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The Velvet Underground was een experimentele rockgroep uit New York die actief was van 1964 tot 1973. Hoewel de groep destijds geen noemenswaardig commercieel succes boekte, geldt The Velvet Underground tegenwoordig als een van de meest vooruitstrevende en invloedrijkste rockgroepen aller tijden.

De klassieke bezetting van de groep bestond uit zanger en gitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, gitarist Sterling Morrison en drummer Maureen Tucker. In 1967 verscheen hun debuutalbum The Velvet Underground & Nico, onder toeziend oog van kunstenaar Andy Warhol en met een gastrol voor zangeres Nico. Dit album wordt gezien als een mijlpaal in de rockgeschiedenis vanwege de innovatieve combinatie van rockmuziek met aleatorische muziek, microtonaliteit en minimale muziek, begeleid door taboedoorbrekende poëzie over de duistere kant van het leven, met onderwerpen als drugsgebruik, sadomasochisme en decadentisme.

Op hun tweede album, White light/White heat uit 1968, klonk de groep nog rauwer en compromislozer dan voorheen. Vanwege meningsverschillen met Reed verliet Cale de groep in 1968 en werd hij vervangen door Doug Yule. Op hun daaropvolgende albums, The Velvet Underground uit 1969 en met name Loaded uit 1970, maakte het experiment plaats voor toegankelijke rockmuziek. Na het vertrek van Reed in 1970 viel de groep langzaam uit elkaar.

In de jaren 90 keerde de groep in haar klassieke bezetting terug voor een reünietournee. Het laatste optreden vond plaats in 1996, bij de introductie van de groep in de Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Velvet Underground were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionist Moe Tucker. Though their integration of rock and the avant-garde earned them little commercial success during their initial nine-year run, they are now widely regarded as one of the most influential bands in rock music, as well as underground, experimental, and alternative music. Their provocative subject matter and experimentation were instrumental in the development of punk rock, new wave and other genres.

The group performed under several names before settling on the Velvet Underground in 1965, taken from the title of a 1963 book on atypical sexual behavior. In 1966, the experimental pop artist Andy Warhol became their official manager. They served as the house band at Warhol's studio, The Factory, and performed with his traveling multimedia show the Exploding Plastic Inevitable from 1966 to 1967. Their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, featuring the German singer and model Nico, was released in 1967 to critical indifference and poor sales, although it has been later regarded as one of the greatest albums in music history.

The band released their second album, the abrasive White Light/White Heat, in 1968, after which Cale was replaced with Doug Yule. They then released two more accessible albums, The Velvet Underground (1969) and Loaded (1970), but neither performed to the expectations of record labels or de facto group leader Reed. In the early 1970s, all but Yule left the band for various reasons. A final album was released under the Velvet Underground name in 1973, Squeeze, recorded mostly by Yule with session musicians in London. The Velvet Underground dissolved shortly after. The former band members collaborated on each other's solo work throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and an album of long lost recordings of original songs, VU, was released in 1985. Reed, Cale, Tucker and Morrison reunited for a series of well-received shows in 1993, and released a live album from the tour, Live MCMXCIII, later that year.

After Morrison's death in 1995, the remaining members played their final performance at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1996. Reed died in 2013. In 2004, the Velvet Underground were ranked number 19 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". The New York Times wrote that the Velvet Underground was "arguably the most influential American rock band of our time".