Galaxie 500 was a seminal guitar band from the late 1980s who were heavily influenced by late Velvet Underground. Galaxie 500 leveraged fairly minimal instrumental technique with intense atmospherics and their distinctive sound bore an influence beyond the small audience for their independently released albums.

Guitarist and singer Dean Wareham went on to found the band Luna during the 1990s and released a string of critically well received albums. Drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist Naomi Wang continued to record under the moniker Damon and Naomi, and additionally began the avant-garde press Exact Change.