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Lou Reed
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Lou Reed was an American musician, songwriter and poet. He was born in Brooklyn in 1942 and grew up in Freeport, on Long Island. He learned to play guitar from the radio and played in garage bands as a teenager. At Syracuse University he studied English with the poet Delmore Schwartz, who taught him that a great deal can be achieved with very simple language. There he also made radio programmes with doo-wop, rhythm and blues and free jazz. In 1964 he went to work in New York writing songs for Pickwick Records.
Music and breakthrough
Through a makeshift band he met John Cale, who played viola in La Monte Young's ensemble. Together with Sterling Morrison and later the drummer Moe Tucker, they formed The Velvet Underground in 1965. Andy Warhol became their manager and brought in the German singer Nico. The debut The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) sold poorly, but later grew into one of the most influential rock records. Reed sang about drugs, the street and the people around Warhol's Factory, in a flat, almost speaking voice. In 1970 he left. His second solo album Transformer (1972), produced by David Bowie, contained his biggest hit, Walk on the Wild Side. Later came Berlin (1973), New York (1989) and, with Cale, the tribute to Warhol, Songs for Drella (1990).
Influence
Reed wanted to bring the sensitivity of a novel to rock music. His lyrics were poetic and abrasive, his guitar playing often experimental and noisy. The Velvet Underground had little success in its own time, but is seen as the foundation of punk, new wave and alternative rock. Reed died in 2013.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1972Lou Reed
- 1972Transformer
- 1973Berlin
- 1974Sally Can’t Dance
- 1975Coney Island Baby
- 1975Metal Machine Music
- 1976Rock and Roll Heart
- 1978Street Hassle
- 1979The Bells
- 1980Growing Up in Public
- 1982The Blue Mask
- 1983Legendary Hearts
- 1984New Sensations
- 1986Mistrial
- 1989New York
- 1990Songs for Drella
- 1992Magic and Loss
- 1996Set the Twilight Reeling
- 2000Ecstasy
- 2003The Raven
- 2007Hudson River Wind Meditations
- 2011Lulu
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 4: When Rock Was Still PopNL Reader
- Magazine: De regisseur als djNL Magazine
Mentioned in other articles
- Art rock Genre
The Velvet Underground of Lou Reed and John Cale worked in New York with the artist Andy Warhol, who designed the sleeve with the banana.