Skip to main content

Velvet Goldmine

Velvet Goldmine cover

Velvet Goldmine

Quantity
Pre-order. Available 11 Jun 2026
$19.43 RRP $24.29 Website price saving $4.86 (20%)

Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available

Description

It's 1984, and investigative reporter Arthur Stuart is trying to locate Brian Slade, the glam-rock superstar who staged his own death and vanished from the spotlight ten years earlier. Todd Haynes's Velvet Goldmine (1998) transforms that mystery into a vivid collage of memory, fantasy and desire, creating an alternative history of rock and a landmark of queer cinema.

Velvet Goldmine divided opinion on its release, but Katherine Reed traces how the film's fans have kept it alive through rewatches, relistens and fan fiction. Reed weaves in the history of the film with close readings of its cinematic references, songs and style. She re-evaluates Velvet Goldmine in light of Haynes's other films, addresses its fraught production history and its allusions to David Bowie, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, and the ways in which Haynes reshapes those figures into a new mythology.

Reed also analyses Velvet Goldmine's soundtrack, and examines legendary costume designer Sandy Powell's role in creating blends of fantasy and reality in each character's wardrobe. Like the film itself, this is not a linear history, but an exploration of how Velvet Goldmine teaches us to create anew.

Accessibility Information

Additional accessibility information

  • EPUB 3.0
  • Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
  • WCAG level AA
  • WCAG v2.2 compliant
  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

Hazards

The publication contains no hazards

Support for non-visual reading

  • No accessibility features offered by the reading system, device or reading software are disabled or otherwise unusable with the product
  • Has alternative text descriptions for images

Visual adjustments

Appearance of the text and page layout can be modified according to the capabilities of the reading system (font family and size, spaces, as well as color of background and text)

Navigation

  • Page list to go to pages from the print source version
  • Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
  • All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order
  • Content is enhanced with ARIA roles to optimize organization and facilitate navigation
  • Purposes of all links are made clear

Rich content

Language tagging provided

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Track 1: 'Ballad of Maxwell Demon'
Track 2: 'Velvet Spacetime'
Track 3: 'Satellite of Love'
Track 4: '2HB'
Track 5: 'Make Me Smile'
Notes
Credits
Bibliography

Product details

Published 11 Jun 2026
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Pages 112
ISBN 9781839027482
Imprint British Film Institute
Illustrations 60 colour illus
Series BFI Film Classics
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

ONLINE RESOURCES

Bloomsbury Collections

This book is available on Bloomsbury Collections where your library has access.

Related Titles

Get 30% off in the May sale - for one week only

Environment: Staging