In this episode of Reading Is Funktamental, we are joined again by Richie Unterberger, one of the most productive and insightful authors of rock history books, to discuss his latest, a complete history of the Velvet Underground.

Blending new archival insights and first-hand accounts, Richie Unterberger illuminates the band’s radical global impact on New York’s progenitors of punk, who bridged pure rock’n’roll, avant-garde experimentation and literary songwriting to take rock music into previously uncharted territory. Beginning with each member’s path to the band, it details their influences, successes and (many) failures, the whirlwind with Warhol, the triumph of the Banana album, the fractured and strained relationships and egos, and beyond to the end of the Velvets and the beginnings of various solo careers.

Rigorously researched an ...