Player Profile: Lou Reed—Stories from the Streets

The artistic output of Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground is a powerful and enduring force in rock ‘n’ roll. Filtering the darker side of life through his electric guitar, Reed introduced the world to a form of poetry, art and great storytelling that hadn’t been embraced since Edgar Allen Poe. And like Poe, his art continues to resonate to this day.

Reed grew up in Long Island, New York. At a young age he found a love for rock ‘n’ roll, rhythm and blues and doo wop, even starting several of his own bands. But Reed’s parents were concerned about his interest in these arts, his dabbling with drugs, and his sexual orientation. In an effort to “cure” him, Reed’s parents subjected him to electroshock therapy. Reed saw this traumatic experience as a betrayal, which did much to shape the artist he would become.

“The only time I saw Lou scared was when we were walking up the street and we bumped into his parents,” remembered Guitarist Robert Quine in the BBC documentary “Lou Reed Remembered."

After college Reed moved to New York City where he met violinist John Cale. Reed, Cale and Reed’s college friend Sterling Morrison would soon recruit drummer Maureen Tucker and The Velvet Underground was born. The Velvets soon caught the attention of iconic ‘60s artist Andy Warhol and a partnership was formed that would take the band into the depths of New York’s seedy underworld and to the heights of rock ‘n’ roll artistic expression. During their time at Warhol’s Silver Factory The Velvet Underground began defining their sound, writing songs like “Sunday Morning” and “Heroin.” When describing the impact of their music, actor and Silver Factory regular Mary Woronov said “Heroin was New York’s answer to LA’s The Doors’ ‘This is the End.’ That’s how powerful it was.” The image of Reed, in black shades, playing these songs on his 1964 Gretsch Country Gentleman is iconic to this day. While they never attained commercial success in their day, albums like The Velvet Underground and Nico, White Light/White Heat and Loaded have stood the test of time and are said to have inspired the formation of as many bands as there were albums sold. But due to internal tensions, Reed quit the band to pursue a solo career in 1970.

Reed’s first solo album, Lou Reed, was a critical and commercial disappointment. But the album was the first look into where Reed would be headed. His second solo affair Transformer found him paired with the production team of rock ‘n’ roll icons David Bowie and Mick Ronson. It was this meeting of the minds that produced the radio hit “Walk On the Wild Side” and propelled Reed to the commercial pinnacle of his career. The Epiphone Riviera, seen with Reed on the album cover, is the guitar most often associated with this part of his career. And he’d play it through a Sunn Coliseum amplifier stack.

Not content with recreating the formula, Reed’s next album Berlin’s larger production and hard-hitting song content about domestic violence, prostitution and drug addiction was shrouded in depression and drug use. This left a deep impression on producer Bob Ezrin.

“Lou was an artist with a capital ‘A.’ His milieu included some of the most cutting edge and eclectic artists of the time and their whole approach to everything, from their art to their living, was foreign to me and somewhat scary.” Ezrin said in an interview with Performing Songwriter.

Berlin wasn’t near the commercial hit of Transformer, but its has become one of Reed’s most classic albums among fans.

Throughout the remainder of the ‘70s and ‘80s Reed continued releasing albums that either united or polarized critics and fans. Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal, Sally Can’t Dance and Coney Island Baby we’re embraced, while Metal Machine Music, a double album that replaced songwriting with guitar feedback and electronic noise, was universally misunderstood. At this point Reed started moving away from playing guitar live. But when he did, he favored a blonde Fender Telecaster.

In 1989 Reed returned to form and reasserted himself as one of America’s great songwriters with the release of his album New York. But the renewed exposure did nothing to quell the artist’s writing about life on the New York streets and his raw sound. Singer/songwriter John Mellencamp spoke of New York, reportedly saying "It sounds like it was produced by an eighth-grader, but I like it." 1990s Songs for Drella was a collaboration between Reed and Velvet Underground partner John Cale. The songs were written to honor their fallen-friend and creative muse Andy Warhol. The album was critically acclaimed and it is often considered one of the most important albums of the 1990s. Reed was often seen with a variety of guitars through the ‘80s. While you’d often find reissue Strats and Teles in his hands, he was also a fan of Steinberger’s headless designs, custom built guitars by Bolin and Schecter, and even a slew of parts-guitars he had assembled from Schecter and Fender parts. His amplification came from either custom Pete Cornish rack systems, or a variety of Soldano combos and stacks.

The 2000s saw Reed as prolific as ever. It found him performing for the Pope at The Great Jubilee Concert in Rome, releasing an album of ambient meditation music, and translating the works of Edgar Allen Poe into music for his album The Raven. But it was Lulu, Reed’s 2011 collaboration with Metallica, that caused his last stir between critics, fans and detractors alike. Metallica fans largely disliked the material, while journalists blasted it as a failed Metallica album. But followers of Reed knew that this kind of unrest is exactly what has kept him on the map for over five decades. David Bowie explained Lulu, saying “this is Lou’s greatest work. This is his masterpiece. Just wait, it will be like Berlin. It will take everyone a while to catch up.” Favoring custom guitars through the ‘90s and 2000s, he’d go between guitars built by Bolin, Schecter, Carl Thompson, Kelly, and other master luthiers. For amps he was a big fan of the Tone King Meteor Series II combos.

Reed also played custom Moog Guitars. This one, the fifth ever made, was owned and played by Reed himself and previously listed on Reverb.
Reed also played custom Moog Guitars. This one, the fifth ever made, was owned and played by Reed himself and previously listed on Reverb.

Soon after the release of Lulu, ailing health forced Reed to undergo a liver transplant. Initially the surgery was a success, but due to ongoing complications the world lost Lewis Allen Reed in October of 2013. Left behind are classic albums, iconic performances, new rock ‘n’ roll genres, a legion of devoted fans and countless artists that have been directly or indirectly affected and inspired by this fearless poet’s work.

"New York City was … the complete universe of his writing,” said Bono U2 frontman and a friend of Reed’s. “He didn't need to stray out of it for material, there was more than enough there for his love and his hate songs."

Reed was one of rock ‘n’ roll’s last great nonconformists and few artists before or since have depicted the underbelly of American urban life as accurately and disturbingly. Love him or hate him, that’s just how he would have wanted it; only indifference would be unacceptable. Born March 2, 1942, in Brooklyn, NYC, the original Rock 'n' Roll Animal died on Oct. 27, 2013.

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