Lou Reed Archives

These Days: Wednesday, August 6th, 2015

Iman Lababedi / August 6, 2015

Thursday is death day for recorded music, unless you are in the market for Macklemore’s lachrymose “Growing Up” -a stomach churning little pop smarm for his poor baby girl. The only way this song matters to the kid is if Macklemore dies in a plane crash before she’s six months old. Yeah, I am listening to Street Hassle for no good reason except somebody mentioned Lou the other day and I thought, you know, his name doesn’t show up in conversation as much as it use to.

controversy, Interview, News, Slideshow

Lou Reed’s Sister: Electroshock Therapy Wasn’t To Treat Lou’s Homosexuality

Alyson Camus / April 17, 2015

‘My parents were many things, but homophobic they were not. In fact, they were blazing liberals. They were caught in a bewildering web of guilt, fear, and poor psychiatric care. Did they make a mistake in not challenging the doctor’s recommendation for ECT? Absolutely.

News, Slideshow

Did Lou Reed Die For Lady Gaga’s Sin?

Alyson Camus / April 15, 2015

Artpop’ was conceived in direct connection with the Velvet Underground, Gaga’s ‘Dope’ was the VU’s ‘Heroin’, ‘G.U.Y.’ was ‘Walk on the Wild Side’… ‘MANICURE’ was ‘I’ll be your Mirror’… oh poor Nico!… ‘Applause’ with the opening verse ‘I stand here waiting for you to bang the gong’, is Reed’s ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’, although they are not exactly waiting for the same thing… So, demos were sent to Reed in November 2012, and Reed didn’t answer, but when he did, he replied ‘I have no interest in any further involvement.’

News, Slideshow, The Big Huerta

The Big Huerta Met Blue Lou Reed

Edward Huerta / February 26, 2015

I painted it a couple days after his death. It was later used in a flyer and poster for a “Tribute to Lou Reed” night at Fingerprints Records that Rockford and several local Long Beach musicians played songs from his catalog in a tribute, held coincidentally, on the anniversary of JFK’s assassination

controversy, Interview, News, Slideshow

New Blank On Blank Animation: Lou Reed On The Beatles

Alyson Camus / February 19, 2015

When [bands] did try to get, in quotes, ‘arty,’ it was worse than stupid rock & roll. What I mean by ‘stupid,’ I mean, like, the Doors.’… ‘I never liked the Beatles, I thought they were garbage. If you say, ‘Who did you like?’ I liked nobody.’

Slideshow

Lou Reed For Sale

Helen Bach / June 21, 2014

Tacky? Hell yes it is mostly because they “need to be sold”. The good news is it isn’t his teeth or other absurd artifacts as we have seen with other artists- this is guitars, racks and assorted stage gear.

rock nyc

The A+ List: 1-20-14

Iman Lababedi / January 21, 2014

Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) – Stevie Wonders – Stevies scream that opens this song is so good he coulda sung anything after and it would have worked but what he sang was one of the great Motown tracks -a real slippy funk belter in the chorus, and a soulful chorus.

News

10 Songs: What rock nyc Is Listening To 1-3-14

Iman Lababedi / January 3, 2014

New York – Angel Haze – the final release of 2013, after poet cum rapper got sick of waiting for Interscope to release , I’m considering 2014 so I can include it in my 2014 brain. This is a reggae beat ode and very very good – B+

News

10 Songs: what rock nyc is listening to 1-2-14

Iman Lababedi / January 2, 2014

Future Farmers Of America – Lou Reed – It sounds like it has escaped off his New York album, with a swift powerful kick and hard buzzing guitars from his final masterpiece as the millennium turned – A

rock nyc

Songs for the Hungry iPod – Ten Essential Non-Hits from the 1980s

Steve Crawford / November 14, 2013

Steve Crawford takes his Ipod out in public: something flickered for a moment and was gone, he claims, and then finds the 1980s songs to back him up all the way

rock nyc

Morrissey's "Satellite Of Love" Cover Reviewed

Soho Johnny / November 14, 2013

“I really don’t understand how someone who was a fan of Moz couldn’t like this version. It’s beautiful and sounds like a song he would’ve written in the first place. His flawlessness takes a mediocre song by a mediocre man to a brilliant song sung by a legend.”

