# Who plays the plates on The Velvet Underground’s ‘European Son’?

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/who-plays-the-plates-on-the-velvet-undergrounds-european-son/
- Published: 2026-11-09T14:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-09T14:51:07+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/who-plays-plates-on-the-velvet-underground-european-son/
- Topics: Europe, World

## Key points

- John Cale created the screech by scraping a chair over aluminium plates.
- The sound helped define the track’s abrasive, experimental character.
- “European Son” was dedicated to Lou Reed’s mentor Delmore Schwartz.

## Summary

John Cale made the metallic screech on The Velvet Underground’s “European Son” by dragging a chair across aluminium studio plates. The unconventional effect captured the band’s appetite for breaking musical rules and helped make the closing track of their 1967 debut album especially abrasive.

Cale later recalled that the band did not know exactly what they were doing, but found the sound funny; he also compared it to a plate-glass window being smashed. The song was dedicated to poet Delmore Schwartz, Lou Reed’s mentor, and was described as a “malicious farewell” rather than a reverent tribute.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.