Lou Reed

See also: The Velvet Underground

Lou Reed is certainly responsible for some of rock's most memorable music. But in thirty years as a solo artist, he truly hasn't been able to create a body of work worthy of that which he masterminded in six years as frontman of the Velvet Underground.

In that capacity, Reed cranked out the likes of "Heroin," "I'm Waiting For The Man," "Venus In Furs," "Sister Ray," "I'm Set Free," "What Goes On," "Rock N' Roll," "Sweet Jane," "New Age," the list goes on and on. Of course, such a canon was going to prove hard to live up to after the group disbanded.

So sweet Lou has crafted a unique musical career, from the hit singalong single "Walk On The Wild Side" to the monochrome sizzle of "Metal Machine Music" to the GOOD ROCK ALBUMS "The Blue Mask" and "New York" to the sloppy pap of "Sally Can't Dance" to the sickly heroin addict in makeup of the early '70s to the Poe-quoting explorer of darkness on "The Raven" to the average guy in, well, "Average Guy."

He's been a lot of things to a lot of people, and rock historians will find it hard to sum up Lou's career once he's gone. Since he's still here, I'll save myself the trouble and just say he's a great songwriter without whom rock as we know it would be a far different genre.

Album reviews

Ecstasy
Reprise (2000)
Hey, it's not great, but at least he's not making a mockery of himself like Iggy Pop does regularly.