breakdown of current hourly rates in the SEO industry.Beginner (1-2 years experience) – $25 – $50 per hourIntermediate (2-5 years experience) – $50 – $100 per hourAdvanced (5+ years experience) – $100 – $200 per hourContractsLet me start this section by clarifying that I am not a lawyer. If any of this seems like legal advise, it’s not. I’m just telling you my personal experience and preference with SEO contracts. Since 2003, I’ve used about five or six different SEO contracts. In that time, my SEO contracts grew and grew in length until they were about 30 pages. Then, about two years before I sold my SEO company, I threw my giant, colossal, and scary SEO contract in the garbage and started a fresh one, one more time. But this time I did it on my own. No lawyers. No outside advice. I just went with my gut.The goal for my new SEO contact was three things:Keep it simple.Keep it short.Keep it clear.I got rid of all the fluff and removed 80% of the BS clauses random lawyers had added throughout the years. I got the SEO contract down to five simple pages. I re-wrote areas of the SEO contract over and over until each area was super short, simple and clearly communicated everything we need to communicate.ResultsBusiness skyrocketed with my short, simple, and clear contract. In fact, I had several clients remark on how simple our SEO contract was to understand, and that’s the reason they were working with us.Think about it. The longer the contract the longer the decision process. Why make things complicated for your clients? Why make them think harder about whether or not they want to work with you. Again, I’m not an attorney, but shorter, simpler, and clearer contracts close way more deals.Sample Contract TemplateI hope you didn’t think I was going to do all this talking about how great my SEO contracts are without giving you a sample template. My SEO contract template is totally free, but you have to share this article before downloading it. It should only take you 5-10 seconds to do this. Current clients can just login to their dashboard and click on “Free downloads” in the footer. You can also download the contract for free, just by sharing this blog post. Share using the link below and your free SEO contract template will instantly appear.Software and ToolsBe prepared to get slammed and inundated with tools and software in this industry. They are everywhere. Hopefully I can save you some time and energy by listing all the tools I used while running my SEO business.Basecamp – Project ManagementMoz – To manage and monitor the SEO of clientsOlark – Live Chat on my agency’s websiteMySiteAuditor – Free SEO audit tool for my agency’s website visitors. Helps generate way more SEO leads and sales.Checkli – Create checklists for personal productivityGoogle Analytics – Monitor and report traffichttp://SEOinvoice.com – Create free invoice for SEO clientsLess Accounting – Simple accounting software for small businessSocial Locker – Free downloads in-exchange for sharingPay With a Tweet – Free downloads in-exchange for sharingTweet Deck – Manage multiple Social Media ProfilesGrooveHQ – Customer supportGoogle Keyword Planner – Keyword researchCrazy Egg – Visually monitor activity on your siteQualaroo – Ask your website’s visitors specific questions (Qualitative Analytics)Upwork – Find freelancersHow to Resign SEO ClientsI wrote a long, in-depth article about this already, so I will highlight the points here. Re-signing an SEO client is about 10 times cheaper than finding a new one, so I would really focus on this. There are five easy steps to re-signing an SEO client:Step 1: Show clients the slope of SEOThe Slope of SEO is a graph that prepares SEO clients for the time it takes to get results. This graphs helps manage their expectations leading to more trust and continued business.Step 2: Show Clients the ContentDespite what your competitors are doing and despite what you’ve read and may have been doing for the past few years, SEO is not just tweaking, optimizing and link building. It’s optimizing and mostly link earning. Earning links to your client’s site is more natural and safer. you can earn links by creating amazing content that your client’s target market would love to read and share. Here are a few examples:VideosInterviewsInfographicsCharts and graphsBlog postsFree downloadsStep 3: Incentivize Account ManagersOnce you grow a little bit you’re going to want to hire account managers. These are the people who work directly with your clients, making sure the work gets done and properly reported. It’s important that these people aren’t just given a salary. Like sales people, and everyone else in your office, they should be incentivized with commission and bonuses when they re-sign an existing client. Incentivizing account managers subconsciously pushes them to go above and beyond making your clients happy.Step 4 Develop Next Phase Strategy BriefsWhen you client’s contract expires develop a clear strategy brief of things you want to do during the next contract. Make sure you have a clear list of the amazing content you want to