Creme magazine, March 1975, Lester Bangs goes nuts on Reed
I didn’t know Lou Reed personally, I imagine few really did. Of course, because of his tangential relationship to the art world via the uber-brilliant Laurie Anderson, his wife, I know people who did. Or who thought they did, wanted believe they did, because they interviewed him or took a picture together, hung out at some event, etc. Over all, capitalizing on a just-deceased person’s fame really turns my stomach, but once its an official news story, I guess its expected.
And then there were the people who got to trashing him right away?! The inevitable “he was an asshole, period” comments (eyeroll) that seemed so inappropriate. Doesn;t anyone consider the suffering and shock of loved ones left behind, especially when they have to live in the fishbowl of public scrutiny? It astonishes me. There’s just no communal respect anymore for those in mourning, it would appear. Anyway, I attempted here and there to politely counter these callous digs by saying “well, he might have been a misanthrope but he was also compassionate” – a contrary nature that gave his work its power IMHO. When one blogger suggested that LR had no talent – because the latter gave him a hard time when he was first starting out – and got by on attitude, I thought nice eulogy, who’s the asshole? That’s when I gave up, and said nothing:)
How people hang on to things like that for decades is beyond me, anyway. Pouncing the second they can when a person is no longer alive to defend themselves. No balls. Case in point, Vulture today publishing “Looking Back at Lou Reed’s Famously Contentious Relationship With Rock Critic Lester Bangs”, which I’m not going to link to, but here’s the opening line, which relegates LR’s death to a parenthetical (?!): “Over the years, Lou Reed, who died today at age 71, gained the reputation for being a sensationally prickly interview subject.” (Here’s the original profile by Bangs, that I’ll share) So you see what I mean, I’m avoiding the media on this for a while.
Mostly though I just posted all day to process my own sense of loss. LR’s music meant a lot to me, and I identified very strongly with it for many years. I’d rather not get more maudlin than that. There were a few interesting obits I read too (always amazes me what good writers can do w/so little time), loved this one by Michael Musto, and Rolling Stone did a good job of getting the whole profile together and focusing on compiling music (sadly one expects there was a file ready to go in some computer before the transplant though), and a few impromptu tributes here in NYC (Bowery Poetry Club, Otto’s Shrunken Head), which I decided not to go to (open mic is not my scene).
Here’s what I posted on FB followed, if you can stay with me that long, by some observations as I re-experience these posts in reverse (created links w/quotes when latter were song lyrics):
I AM STUNNED… LOU REED HAS MEANT SO MUCH TO ME OVER THE YEARS…WAS JUST LISTENING TO VU, AND “NEW YORK”, SO GRATEFUL I GOT TO SEE HIM PERFORM SEVERAL TIMES, ALWAYS CANTANKEROUS AND BRILLIANT! RIP
“HE’S NEVER EARLY, HE’S ALWAYS LATE…” — Velvet Underground – I´m Waiting For The Man
GREAT FOOTAGE OF LOU DANCING!!! — Lou Reed – Sweet Jane – live in Paris, 1974
“sha lalala, c’mon baby lets slip away…” — Lou Reed – Street Hassle (complete music video)
“One chord is fine. Two chords is pushing it. Three chords and you’re into jazz.” — Lou Reed Metal Machine Music, Part 1 (HQ)
“lou was very adept at spontaneously erupting into elegant forms of prose and poetry” – john cale
— John Cale on Lou Reed and himself
Lou Reed & John Cale – Songs For Drella (Full Album) (HQ)
“so you want people to take drugs, why is this?”
“oh yeah, cuz its better than monopoly.” — Lou Reed Interview at Sydney Airport – 1974
THE EYELINER AND ‘FRO DAYS, LOVE THIS FOOTAGE THO HE’S REALLY HIGH HERE — Lou Reed Live Olympia Theatre, Paris 1973, Walk On The Wild Side , Heroin and White Light, White heat
“give me your hungry, your tired, your poor, i’ll piss on ’em, that’s what your statue of bigotry says” — Lou Reed performs “Dirty Blvd.” live at the Farm Aid concert in Indianapolis, Indiana on April 7th, 1990.
“people in new york do get ahead by who they know not what they can do” lou at his cranky best, taking on the music biz:)) –Lou Reed grills Mark Josephson, co-director of the New Music Seminar, on a 1986 episode of MTV’s 120 Minutes.
Lou after the transplant, on spotify/free downloading of music: “this whole idea of starving artists that stay starving artists, meanwhile you’ve got artists like damien hirst selling for a gazillion dollars” –Lou Reed’s shock at Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations
ok, the last one – my namesake song, a bouncy version, lou you will always and forever be in my heart
OBSERVATIONS: Obviously, I was drawn to live footage immediately, interviews as well as performances (as I’m sure were many, but I didn’t read posts until after I’d “processed”. AND it seems I liked anything that captured him dancing (and less guarded)! I think I captured examples of his rancorous wit and fierce generosity ( (even on David Letterman), that unusual mix that as I said above made his music so potent (and like Sinatra, I find his phrasing brilliantly varied in live stuff). The verbal runs in this show when he just ad libs all this poetry is a perfect example. The line I quoted in related thread being: ‘fuck radio ethiopia, man, I’m radio Brooklyn” Recorded live at Bottom Line 17-21 May 1978, no overdubbing. Mixed at Delta Studio, Wilster — Sweet Jane Germany (and yes, I noticed there were several Sweet Jane versions — naturally!)
I noticed too I liked the 1970s and 1990s Lou the best, the former for the obvious sexiness and decadence but also for its fevered experimentation, and the latter for the more reflective writing. I think of LR as a storyteller. “New York” is on my desert island list, I never get tired of it. I could go on and on. I’m glad to have a place to archive my thoughts/reactions. My little mourning session for the ICONIC NEW YORK ROCK LEGEND, LOU REED (1942-2013) who will forever be missed. RIP. (How painful to have to type that end date…may a new fan be born every minute)
