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.
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