The oft-repeated, not-quite-apocryphal and frequently abused quote by the legendary musician and producer Brian Eno goes something like this: “The first Velvet Underground record sold only 30,000 copies in its first five years. I think everyone who bought one of those [records] started a band.” And it’s not an exaggeration. Nihilistic, experimental, and avante garde, risqué and dangerous for their time, the seminal radical rock group—featuring Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, drummer Moe Tucker, on their first album, singer Nico— are indisputably one of the most influential bands of all time.
The Velvet Underground have influenced artists of every stripe including filmmakers and one in particular, Todd Haynes, who signed up to direct a documentary about the pivotal group last year. Haynes is often looked at, especially lately, as ravishing stylist (“Wonderstruck,” “Mildred Pierce”) and one that often focuses on longing, desire and sexual identity (“Carol,” and “Far From Heaven”). But as much as he made his name on the queer core roots of “Poison,” I think many sometimes forget just how instrumental music is to Haynes’ career as well. His first film “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story,” centered on the tragic story of the late Carpenters singer and “I’m Not There,” focused solely on his obsession with the chameleonic nature of Bob Dylan. And then of course, there’s “Velvet Goldmine,” his glam rock drama centered on two fictional characters based on David Bowie and Iggy Pop (the movie’s title comes from a classic Bowie song).
But much like Bowie and Pop themselves, “Velvet Goldmine” is heavily indebted to The Velvet Underground and everything and everyone they spawned. Elements of Lou Reed’s upbringing are used in the Iggy Pop character played by Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ Bowie/Marc Bolan composite has a lot of Eno in him (the VU’s greatest fan, really) and Meyers’ band in the movie is called Venus in Furs, named after a momentous Velvet Underground song. In short, everything that influenced “Velvet Goldmine,” was essentially influenced by everything the VU wrought beforehand. In short, it’s not really a huge surprise, Haynes would want to chronicle the band, their early detour through the world of Andy Warhol and his Factory, their split with John Cale (which would diminish their experimental tendencies) and the emergence of the undersung multi-instrumentalist Doug Yule, who helped take the band in a more soulful, folk and rootsy rock direction towards the end of their short-lived career (only four official albums released).
This week, the announcement was made official and perhaps more importantly, the doc is being made with the participation of Polygram Entertainment and Verve Label Group, the record labels that control The Velvet Underground’s music. So, there should be no shortage of music, behind the scenes footage and perhaps rare gems that have barely been seen or discovered (though musically, it should be said Polygram and Verve have literally released every scrape of tape that contains a trace of the Velvet Underground playing or barely noodling on).
Look, for my money, the VU are gods. Everything I really love in music is kind of a six degrees of VU separation; almost all roads always lead back to Reed and co’s group. I couldn’t be more excited and it’s probably the most anticipated rock doc since Jim Jarmusch made “Gimmie Danger,” the outstanding (and musically related) doc about Iggy And The Stooges”—Velvets connection: John Cale produced their first album.
According to Deadline, the doc will “trace multiple threads leading to the band’s formation and their impact on music and global culture” and so it’ll be interesting, at least for VU dead heads, to see how much Haynes’ doc starts before the formation of the group and the period that pre-dates Andy Warhol and their first record. Additionally, and very critically, the doc has received the support of the very-selective John Cale and Laurie Anderson, the artist and partner of the Velvet’s late Lou Reed.
Haynes has multiple projects in the pipeline on top of the Velvets doc including a new TV project over at Amazon and a movie based on the The Source Family project, though even we have speculated that the two projects could possibly be one and the same. Presumably a doc and a narrative can be worked on in tandem. Either way, exciting stuff as this one inches closer to reality. In semi-related news, here’s Beck‘s just-released (rather anemic) cover of the Velvet’s “I’m Waiting For The Man.” [Deadline]