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Five bands Lou Reed hated with a passion
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Five bands Lou Reed hated with a passion

It’s not a secret Lou Reed He was a dogged dissident and enjoyed few things more than being in the clutches of his peers. The singer-songwriter and all-around cultural giant may have been regarded by his peers as one of the foremost pop and rock auteurs of his time, producing wonderfully enigmatic music that would likely outlive the rest of us, but he was perhaps just as famous for his music. unbearably caustic intelligence.

This does not mean that he is a barbarian. Descriptions of Reed’s personality varied greatly depending on the person asked. The pattern was not a mystery; If Reed liked someone, he’d sing their praises to anyone within earshot and would probably get along with them, but if he doesn’t like you or your art, you better hope he doesn’t get asked about you in an interview. . Reed rarely backed down from a straight question, and his answers often came back with similar intensity and a scythe-arrow-like direction.

To illustrate how delightful Reed’s character references could be if you were in his good books, I’ll bring to your mind a magazine interview Reed undertook in the 1970s. From his artistic mentor of the previous decadeAndy Warhol kept it short and sweet: “I really love him.”

“I hope one day he’ll be known as John (Cale) Beethoven or something from his time,” Reed said of his former Velvet Underground partner. He continued with approving confidence, adding: “He knows so much about music, he’s such a great musician. “He’s totally crazy, but that’s because he’s Welsh.”

Elsewhere, he heaped praise on The Velvet Underground’s drummer Maureen (Moe) Tucker, heaping praise on the oft-overlooked percussionist. “She’s beautiful,” he said. “He has to be one of the most wonderful people I have ever met in my life. “He’s incredibly wonderful, but I can never believe it, you know, when I run into Moe when I’m walking around the studio, I just can’t believe it.”

These are words everyone will have the chance to receive, and they certainly paint Reed in a nice light. However, Reed, a moody New York alley cat, also had a spiteful side, intensified by his distaste for giving interviews. Below, we reveal some of the bands Reed hated the most during his time.

Before we continue, it’s important to note that Reed’s words and perspectives can turn into a sixpence, and are driven by mood rather than any objective reasoning. After all, the interview wasn’t about facts; For Reed, this was a chore better played as a game.

Lou Reed’s five most hated bands:

Frank Zappa

Reed was seen projecting visible anger towards the avant-garde composer Frank Zappa in the nature of a magazine that was redistributed shortly before the singer’s glory. “He’s probably the most untalented person I’ve ever heard of in my life,” he said. Even for Reed, this claim was on the more fiery side of his comments.

Reed rarely slowed down when complaining about the unique musician: “He’s a bit of a pretentious academic and can’t make his way out of anything,” he added. “He can’t rock ‘n’ roll because he’s a loser. That’s why he dresses funny. “He’s not happy with himself, and I think he’s right.”

At this point, it’s fair to say Reed isn’t a fan. However, it turned out that there was animosity between them. Velvet Underground and its avant-garde rivals from the ’60s seem to have carried over into the ’70s. Fortunately, the anger subsided in the 1990s. In 1995, Reed expressed convincing admiration for Zappa by posthumously inducting him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Frank Zappa - Musician

American musician and composer Frank Zappa. (Credit: Far Out/Alamy)

doors

Where hippies sang songs of peace and love on America’s West Coast in the late 1960s, Reed and The Velvet Underground were broadcasting the dark reality of rainy New York City warts. Naturally, Reed did not take kindly to his rivals from across the prairie. “We had huge objections to the whole San Francisco scene. “It’s just boring, a lie, and incompetent,” Reed said in a feature article published in the magazine in the 1970s. “They can’t play and they definitely can’t write.”

In an interview conducted in 1987 PBSReed led this procession in the following direction: doors When asked his opinion of his rock ‘n’ roll peers in the 1960s. He said that “they are painfully stupid and pretentious, and when they try to be ‘arty’ it’s worse than stupid rock and roll.”

He later claimed: “By ‘stupid’ I mean The Doors.”

Often, comments about other groups may seem misguided or misquoted; but it’s hard to imagine this barb being anything other than the literal meaning of Reed’s scything tongue.

The Doors performing at the Whiskey a Go Go - 1966

The Doors performing at the Whiskey a Go Go in 1966. (Credit: Whiskey a Go Go)

the Beatles

In an interview in 1987 PBSReed was asked his opinion on this matter the Beatles After spending a few minutes eliminating their 1960s rivals. “No, no, I never liked the Beatles,” he explained. “I thought they were garbage.”

But it seems Reed’s opinion of the Fab Four changed throughout his life, possibly with the ebb and flow of his capricious and contradictory mindset. Perhaps by the 1980s Reed had grown tired of the eclipsing durability of the Beatles’ legacy, but in the 1970s he was quoted as saying: “They make up the songs, bing, bing, bing. They must be the most incredible songwriters ever; they are just incredibly talented. “I don’t think people realize how sad it was that the Beatles broke up.”

His level of praise The Beatles here are very positive It’s almost out of character for Reed. This tickled my cynical radar a bit, but when it comes to Mr. Reed, all bets are off.

Beatles - White Album - London - 1968 - 2023

John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. (Credit: Far Out/The Beatles/Apple Corps LTD)

WHO

Lou Reed demonstrated his distaste for much of the 1960s rock rivalry in the following decades. Nobody was as good as The Velvet Underground in those days, and he wanted everyone to be aware of that.

WHO They were one of the bands most subject to Reed’s wrath, especially their guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend. The six-string maestro rarely obeyed his musical overlords and was perhaps as vocal as Reed when talking about other bands. But he probably didn’t see this blow coming.

In his 1970s magazine feature, Reed took aim at The Who’s highly regarded 1969 concept album. Tommy. “Tommy “God, how people get sucked into this,” Reed said. “He’s so untalented and extremely untalented as a songwriter (Townshend) and, you know, philosophically boring to say the least… Like the album ‘The Searcher’ (which stands for ‘The Seeker’); ‘I ask Timothy Leary…’ I wouldn’t ask Timothy Leary what time of day it is, for crying out loud.”

Pete Townshend - The Who - 1970s - Guitarist

Pete Townshend from The Who. (Credit: Far Out / Heinrich Klaffs / Harry Chase, Los Angeles Times / Center of the Universe)

Roxy Music

After leaving The Velvet Underground in August 1970, Reed began spending more time in the United Kingdom; here he would record his self-titled debut solo album and its more successful follow-up, produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson. Transformer. This period saw Reed moving towards a more flamboyant sound – this was the fashion at the time. This is how his new style fits so closely with contemporary acting. Roxy MusicHigh praise can be expected from Reed.

“I don’t like them,” Reed said in a mid-’70s magazine article. Perhaps it was because the band had slotted so neatly alongside Reed’s creative counterpart David Bowie, but the singer didn’t get along with Bryan Ferry’s band.

“I saw them at the Bowie concert and we were all there expecting to be impressed,” he continued. “They bored me and I went out halfway through to get a drink. I’ve heard other things that should be of interest to me. But they don’t know what they’re talking about. I’ve been doing this for a long time and all of a sudden people are starting to talk about it. They say: ‘Hey, look, we’re civilized, man, and we want to know it.'”

Roxy Music - 1970s - Bryan Ferry - Brian Eno

Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno and Roxy Music in the 1970s. (Credit: Far Out/Alamy)

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