RIP Lou Reed

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:31 pm

In Lou We Trust

JHScoot · Post by **JHScoot** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 10:41 pm

only two men could make a Honda Elite look cool. of those men one is me, of course. the other was....

at least he won't be recording with Metallica anymore

RIP

Post by **jrsjr** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 1:49 am

Life's good, but not fair at all...

Post by **ericalm** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 5:59 am

As I posted elsewhere: I don't know where the phrase "kill your idols" originated, but truth is, if you live long enough, they die. It's sometimes hard to explain why or how these people we have often never met or seen become significant to us. Not with Lou Reed. I know exactly why and how.

Christophers · Post by **Christophers** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 7:29 am

ericalm wrote:As I posted elsewhere: I don't know where the phrase "kill your idols" originated, but truth is, if you live long enough, they die. It's sometimes hard to explain why or how these people we have often never met or seen become significant to us. Not with Lou Reed. I know exactly why and how.

I'm sorry. I have no idea who Lou Reed was.
But that pic of him and the Honda Elite is pretty bad-ass!

agrogod · Post by **agrogod** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 8:48 am

I'll just stand quietly by as my childhood dies around me.....

TVB · Post by **TVB** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 11:16 am

Christophers wrote:I'm sorry. I have no idea who Lou Reed was.

He wrote and recorded "Walk on the Wild Side" (among other things). But whether you're familiar with his work or not, you're probably familiar with the work of some of his fans:

"I was talking to Lou Reed the other day and he said that the first Velvet Underground* record sold 30,000 copies in the first five years. The sales have picked up in the past few years, but I mean, that record was such an important record for so many people. I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band!" – record producer Brian Eno

*the band Reed formed in the 60s

JHScoot · Post by **JHScoot** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 12:53 pm

y'all remember when Lou entered the mainstream for around five minutes? i liked it

JHScoot · Post by **JHScoot** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 12:55 pm

Christophers wrote:
ericalm wrote:As I posted elsewhere: I don't know where the phrase "kill your idols" originated, but truth is, if you live long enough, they die. It's sometimes hard to explain why or how these people we have often never met or seen become significant to us. Not with Lou Reed. I know exactly why and how.
I'm sorry. I have no idea who Lou Reed was.
But that pic of him and the Honda Elite is pretty bad-ass!

its ok. i once dated a young woman who didn't know who bob dylan was

Post by **ericalm** » Fri Nov 01, 2013 2:22 am

JHScoot wrote:
Christophers wrote:
ericalm wrote:As I posted elsewhere: I don't know where the phrase "kill your idols" originated, but truth is, if you live long enough, they die. It's sometimes hard to explain why or how these people we have often never met or seen become significant to us. Not with Lou Reed. I know exactly why and how.
I'm sorry. I have no idea who Lou Reed was.
But that pic of him and the Honda Elite is pretty bad-ass!
its ok. i once dated a young woman who didn't know who bob dylan was

That's a dealbreaker!

We had a Halloween decoration contest at work and my floor did "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." A bunch of the visitors form other floors had either never seen it or never heard of it.

As for Lou Reed, well… His musical influence spread far and wide, from glam rock to metal to synth pop and Americana. He and the Velvets helped give rise to punk, new wave, art rock, glam rock and much more. If you Google "musician reactions to lou reed" you'll find an impressively diverse group mourning him and citing his influence.

Post by **illnoise** » Fri Nov 01, 2013 12:25 pm

The Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Grace Jones, and Devo Honda Elite ads came out when I was about 14, which was legal moped age in Ohio, so I was pretty torqued up to get on two wheels around then.

I didn't know about the Velvets back then but I watched a lot of MTV and I knew Lou and Grace were the pinnacle of cool, (Walk on the Wild Side was actually on the radio once in a while, unlike any other Lou song) and I was a huge Adam Ant and Devo fan. So that ad probably wasn't only why I got into scooters but (along with an unhealthy Andy Warhol obsession a couple years later) also why I got into the VU. And just about every other band I like is clearly indebted to the VU (especially David Bowie, Eno, REM, Yo La Tengo, The Feelies, Modern Lovers, but also every punk, glam or postpunk band).

I actually tracked down the director of the Honda Lou Reed spot a few years ago and talked to him a little bit but never got around to doing a full interview. I'd love to hear his story. There's (IIRC) a 60-second TV spot w/Walk on the Wild Side, and Lou's only in it for a couple seconds, I bet he got a good chunk of money for not much work, and he probably wasn't a joy to work with, ha. But he sure made me want a scooter.

RoadRambler · Post by **RoadRambler** » Fri Nov 01, 2013 1:16 pm

ericalm wrote:...

We had a Halloween decoration contest at work and my floor did "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." A bunch of the visitors form other floors had either never seen it or never heard of it.

Well, I have only a passing familiarity with Lou Reed but of course know Dylan, but the most shocking one of all is a bunch of people not having seen Great Pumpkin. WTF? I mean, not only is it a classic, with the best Snoopy as WWI Flying Ace scenes ever, but also they still show it every year on primetime.

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Fri Nov 01, 2013 4:55 pm

illnoise wrote:Modern Lovers

I'm a big Jonathan Richman fan, so when I saw this two things came to mind.

First, Velvet Underground influenced the Modern Lovers? I don't think so.
Second, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_SYDA-jVPg

I guess they did!

wheelbender6 · Post by **wheelbender6** » Sat Nov 02, 2013 12:26 am

My first memory of Lou Reed was his single, "Amos Moses"; about an alligator wrestling Cajun. That was when rock music was only on AM radio and Gilligan's Island was broadcast in black and white.

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Sat Nov 02, 2013 3:41 am

wheelbender6 wrote:My first memory of Lou Reed was his single, "Amos Moses"; about an alligator wrestling Cajun. That was when rock music was only on AM radio and Gilligan's Island was broadcast in black and white.

TVB · Post by **TVB** » Sat Nov 02, 2013 9:29 pm

wheelbender6 wrote:My first memory of Lou Reed was his single, "Amos Moses"; about an alligator wrestling Cajun. That was when rock music was only on AM radio and Gilligan's Island was broadcast in black and white.

I've been a fan of Lou Reed since he played Jimmy Stewart's romantic interest in It's a Wonderful Life.

Post by **illnoise** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 12:48 am

Syd wrote:
illnoise wrote:Modern Lovers
I'm a big Jonathan Richman fan, so when I saw this two things came to mind.

First, Velvet Underground influenced the Modern Lovers? I don't think so.
Second, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_SYDA-jVPg

I guess they did!

Did you mean this link?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTT-wj69ObE

But yeah, Jonathan was a VU teenage superfan who'd travel around the east coast to see all their shows, (and for a while after the Warhol thing burnt out, they had a hard time booking shows in NYC much and played in Boston a lot). You can see the similarities in the storytelling, the monotone, the Bo Diddley beat, the striped t-shirts… even if Jonathan is a bit more upbeat, ha.

Bb.

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 1:47 pm

ericalm wrote: As for Lou Reed, well… His musical influence spread far and wide, from glam rock to metal to synth pop and Americana. He and the Velvets helped give rise to punk, new wave, art rock, glam rock and much more. If you Google "musician reactions to lou reed" you'll find an impressively diverse group mourning him and citing his influence.

I agree with Lou's influence on the music scene. On the other hand I had no idea that this was what was going on when I would go to his shows. Lou just always put on a kick ass rock and roll show!