Andy Warhol films, The Velvet Underground and Nico

This essay appears in an edited collection that surveys the careers of the members of the Velvet Underground. It looks specifically at the films that Andy Warhol made of the members of the band in 1966 and 1967, while they were working together on the band's first album, 'The Velvet Underground and Nico' (1967). The essay argues that the films worked as a collaborative space for the band to play with their public identity, trying on roles and personae; they also operated as a space in which Warhol attempted to impose his Pop preoccupations with consumer culture onto the band. The essay explores the 30+ Screen Tests Warhol made of individual members of the band, as well as the group's live shows (Up-Tight, Exploding Plastic Inevitable) and the role that cinema played in these shows.