create. Excited clients re-sign contracts!Step 5: Schedule End of Contract MeetingsA couple weeks before an SEO contract expires hold a face-to-face meeting to discuss the success of the the contract and the above Next Phase Strategy Brief. After all, SEO, web design and all of digital marketing never ends. There is no finish line. It’s an ongoing process.HiringThere are two areas of hiring I’m going to focus on. These two key pieces of advice helped make my agency valuable enough to be acquired by another bigger agency.Contract to HireThe first thing you need to know is that there are unlimited freelancers and contractors in the digital marketing industry. You can find local freelancers or remote contractors everywhere. That being said, grow your SEO company by hiring freelancers first. Find a freelancer that you’d like to work with and hire them for your different projects. Pay them only when you get paid. You never want to pay your freelancers before you get paid. Maintaining positive cash flow is very important to keeping your business running. Only hire your freelancer or contractor when you have steady business for them. That could be after a few months or even years. There’s no need or reason to commit a salary to anyone until you are ready, and it’s totally OK if you’re never ready.The AssistantI truly belive the assistant should be your first hire. You are the most valuable person in your company and you always will be. Your time is priceless, literally. What you’re going to find out is that 80% of your time is going to be bogged down by B.S. admin work that anyone can do. Following up, contracts, emailing customers, being on the phone and much more that you probably don’t even realize.Your time needs to be dedicated to what you do best, getting SEO results. Trust me on this. Don’t waste your valuable time on things anyone can do. The person you hire as your assistant should be a entry level person, looking to get into the industry. This is the perfect job for them. They can assist you for a couple years, then when they get experience and knowledge of the industry you can move them into a more important position, like doing some of the things you do. After all, they’ve shadowed you for years. They must have learned a lot.IncorporatingAgain, I’m not an attorney, but this is what I did. I waited a few months before creating an LLC for my business. I made a little money first, then incorporated. The reason I did this is because incorporating costs money. In Illinois it’s about $500-$600, plus $250 per year. No need to waste that money if you never get business. I asked my accountant, Gaurang Patel of Southloop CPA in Chicago, IL, about this. Here’s what he said:When you start an SEO Business, you should consider setting a legal entity as soon as possible. A Legal structure as you may know is important for legal purposes. In additional to the legal benefits, it may also help you save on Taxes. Setting a legal entity early also helps develop a track record for the business and is helpful when you decide to sell the business at a future time.The Limited Liability Company and Corporation are the 2 most common legal structures. A Limited Liability Company (LLC) is a hybrid business entity having certain characteristics of both a corporation and a partnership. The primary characteristic an LLC shares with a corporation is limited liability, and the primary characteristic it shares with a partnership is the availability of a pass through income taxation. Corporate tax rates are typically higher than tax rates at the personal level, therefore having income taxed at the personal level may help save on taxes. A Corporation is an independent legal entity owned by shareholders. Corporations are more complex than other legal entities because they tend to have costly administrative fees and complex tax and legal requirements. Because of these issues, corporations are generally suggested for established and larger companies.There are both advantages and disadvantages to each of the legal entities and therefore it is important that you speak with a lawyer or accountant to figure out the best structure for your specific needs.Here’s a critical piece of advice. Always stay a student of the SEO industry. Read blogs, case studies, and everything the big search engines like Google release. So many people stop studying after a couple years. They think they know it all. Those same people soon go out of business. Here are a few good resources to stay educated.Moz Blog - SEO and Inbound Marketing Blog - MozSearch Engine Land | Must Read News About SEO, SEM & Search Engineshttp://www.quicksprout.com/blog/YouMoz - A User Generated Search Industry Blog - MozWhiteboard FridayBlogA Video Guide IntroductionI’ll do my best to monitor this article very closely. So, if you post any questions below, I’ll try to answer them as quickly as possible. If needed, I may even update this article over time. Anyways, I hope this was helpful. Be sure to checkout our free resources page. You might find a few helpful items in there. Thanks for reading and good luck!