Without ever having any sustained commercial success, Lou Reed became one of the most iconic figures in rock music. He represented a New York toughness that matched street smarts with an active intellectual curiosity. At times, he celebrated the music that he had made early in his career, but unlike many of his contemporaries, he never artistically lived in the past. As a young teenager, Lou reportedly underwent electroconvulsive therapy as an attempt to cure bisexuality. He later famously became a drug addict. The fact that he survived seventy plus years on the planet might be a testament to his life being saved, at various times, by rock ‘n’ roll.
After working as a staff writer for Pickwick Records in New York, Lou met John Cale and formed the Velvet Underground, whose original releases were met with almost no commercial success, but would later inspire innumerable punk and new wave acts. The Velvets expanded the boundaries of what bands could do lyrically and sonically within a rock music context – John Cale’s electric viola created an eerie edge to the proceedings while Reed straightforwardly addressed drugs, violence, and homosexuality. While that last sentence sounds like a pretentious performance art project, what made the Velvet Underground a band for the ages was the songwriting. “I’m Waiting for My Man,” “Heroin,” “There She Goes Again,” “White Light/White Heat,” “Sweet Jane,” “Rock & Roll,” etc. The Velvets did not chase trends; they followed their vision and eventually were discovered by a wide and appreciative audience.
In the 70s, Reed had his biggest commercial successes with “Walk on the Wild Side,” a song that blatantly describes sexual acts, prostitution, and drug use, yet hit #16 on the pop charts in 1972. In 1974, Sally Can’t Dance hit #10 on the album charts, even though it had no hit singles. During this timeframe, Lou had embraced the androgynous rock scene, flaunted his proclaimed homosexuality, and would pantomime shooting up drugs during performances. This lead to a series of verbal assault interviews with Creem’s Lester Bangs, who was also no stranger to substance overindulgence. Ultimately, it seemed that both men were disappointed in each other’s work at the time. Bangs thanked Reed later for calling him for poor writing out at a time when most people encouraged him get trashed and play the court jester.
I first became of fan of Reed’s work in the early 1980s, with the albums The Blue Mask, Legendary Hearts, and New Sensations, (the first two featured superlative guitar work from Robert Quine). Reed had hit another creative streak, much like his time in the Velvets, and he could go from a domestic bliss number like “Rooftop Garden” to the savage violence of “The Blue Mask.” Heck, he could even get you dancing with “I Love You, Suzanne.” In 1989, Lou received another gold record with the topical New York album. He reformed the Velvet Underground in the early 1990s and that band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. His solo work received less attention in the 90s and by his 2000 release, Ecstasy, the diminished vocal presence was painful.
Lou stayed busy in the final years of his life – marrying Laurie Anderson in 2008, releasing the…um…interesting Lulu album with Metallica, directing Susan Boyle’s video for “Perfect Day,” and touring with the experimental Metal Machine Trio. There are widely varying opinions of Lou as a person – he’s been described both as warm and generous and as the ultimate uncaring prick. None of that matters now, if it ever did. Lou Reed wrote outstanding songs that often gave outsiders much hope in an unforgiving world and no matter how cynical he could be, he always had a foundation in compassion. And, everyone who ever had a heart, they wouldn’t turn around and break it.