I hope I can offer some perspective on Lou Reed. Everybody’s having their say following his death. Not everything being said explains his impact. No-one could honestly claim to be a fan of ALL his music, particularly in more recent years - not because the music he made wasn’t necessarily any good. He was simply as cantankerous in that respect as he was personally. One of the things you’ll notice if you read between the lines of what’s been said since Lou died is that even John Cale, his Velvet Underground cohort , struggled to be totally kind. Cantankerous and grumpy. Lou Reed had some exceptional moments in song, no doubt, but not in proportion with the accolades being awarded him. There might be 20 great songs. So how do we explain Lou Reed’s “importance”? He was there to open the door to “alternative music” - the right man at the right time with the right music. He showed that you didn’t have to write songs to sing along to and you could write about unhappy and ugly things. There’s a part of us that wants to resist what’s popular and the Velvets and Lou were that thing when the 60s needed it. That’s why you hear that they inspired more groups to be formed that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. It wasn’t necessarily that those bands being formed were imitating the Velvets musically. It was what they represented that was so influential. That was the “golden era”, but l look here, you didn’t have to be like those big bands. If you try to find the Velvets. importance in the music itself you won’t find it. Lou Reed WAS a dark poet. That was his gift. Andy Warhol had collected a social group of the glamorous and the underworld parading together for each other. He put the Velvets up on stage, and all they had to do was look out in front of them for inspiration. This was a world like no other. Lou Reed and the Velvets took it away and made it their own. Everything about the band and Lou Reed was subversive. Warhol “produced “ that first album. He wasn’t a producer. He just didn’t want anyone else to do it. For more than a year the album sat on the record company shelves because the company didn’t know what to do with it. By then Warhol and the band were already in a different space. Everything happened organically. And that appealed to those who became fans, not in an almighty flood but an endless unstoppable flow . You could be a fan because Velvet Underground were never going to be stars And then David Bowie did his best to make Lou a star. It worked to some extent, but it was also a case of miscasting. It put Lou Reed into the spotlight for his best known albums, ‘Transformer’ and ‘Berlin’. He could now do whatever he pleased and did. Wherever he is won’t be happy. youtube/watch?v=hugY9CwhfzE
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 07:29:40 +0000
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