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Lou Reed dead

Very sad. His work made all alternative rock that followed possible.
 
My seconded day clean of opiates too, damnit I need to use naoooow
 
Ah very sad indeed. Although from what ive heard he was kinda an asshole. Then again what junkie hasnt done the cheesy shooting up with "heroin" playing in the background thing? Lol rest in peace lou.
 
While a teenager, Reed was given electroshock treatments in hopes they would “cure” his bisexuality.
Holy shit, that is fucked.

The article isn't really about drugs, but since it mentions drugs, and since LR was such a huge figure in the drug world, I guess we can let it continue to exist here :)
 
^ Shit, is that a joke, yo? Lou Reed was the man with his music, and while other members of the Velvet Underground were definite contributors, I'm pretty sure Reed was the cornerstone of their compositional work, if I'm not mistaken...either way, his 'Transformer' solo album was godly.

Also, wanted to say that, yeah, you got 'Heroin', which is one of my favorite songs by him, but you can't forget about 'Sweet Jane' off of Velvet Underground's 'Loaded' album - has to be one of my favorite songs about weed to this day.
 
omnopresenthuman -> *cough* John Cale *cough*
Lou isn't bad, but he's not the brains behind the best Velvet albums (the first two). Cale developed the experimental side of the Velvets, and without that the band would never have had such a cult status, and it would definitely not have been as influencial as it turned out to be. Lou is a good pop composer, but without John Cale there was nothing revolutionary about him. Cale's work with the Velvets, his production of the Stooges and Patti Smith, makes him the real genious, at least for me. Lou Reed however, was the "star", the image of the band, more than anything. So of course he's the one who got most of the credit.
 
Dat bass intro.

Can't forget about "she's my best friend" and "Stephanie says". Cale and Lou are both great on their own but man when they got together, the best of both really show.
 
omnopresenthuman -> *cough* John Cale *cough*
Lou isn't bad, but he's not the brains behind the best Velvet albums (the first two). Cale developed the experimental side of the Velvets, and without that the band would never have had such a cult status, and it would definitely not have been as influencial as it turned out to be. Lou is a good pop composer, but without John Cale there was nothing revolutionary about him. Cale's work with the Velvets, his production of the Stooges and Patti Smith, makes him the real genious, at least for me. Lou Reed however, was the "star", the image of the band, more than anything. So of course he's the one who got most of the credit.

Yeah...my bad. I didn't want to Wikipedia it before I posted. I personally think you can still make the argument go either way between Cale and Reed relative to their work in the Velvet Underground and who was more foundational, but that's just me. I mean, it's at least a debate between Reed and Cale...

Mainly drumming up support for Reed because of his death, but I know that's not how things work in history...

But 'Transformer' taken alone is still awesome though...

And actually, I'll admit, with the production side of things, Cale all the way, baby - but Reed did add that 'other' component, come on man. I just can't envision the Velvet U. without Reed being their main front-man, singing on key songs, stuff like that. For me the thing is just that it's a tough line to discredit Reed's work...not saying that you are, but whatever, the dude's dead, I'm just paying my respect to the man.

Edit: And for what it's worth, I just admire that with a lot of great bands it's hard to tell who the key component is to their musical or popular success...the Beatles being the more than obvious example...but you also got the Stones, the Who (Keith Moon instead of Pete anyone??), Led Zeppelin (all legends, in my opinion...except sometimes Plant), etc.
 
Of course Lou shouldn't be discredited for the Velvets. As I said I think he's a good pop composer, and he is charismatic, and of course it's something you need in a band. I should rephrase: I don't think the Velvets would have been as important a band if Cale wasn't there for the "experimental" dimension of the music. BUT if it had been nothing but experimental music, the Velvets would have remained this weird obscure band no one talks about. So we have to Lou to thank for that: more mainstream pop compositions, and him being a good frontman.
 
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