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Overview
Lou Reed has done as much to shape the course of rock and roll as any of the industry greats. From his first doo wop record, "So Blue," released in his teens, to garage rock and psychedelic rock with the Velvet Underground, through his twenty-year solo career in glitter, punk, disco, alternative, and sober rock, he was a major innovator and trendsetter. The Velvet Underground is now regarded as second only to the Beatles as the most influential group of the 1960s. When he launched his solo career in 1972, he appeared along with David Bowie and Marc Bolan in the vanguard of glitter rock. Soon after, he flung himself into the pit of punk with the ultimate album of the genre, "Metal Machine Music." He went on to paint a portrait of one man's life in the underbelly of New York City through the 1970s, 80s, and 90s with fifteen more solo albums. Lou Reed emerges from Victor Bockris's internationally acclaimed biography as a brilliant lyrical innovator. It is as a writer that Reed has been able to traverse the various terrains of his career decade by decade. And it is from his position as a writer that he stands alongside his peers, Bob Dylan and Neil Young.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Bockris, biographer of William S. Burroughs and Andy Warhol, presents a detailed portrait of former Velvet Underground frontman Reed. Born in 1942, the only son and eldest child of a Jewish middle-class family from Long Island, Reed still harbors resentment toward his parents for having raised him in a suburban lifestyle, according to Bockris. An ``outsider'' fueled by a desire to belong and to control, the singer developed, then destroyed, relationships with his mentor Warhol, former bandmate John Cale and glam-rock superstar David Bowie. A bisexual and former speed addict, Reed is accredited to be the godfather of punk. Though the author relies on too many clichd phrases, he provides insight into the private life that led Reed to create many of rock's memorable songs, including ``Heroin'' and ``Walk on the Wild Side.'' As a bonus, Bockris concludes with a 1979 episode in New York City when he introduced Reed to Burroughs, an amusing anecdote in which the writer assured the rocker that ``it is not very often that a writer will have to actually make it with his publisher in order to get published.'' (Aug.)Library Journal
A journalist at Andy Warhol's Interview from 1977 to 1981, Bockris (Keith Richards, S. & S., 1993) here presents the life and transformation of rock pioneer and poet Lou Reed. He chronicles Reed's life from adolescence in Freeport, New York, to his involvement with Warhol and the Velvet Underground. Also covered are his glam and punk rock phases, his reunion with the Velvet Underground in 1993, and his recent association with Laurie Anderson. The author does a good job of providing balance in presenting Reed's career through a multitude of interviews with Reed's cohorts as well as Reed himself. This first full biography of the influential performer and songwriter is an important addition to the genre. It is thereby recommended for large public libraries and academic music collections.Ronald S. Russ, Brooklyn P.L.Book Details
Published
April 1, 1997
Publisher
New York : Da Capo Press, 1997.
Pages
384
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780306807527