The tributes are pouring in all over the media but to me, Lou was in the same company as Bruce Springsteen…great writer, boring performer. I’ll take the Cowboy Junkies’ version of “Sweet Jane,” Duran Duran’s “Perfect Day,” and Eurythmics’ “Satellite of Love.” Plus his asshole reputation didn’t endear him to me, The Onion made fun of this fact. He even stormed out of an interview with Terri Gross on Fresh Air, Terri has off days yet Lou couldn’t be bothered by manners.
I know you shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, just the poseurs rambling on are what make my irked. In my life, Lou Reed was influential to the artists I like. I only discovered where these things came from much later through interviews and seeing the underrated movie Velvet Goldmine. During my teenage/university years, he had a couple attempted comebacks: New Sensations and New York. They certainly weren’t Transformer. I remember a DJ at WQFM (the KLBJ of Milwaukee) who thought I was going to be stoked over “Dirty Boulevard” being added to the rotation. He was shocked that I had the opposite opinion. Even to this day, Lou only had the one good album in him. Afterwards he just coasted on his Velvet Underground cred. Iggy Pop had a more successful, relevant career than this grumpy New Yorker.
However, Lou had a good run and he is a forefather to several genres alongside Iggy, Bowie, Big Star and Roxy Music. If you can find it, check out the show Classic Albums presents Transformer. It was produced around the late Nineties so Bowie was winding down his Earthling look, Reed is civil and a key session player has the best lines.