Lou Reed is unimpressed by applause, and lives a life detached from custom. His stare is cold and his romanticism is brutal. His songs are half-sung melodies of menace. He might drop dead any second, and is therefore the real thing.
Morrissey: Autobiography.
The Smiths’ singer’s description of the late great Lou Reed, who died this weekend at 71, is eerie. I’m not the biggest Velvet Underground or Lou Reed fan, but according to most music histories I’ve read, precursor to pretty much everything interesting coming out of New York in the last 3rd of the 20th century. (Excluding rap. Maybe.) The stuff I know from Velvet Underground and Lou Reed is amazing. A friend once gave a compelling speech on why “Heroin” is the best song ever written about drugs, in the dead of night in a back alley dive bar in my college town. Oddly enough one of my favorite memories.
I’m also not the biggest Smiths fan, but I need to read Morrissey’s Autobiography, soon. Must be pretty good.
Thanks to Mathias for sharing the quote on facebook.
Thoughts?