Wiki Spotlight: Lou Reed
Lewis Allen "Lou" Reed
born (March 2, 1942) is an American
rock and roll singer-songwriter,
originally from Brooklyn, New York.
Beginning while a member of the
The Velvet Underground in the 1960s,
Reed broke new ground for the rock
genre in several important dimensions,
influencing rock music in general,
introducing more adult and intellectual
themes to what was then considered
a music genre for children and teenagers.
Reed first found prominence as
the guitarist and principal singer-songwriter
of The Velvet Underground. The band,
which lasted from 1965 until 1973
(with Reed departing in late 1970
during the Loaded sessions), gained
relatively little notice during
its life but is often considered
the seed from which most alternative
traditions of rock music sprang.
As the Velvets’ songwriter, Reed
wrote about such taboo subjects
as S&M ("Venus in Furs"),
transvestites ("Sister Ray"),
transsexuals ("Lady Godiva's
Operation"), prostitution ("There
She Goes Again"), and drug
use (“I’m Waiting for the Man”,
"White Light/White Heat",
“Heroin”). As a guitarist, he made
innovative use of abrasive distortion,
volume-driven feedback, and nonstandard
tunings. Reed's flat, New York voice,
stripped of superficial emotions
and, like Bob Dylan's, flaunting
its lack of conventional training,
was no less important to the music's
radical effect.
Reed began a long and varied solo
career in 1972. He scored a hit
that year with "Walk on the
Wild Side". For more than a
decade he then seemed purposely
to evade mainstream commercial success.
One of rock's most volatile personalities,
Reed made inconsistent albums that
frustrated critics who wished for
a return of the Velvet Underground.
The most notable example is 1975's
infamous double LP of recorded feedback
loops, Metal Machine Music, upon
which Reed later commented, "no
one is supposed to be able to do
a thing like that and survive."
Despite erratic turns, Reed's work
won him by the late 1980s wide recognition
as an essential elder statesman
of rock. He had for decades written
frankly on subjects more intense
than the genre had seemed capable
of handling. The industry had matured,
to the extent that his commercial
position as an "art rocker"
was secure. He is also good friends
with playwright, poet, and former
president of the Czech Republic
Václav Havel, with whom he has met
for public forums.
Reed has lived in New York City
for most of his life and much of
his music invokes the city, earning
the singer comparisons (which he
has encouraged) to William Faulkner
and James Joyce as writers of regional
interest.
More: Wikipedia about Lou Reed |
