A few weeks ago I was on a little Twitter rant and I got on the topic of Lou Reed. See, I am not a Lou Reed fan- never was. This is pretty scandalous considering I take so much influence from the NY underground scene of decades past. You would think he would be right up there as one of the Apostles or something- but nope.
I found his voice grating. Monotone and dull with no melodic value. He sounded more of a speaker than a singer and all the colored girls doot doo do-ing couldn’t change that. Lyrically, I simply never connected and as for public persona? Well I love a real asshole as much as the next gal but I really just never saw that element of cool that everyone else did.
Lou is dead and the musical world has fallen into the mode they always do. Lou is now God, everyone is ‘gutted’ and despite chronic illness and advanced age everyone is ‘shocked’. Trust me if your 71 year old cousin and he has liver failure you’re not gonna be shocked when he dies- but hey he aint Lou. Get over it people and calm down.
This being said I am very much thankful to Mr Reed for influencing so many artists. Thanks for connecting with them and inspiring them to persue music. That’s about all I got on the topic. Rest in Peace and all that jazz but honestly, Lou has had no direct impact on me or my musical pleasure. I liked the song “Dirty Boulevard”, that’s about it and only for its imagery. Other than that.. nah.
Every celeb in town is flashing a picture of themselves with Lou.. Here is my fave-kissin’ Bowie. Yep.
Morrissey took to true-to-you.net for homage and said the following
‘Oh Lou / why did you leave us this way?’
No words to express the sadness at the death of Lou Reed. He had been there all of my life. He will always be pressed to my heart. Thank God for those, like Lou, who move within their own laws, otherwise imagine how dull the world would be. I knew the Lou of recent years and he was always full of good heart. His music will outlive time itself.
We are all timebound, but today, with the loss of liberating Lou, life is a pigsty.
‘7 glasses used to be
called for six good mates and me
now we only call for three’
-Patrick MacGill
MORRISSEY
27 October 2013
Yeah… RIP Lou- you’re now sitting at the right hand of Lennon.