for my tastes, Lou Reed (1942-2013) was the 2nd best American songwriter/rocker, after Bob Dylan.

as it stands, we have a pretty good goldvein of lou reed songs to last us.

the world lost a quirky, charming, massive personality who was, in rock & roll, a blatant & irrepressible singer, Lou Reed was formative in shaping rock & roll for future generations – especially musicians – from his original 60s & 70s hippie & loose-rock shipmates to the current generation of indieans – more so now than back then, even.

when i was younger, there was about a 1/3 dice throw you could find me listening to these & songs like them, on headphones, on a minidisc recorder biking or walking around Faribault.

Thanks for teaching all of us to Walk on The Wild Side – just like you did –

Walk On The Wildside:

i couldn’t pick just one Velvet’ favorite – so i picked 3 songs. i think it’s impossible to be unhappy listening to Rock & Roll – a favorite song of My Dad’s & personally, this is maybe tied for my favorite rock song:

what a better 17-year-old’s anthem than Sweet Jane for my generation – i couldn’t find a better:

i still remember trying to woo a girl singing that song, ‘standing on the corner / (suitcase in my hand)‘.

— this was not feel-good music; it was feel-best.

no wonder Andy Warhol produced their first album & & made a nearly endless amount of arthouse videos at Warhol’s Factory.

bring on the documentaries.

– joe