Originally published on Blogger, October 28, 2013

I hesitated to write anything when I heard Lou Reed died... at first. Because I am a rookie. My first serious encounters with VU and Lou started only recently in the 2010s. Before that, it was just brief glimpses of Reed's music. The first version of "Venus in Furs" I'd ever heard was a 1999 cover by Dave Navarro (which is good). Lou's "Walk on the Wild Side" sounded horrible, so I discounted his career for a long time. Then, I visited New York City.

New York City is so awesome. I wish I could have lived there during the late 60s and during the 1977 CBGB-punk era. I learned a lot about music before, during, and after my first visit there. A New York trip has become an autumn tradition for me.

In the past week, I have blasted "I'm Waiting for the Man", at least three times. I listened to 90% of Lou's solo catalog just this year (thanks Spotify). That is a shitload of music. I am fortunate to know about him before he died. A lot of it I do not like, but I listened to all of it because of Advanced Genius Theory. AGT is a humor book that inspires one to look at weirdness in another way. Lou Reed is the focal point of the theory. The book forced me to listen to Metal Machine Music. Rather, it opened me up to the idea that the music had more than meets the eye. I also listened to Lulu when it came out. A lot of it is awful, but there are some moments where it is worth rewinding. There is also a Gorillaz live performance that is just... indescribable.



The crowd sounds like they are booing, but it's just "Louing". The man looks uncomfortable on stage (and he probably is). Lou needs a music stand to see the lyrics to the Damon Albarn song. Just look at the guitar choice. He is yelling at the sound guy throughout the performance. What the fuck is this? Is this a genius?

I also recently watched two of Reed's 80s music videos: "No Money Down" & "The Original Wrapper". They were so noteworthy (to me) that I created Wikipedia articles on them. Definitely worth a watch. A few months ago, I watched a documentary on Transformer (thanks Netflix). I loved it, because it went over a lot of Lou Reed's life... not just the 1972 record.

I mentioned Lou Reed on at least three dates in the past year. That's the biggest compliment I could pay him. None of my dates really knew his music, but they knew who who the guy was.

Song recommendations: