Loaded: The Life (and Afterlife) of the Velvet Underground

Drawing on contributions from remaining members, contemporaries, critics, filmmakers, and artists, this book celebrates the enduring legacy of the Velvet Underground.

The Velvets, a psychedelic rock and roll band, were the first major American rock group with a mixed gender lineup, never smiling in photographs, wearing sunglasses indoors, and inventing the archetype copied by artists to come. Avant-garde nihilists, they wrote about drug abuse, prostitution, paranoia, and sado-masochistic sex while the world sang about peace and love. Some credit them with inventing punk and modern New York. Author and journalist Dylan Jones breaks down the band’s whirlwind of subversion in a narrative rich in drama and detail, proving why the Velvets remain pertinent and notorious to this day.