Lou Reed: A Reflection

As all rock and roll aficionados have probably heard, Lou Reed died yesterday following complications of the liver transplant he underwent in May.  I am not a massive fan of Reed's solo work or his Velvet Underground material, but I appreciate his influence over future generations of folk and rock musicians looking to ignore genre categorizations and blur the lines between rock and jazz.  Lou Reed was in many ways like a latter day Picasso.  He was gifted with the ability to craft complex melodies and lyrics, but he disregarded popular music masquerading as realism in favor of abstract chord structures and sparse lyrics that were more like brush strokes than completed paintings.  Reed once said, "One chord is fine.  Two chords is pushing it.  Three chords and you're into jazz."

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Reed played and wrote without fearing complete commercial failure.  His respective debuts with the Velvet Underground and as a solo artist failed to sell, but later gained massive cult recognition.  Mentor Andy Warhol persuaded Reed and company to record with sultry-voiced German actress and cultural icon Nico for the Velvet Underground's debut album, but because she was never truly accepted as a member of the band, the album was entitled The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967).  The original front cover even featured a peel-off banana sticker.  The album was a melancholy and haunting dive into New York's alternative subculture of the late '60s.

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Three albums later, the band had grown much more radio-friendly with 1970's Loaded, which contained both "Sweet Jane" and "Rock and Roll."  Sweet Jane has one of the most endearing chord progressions in rock and roll (technically, the song includes FOUR chords) and has been covered more times than anyone can keep track of.  The lyrics are resoundingly life-affirming in the way they paint the human condition in vivid dichotomies.  For example, even though "life is just to die," "everyone who ever had a heart/they wouldn't turn around and break it/and anyone who ever played a part/oh wouldn't turn around and hate it."  Here are some of my favorite covers (although Reed's acerbic delivery reigns supreme):

Lone Justice (1986)

Mott the Hoople (1972)

Cowboy Junkies (1988)

The Kooks (2007, medley with "Beast of Burden")

Staying true to his pioneering nature, Reed quit the band a few months before the release of Loaded to pursue solo work.  His self titled solo debut flopped, so he turned to glam king David Bowie to produce his second, Transformer.  The album broke the U.S. top 30 on the strength of "Walk on the Wild Side," and "Perfect Day" (which was actually about a less than perfect day).

He went on to achieve his dream of writing "the great American novel in the form of a record album," a few times, reflecting the fleeting reality of his lifestyle in New York.  Reed was definitely a quotable man and a true artist at heart.  "How can anybody learn anything from an artwork when the piece of art only reflects the vanity of the artist and not reality?" wondered Reed.  Lou Reed was successful in capturing his reality, but only because he taught himself how to refuse to compromise at the most appropriate times.