“The Velvet Underground were a big revelation. A lot of your more unpredictable bands from New York were massively impacted by The Velvet Underground, and Blondie was one of them. Once again, Blondie is a band who owe a great deal of this unpredictability to The Velvet Underground. It was hard knowing what direction that meant going in, but thanks to The Velvet Underground, that decision wound up being incredibly easy: directionless was ironically the only way forward. “I love Lou Reed and love The Velvet Underground.