150 Word Review: ‘The Velvet Underground’ (2021)

New York’s best band plays on in this new doc

I first heard the song ‘Heroin’ 22 years after it was first released. This hypnotic, voluptuous ballad to drugs and blood was performed by The Velvet Underground and it made death sound sexy. The song was shocking in 1967 and 1989. It’s still surprisingly lurid and rude.

The influential music made by junky poet Lou Reed, violist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, groundbreaking drummer Maureen Tucker, and statuesque German singer Nico was anti-pop. They wore all black and sneered at hippies.

In the new Apple TV+ documentary The Velvet Underground, film director Todd Haynes tells the story of this group of avant-garde alt-rock misfits managed by legendary artist Andy Warhol. The doc is respectful without ever being sentimental and mixes interviews, rare vintage footage, and The Velvet Underground’s eerie, filthy hits to recreate a special time in New York City when creative energy was as plentiful as trash and smack.