Most of you will have heard of the passing of Lou Reed here is an LSS obituary...
Now Lou Reed has died Keith Richard's is the undisputed holder of the "Rock's Wrinkliest Man" title. But there was more to Reed than his facial creases. Many many years ago he wrote some of rock and roll's most joyous anthems. For a guy with such a curmudgeonly reputation he sure knew how to kick out the jams. Songs such as Sweet Jane, Rock and Roll, Beginning to See the Light, Satellite of Love and White Light/White Heat defined all that was great about rock music before it lost the "roll". Despite the gloomy junkie proto-goth reputation of the Velvet Underground, all dark glasses and pale faces, their music looked back to the best of Little Richard and Chuck Berry capturing the clever/dumb excitement better than any other white band until 70's Rolling Stones. While Reed's more extreme lyrics have gained the most notoriety many of his best tracks were almost straight faced love ballads or had an under current of sly humour that was lost in the controversy. The band pre and post Andy Warhol, pre and post John Cale, could not have been more different. And while the earlier epics such as Heroin and Venus in Furs gain the most plaudits they have dated rather badly, sounding immature and rather camp these days. Also the VU may have influenced many bands but they have also influenced many rather terrible bands and movements. Shoe Gaze and Goth just two genres that worship the VU while completely missing the soul and drive of the originals. Lou and the VU felt like a band that you were obsessed with between 15 - 22, fell out of love with as you discovered a world beyond pale ale and cigarettes behind the bike shed, and then come back to as, with life experience, you saw all the good things about their music you missed the first time round, the warmth, humour and passion of the playing and lyrics and the unexpected joy in Reed's voice.
Sadly you could almost hear this joy drain away after the commercial failure and break up of the VU. His first two solo records contained bright moments and include some of his best, and best recorded, singing. But the stardom he had so craved did not seem to sit well with Reed. With out the anarchic but soulful playing of the VU and the calming down to earth personalities of Mo Tucker and Sterling Morrison, Reed descended into an abyss of hard drugs, big haired floral shirted session player and a series of increasingly depressing albums. His voice became a harsh dry rattle and at many concerts he seemed almost to mock the simple beauty of his earlier music. However something interesting happened. His bitterness and cynicism was perfectly in tune with the rising tide of Punk. The decadence and nihilism of albums such as Sally Can't Dance and the noise rock master work Metal Machine Music found a new generation of fans who took these feelings to the logical conclusion in the rock and roll poetry of Patti Smith and later the sneering anarchy of the Sex Pistols. Suddenly Reed's simple grinding rhythm guitar and monotone vocals became the most influential sounds in rock music, despite the basic ingredients of his style having been set in stone by about 1967.
However Reed was always one to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Just as he defined the era with his Street Hassle album we decided jazz fusion was his music of choice. Jazz mixed with alcoholism and self loathing is always an unhappy mix and for most of the late 70's and early 80's he became an entertaining freak show. There were sparks, for instance his album Growing Up in Public contains some of his greatest lyrics, but the music was a horrible bland mess sounding like Hall and Oates. Then the worst thing that could possibly happen happened. Lou dried out, grew a mullet and started writing songs with titles like "My Red Joystick". God awful yuppie rock with god awful yuppie videos. At least he had the decency to look completely miserable while he was prancing about in rolled up sleeve Armani suits. Even working with punk guitar genius Robert Quine failed to lead to much satisfactory music and all seemed lost.
But like a cockroach after the apocalypse the tide turned and the eternal survivor found himself back in fashion again as yet again musical trends embraced his dark outlook on life. Grunge and Industrial were but two genres that sprang up from seeds planted by earlier Reed epics such as the grinding 17 minute Sister Ray and the splattering guitar noise of Metal Machine Music. He slowly got back on track with preposterous but exciting albums like Ecstasy and The Raven. Even the horrible collaboration with Metallica had some edge to it. At least he had lost the Armani although a modified mullet stayed as his default hair cut for the rest of his life.
All in all an epic life and I think you can do worse for an epitaph than read rock critic Lester Bangs' amusingly confrontational interview with Reed here:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/nov/08/lou-reed-lester-bangs-interview
and his hilarious review of Metal Machine Music here:
http://www.rocknroll.net/loureed/articles/mmmbangs.html
For a dip into what made Lou Reed great download these albums:
Velvet Underground and Nico (the Banana Album), Velvet Underground - Loaded, Transformer, Berlin, Street Hassle, Metal Machine Music, Ecstasy....Farewell Lou!
maningrey
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