‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’ are cancelled

The Brooklyn-born, art-rocker, iconoclast and famous junkie has always fascinated both fans and detractors with his music and persona. Reed started playing the guitar in high school. After attending Syracuse University, he moved to New York City. There he worked as a songwriter, before meeting Welsh-born musician John Cale, and forming The Velvet Underground along with guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker. The name was taken from Michael Leigh’s pulp fiction about secret sexual subcultures of the early 60s, which seemed fitting as Reed had already written a song inspired by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s “Venus in Furs.” Andy Warhol became their manager and producer, and they became the house band at the Factory – his studio. Warhol encouraged them to record the debut album with the German chanteuse Nico.    When “The Velvet Underground & Nico” was released, it sold just 30,000 copies in the first five years. Later, Brian Eno observed that everybody who did buy the record started their own band. Vaclav Havel, Chechoslovakian playwright and politician, was inspired by the band’s music; in fact, the Velvet Revolution’s name could be traced all the way back to the Velvet Underground.   Over the years, the band attained cult status. Their sound was unique, combining rock and avant-garde with Reed’s famous deadpan voice. The distinctive, dark lyrics of his songs were often explicit – about sex, drugs, S&M, etc. Until then, bands didn’t dare refer to sex or drugs except in oblique ways.    Glam, punk and alternative rock would be unthinkable without Reed. His influence can be seen on just about every rock star with an air of world-weary decadence. He was, however, continuously reinventing himself in unpredictable ways, and his music was just as unpredictable.    Reed released 20 solo albums, covering ambient meditation music, spoken word, experimental rock and a collaboration with Metallica. He once said in an interview: “My interest … has been in one really simple idea: take rock and roll, the pop format, and make it for adults. With subject matter written for adults, so adults like myself could listen to it.”   Reed’s debut solo album was recorded with members of the progressive-rock band Yes, and the next album “Transformer,” produced by David Bowie, gave him his only number one, “Walk On the Wild Side,” despite allusions to oral sex. Reed embraced the glam rock era, with bleach-blond hair, black nail polish and a decadent lifestyle.   Reed’s ambiguous sexual persona and excessive drug use throughout the 70s is the stuff of legend. He was bisexual, and described how his parents decided to give him electric shocks to “cure” him. He went out with a transsexual Mexican hairdresser called Rachel briefly. Later, he shared a flat in Berlin with Bowie and Iggy Pop, where they indulged their habits among other things.    He was “notoriously irascible,” especially towards journalists during interviews, though to get a real feel for the man, an interview with Mick Brown – Lou Reed: Iron Glove, Velvet fist – from 2007, republished by the Telegraph on October 27, is one of the best reads.    A provocateur, he liked to shock. In an interview with music journalist Lester Bangs, he said he was shooting up speed, that his doctor gave him shots of meth mixed with vitamins, and then said they were just vitamin C injections. In another interview, he told Bangs: “In the 20th century, in a technological age, living in the city, there are certain drugs you have to take just to keep yourself normal … they don’t get you high even, they just get you normal.”   By the 80s, Reed had mellowed, giving up drugs for drinks, and eventually in the last decade he had made peace with his demons.   In the end, it was always about the music.   Cale, in his tribute to his friend, said: “We have the best of our fury laid out on vinyl, for the world to catch a glimpse.”   In one of his last interviews with the Guardian, Reed said: “Music should come crashing out of your speakers and grab you, and the lyrics should challenge whatever preconceived notions that listener has.”   The songs never seem to date, and when you listen to a Velvet Underground song, you can’t tell when they were recorded, even though they are from the late 60s. It was the beauty of Lou Reed’s music and lyrics that helped him rise above the madness and endeared him to fans of all ages from eclectic backgrounds.