Track Reviews

Morrissey's "Satellite Of Love" Reviewed

Iman Lababedi / November 13, 2013

Reed is referencing “Slippin’ And Slidin'” -in an album of sexual transformation, in a song that is a signal post, Reed draws right back on his rock and roll roots. Morrissey’s change of the line is cultural vandalism.

rock nyc

SNL Flashback November 15, 1986 Lou Reed

Helen Bach / November 10, 2013

Let me restate that- ONE OR TWO SONGS having A LINE OR TWO that I find impressive. Thus my opinion stands. Lou Reed is the most over rated performer of the ‘punk’ era. The only thing ‘punk’ about him was his shitty attitude.

That Was The Week That Was

That Was The Week Of October 28th, 2013, That Was

Iman Lababedi / November 4, 2013

The rock and roll world reeled from the death of one of the all time greats Lou Reed and I wrote “this outpouring of affection for Lou Reed: it is like mourning Scrooge if Scrooge had died before he was visited by the ghosts.” though I was pretty upset myself.

rock nyc

Winner And Loser Week of October 28th, 2013: Lou Reed And Drake

Iman Lababedi / November 3, 2013

Sure he died and that sucks and it was a little too young, I mean, he might have made it do 86, why not, right? BUT the outpouring of love and affectionate, the willful misreading of the man, the canonization of Lou… I bet Lester Bangs is scratching his head somewhere wondering how the hell that happened.

rock nyc

Walk On The Wild Side: Jim Sullivan Remembers The Late Lou Reed

Jim Sullivan / November 2, 2013

The ultimate tribute, of course, are the many children of the Velvets: bands like Luna, the Feelies, Bizarros, the Dream Syndicate, Television, R.E.M., the Strokes, Spacemen 3, Modern Lovers, Violent Femmes, Yo La Tengo and, of course, Brian Eno. There’s Eno’s famous quote about if only 30,000 people bought Velvets records all 30,000 went on to start bands.

rock nyc

Lou Reed Sunk In Sentimentality

Iman Lababedi / October 30, 2013

It feels fake, I know it isn’t and I realize people are really grieving but it feels like they’ve got it wrong and Helen has it right. I hate sentimentality, I hate pathos, I prefer the messy hardness of tough emotions.

rock nyc

Lou Reed is Dead- 'Oh Lou / why did you leave us this way?'

Helen Bach / October 29, 2013

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.

rock nyc

Not With The Band: All My Favorite Rock Stars Are Gonna Die Soon

Alyson Camus / October 29, 2013

Mick Jagger is 69, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon are 72, David Bowie and Iggy Pop are 66, Paul McCartney is 71, and Leonard Cohen is 79! Even Bruce Springsteen is already 64, Stevie Wonder and Tom Waits are 63, and nobody is getting younger.

rock nyc

Hear Ye On Spotify: what rock nyc is listening to 10-29-13

Iman Lababedi / October 29, 2013

Same Damn Time – Future – The best song at Sunday nights Drake show shakes the rafter as a singalong for threesomes, a full throttle piece of fun for all the family if all the family – B+

rock nyc

Lou Reed – Satellite’s Gone, Up to the Sky

Steve Crawford / October 28, 2013

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.

rock nyc

Lou Reed Died, Here Are Some Tracks To Remember Him By

Iman Lababedi / October 28, 2013

I would go with New York and Ecstasy as a close second. I saw him on both tours and had front row on one of them. The New York tour he was playing at a Broadway Theater and the sound was astounding and, really, Neil Young would have problems with such political immediacy