IMDb RATING
7.3/10
5.5K
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The Velvet Underground explores the multiple threads that converged to bring together one of the most influential bands in rock and roll.The Velvet Underground explores the multiple threads that converged to bring together one of the most influential bands in rock and roll.The Velvet Underground explores the multiple threads that converged to bring together one of the most influential bands in rock and roll.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 36 nominations
The Velvet Underground
- Themselves
- (archive footage)
Lou Reed
- Self - Songwriter, Musician & Author
- (archive footage)
Sterling Morrison
- Self - Musician
- (archive footage)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAfter Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison quit the band, it carried on for a time with Doug Yule becoming the frontman on vocals and guitar. Moe Tucker also stayed with the band after her return from parental leave and they were joined by a new bassist and keyboardist. This lineup toured the Loaded album around parts of North America and Europe in 1971. A fifth studio album was released for a UK record label under the Velvet Underground name: 1973's Squeeze. All members bar Doug Yule were sent back to the United States in 1972 and Yule recorded all parts except the drums by Deep Purple's Ian Paice, saxophone by someone called Malcolm and some unidentified female backing vocals. Recording the album as essentially a Doug Yule solo effort was at the instruction of manager Steve Seswick, who had earlier brought Yule to the band and had long pushed for the Velvets to adopt a more commercial style with Yule at its centre. Yule himself was displeased at Seswick's control of the process. While Yule had been a significant creative force, albeit secondary to Lou Reed, on the celebrated Loaded album, Squeeze is much-maligned. It received terrible reviews, though it has gained some appreciators over the years. It is typically considered a Velvets record in name only. At around the same time as the official Velvet Underground were being reduced to Seswick's Doug Yule project, Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico had also been in Europe for a reunion performance in Paris in 1972, which was bootlegged and eventually released under the name Le Bataclan '72. Footage from this reunion performance is included in this film.
- Quotes
Self - Songwriter, Musician & Producer: We tuned to the sixty-cycle hum of the refrigerator. The sixty-cycle hum of the refrigerator was to us the drone of Western civilization.
- ConnectionsFeatures Pierrette I (1924)
Featured review
'The Velvet Underground' is certainly artful and reverential to its subject. No stranger to music, Todd Haynes also made the fictionalized Bowie story 'Velvet Goldmine' (1998) and mysterious Dylan fantasy documentary 'I'm Not There' (2007)). Making the definitive VU documentary is something of a holy grail for film makers, but I'd say Haynes enjoyable film achieves its aims partially.
It's fair to say The Velvet Underground blazed the trail for punk and indie music 70s and onwards. Lou Reed, John Cale ... but so much more! Brian Eno famously once said: "Their first album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band". For Haynes film, the music nerd in me would have liked more information about the various songs (titles, albums, dates, producers etc.), even art history like this needs its points of reference. I guess it wouldn't bother most newbies as info can be checked easily these days, but I'm old school and like films to organize and document their subject matter, too difficult to catch everything in the final credits.
If you are coming to The Velvet Underground for the first time, they were only together roughly 1966-1970 so their music isn't hard to navigate. Counter intuitively, tackle the studio albums in reverse order. Start with the 4th and final 'Loaded' (1970), great songs by Lou Reed as he contemplated a solo career ('Sweet Jane', 'Waiting For My Man', 'Rock'n'Roll'), then go back to their eponymous 3rd (1969), 'unplugged' beautiful achingly sad songs in a story cycle again by Reed ('Pale Blue Eyes', 'Candy Says', 'Beginning To See The Light'). The band's 2nd 'White Light/White Heat' (1968) is chaotic and avantgarde, but its song 'gems' shine through all the noise, Cale and Reed shared the songwriting duties but it was to be Cale's last as a band member ... and finally there's 'The Velvet Underground & Nico' (1967), legendary, but so much written about it already. Live album '1969' is a nice homage to Reed's guitar playing, and 'Live at Max's' is a very collectable if poorly recorded bootleg of the band late career. Happy exploration!
Nice to hear people like John Waters and Jonathan Richman among many others contributing to Haynes' film ...
It's fair to say The Velvet Underground blazed the trail for punk and indie music 70s and onwards. Lou Reed, John Cale ... but so much more! Brian Eno famously once said: "Their first album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band". For Haynes film, the music nerd in me would have liked more information about the various songs (titles, albums, dates, producers etc.), even art history like this needs its points of reference. I guess it wouldn't bother most newbies as info can be checked easily these days, but I'm old school and like films to organize and document their subject matter, too difficult to catch everything in the final credits.
If you are coming to The Velvet Underground for the first time, they were only together roughly 1966-1970 so their music isn't hard to navigate. Counter intuitively, tackle the studio albums in reverse order. Start with the 4th and final 'Loaded' (1970), great songs by Lou Reed as he contemplated a solo career ('Sweet Jane', 'Waiting For My Man', 'Rock'n'Roll'), then go back to their eponymous 3rd (1969), 'unplugged' beautiful achingly sad songs in a story cycle again by Reed ('Pale Blue Eyes', 'Candy Says', 'Beginning To See The Light'). The band's 2nd 'White Light/White Heat' (1968) is chaotic and avantgarde, but its song 'gems' shine through all the noise, Cale and Reed shared the songwriting duties but it was to be Cale's last as a band member ... and finally there's 'The Velvet Underground & Nico' (1967), legendary, but so much written about it already. Live album '1969' is a nice homage to Reed's guitar playing, and 'Live at Max's' is a very collectable if poorly recorded bootleg of the band late career. Happy exploration!
Nice to hear people like John Waters and Jonathan Richman among many others contributing to Haynes' film ...
- matthewhaddrill
- Jun 4, 2022
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Ban nhạc the Velvet Underground
- Filming locations
- New York City, New York, USA(main location)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime2 hours 1 minute
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
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By what name was The Velvet Underground (2021) officially released in Japan in Japanese?
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