The Velvet Underground — I'm Sticking With You [recorded ~1969, released in 1985 on ‘VU’; pop rock]

Yeah, but that's what they were doing on the third and fourth albums, after Reed kicked out Cale. He wanted the band to make some more approachable stuff. Although the first album has some straightforward songs too.

I like some of these more-mainstream songs of theirs, they still have lots of character. VU is also one of a very few bands to whose lyrics I listen or look them up: Reed wrote some cool songs with very simple words and imagery:

At Syracuse University, he studied under poet Delmore Schwartz, who he said was "the first great person I ever met", and they became friends. He credited Schwartz with showing him how "with the simplest language imaginable, and very short, you can accomplish the most astonishing heights."

This style of writing really works splendidly for me.