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Velvet Goldmine

Velvet Goldmine cover

Velvet Goldmine

Quantity
Pre-order. Available Jun 11 2026
$16.15 RRP $17.95 Website price saving $1.80 (10%)

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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.

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 Jun 11 2026
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 112
ISBN 9781839027475
Imprint British Film Institute
Illustrations 60 colour illus
Dimensions 7 x 5 inches
Series BFI Film Classics
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Katherine Reed

Katherine Reed is Associate Professor of Musicolog…

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