Chapter 8
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable

In 1966, Andy thought that managing a rock band would be a good way to make some extra money. With the help of Gerard and a young filmmaker named Paul Morrissey, he found a band called the Velvet Underground, led by a guitarist, singer, and songwriter named Lou Reed. Andy decided he would become their manager.

Andy and Paul hoped they had found the next Beatles. But the Velvet Underground was the opposite of the popular British band. The Velvet Underground’s music was strange and difficult. The lyrics to their songs were about drugs and subjects not mentioned in other popular rock songs.

The band seemed perfect for the kind of show Andy wanted to put on, though. He asked them to add a female singer, a German model named Nico. She didn’t sing that well, but she looked good. They rented a hall in the East Village and called the show Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable.

The show opened in April 1966. The Velvets played their music while Factory superstars danced onstage with them. Movies played on the walls and on the band itself. Lights flashed all over the hall. The show was noisy and wild. Some people loved it. Others hated it. But by now, Andy was used to that sort of reaction to his work.

Andy helped pay for the Velvet Underground to record an album. He designed an album cover with a banana sticker that could be peeled off. But the sticker was hard to produce. The record company used a drawing of the banana instead. The album didn’t sell well. The Velvet Underground didn’t have any hit songs. They soon stopped working with Andy. Though a failure when it was released, the record The Velvet Underground & Nico has become one of the most influential rock albums in history. And although Andy gave up his dream of managing a band, he continued to host many important rock stars at the Factory, including Jim Morrison of the Doors and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.

In 1966, Andy finally made a hit movie. The Chelsea Girls was filmed in New York at the Chelsea Hotel, where some of the Factory superstars lived. The Chelsea Girls didn’t tell one story. It just showed the superstars talking and making up their own stories. Andy filmed so many scenes that he decided to show two scenes side by side at the same time on movie screens. Some scenes were funny while others were sad. The Chelsea Girls played in theaters all over the United States.

At the end of 1967, the owners of the Factory’s East 47th Street building decided to tear it down, so Andy needed to find a new location for the Factory. Paul Morrissey picked out a studio in a building in Union Square.

While they were fixing it up, they hired a young man named Jed Johnson. He started out sweeping floors, but later helped direct several films. He and Andy began to date.

The new Factory was bright and airy with white walls. It looked more like a modern office. But the Factory was still a very casual place. Anyone could come to the Factory.

A woman named Valerie Solanas had played a small role in one of Andy’s movies, but she really wanted to be a writer. She asked Andy to produce a play she wrote, but he wasn’t interested. On June 3, 1968, she came to the Factory looking for Andy. She waited outside until Andy arrived with a few other people. They rode up in the elevator together and went into the studio. The phone rang. It was a call for Andy. He was on the phone when Valerie approached him. She took out a gun and shot several times. A bullet entered the left side of Andy’s body and pierced several organs. Valerie then shot a visiting art critic in the hip. She left in the elevator and someone called an ambulance. Gerard Malanga arrived and saw what had happened. He rushed uptown to tell Andy’s mother, Julia, before she saw and heard the news on television.

Doctors operated on Andy for hours. They weren’t sure if he would live, but he survived. Andy had to stay in the hospital for almost two months. Jed moved into Andy’s house to take care of him and Julia. Andy was in pain from his injuries for the rest of his life.

Valerie Solanas turned herself in to the police and was sent to prison for three years. No one ever really understood why she shot Andy.