Lou Reed RIP

xpost Yeah, that was a fluke purchase for me. I'd heard Big Star touted as this power-pop legend and went looking for their records. The only thing I could find in print at my local store was a copy of Sister Lovers, in one of its forms (don't remember the label). It was not at all what I was expecting, but I totally fell in love with it. I didn't hear #1 Record and Radio City until several years later, when they came out on a combined CD.

Was Lou Reed the first out rock star?

I bought Loaded new in 1985; wasn't particularly hard to find, and I don't know if it ever went out of print between 1970-1985.

First memories of Lou Reed was "I Love You, Suzanne" and him holding the Atari joystick.

That Honda commercial was on all the time and even today when I see a photo of him -- even that door one upthread -- I hear his voice in my head say, "Don't settle for walkin'."

There was this brief period where I was discovering that all these 80s rock stars were also big in the 70s. Oh wow, Robert Plant used to have really long hair. Freddie Mercury's in a leotard!

And somewhere along the line, I saw the cover of The Velvet Underground and thought, Whoa, so that's what Lou Reed's eyes look like.

I had a hell of a time finding Loaded in 1989. Ended up ordering it on CD and receiving vinyl instead.

I found 1969 Live and The VU & Nico (still sealed) at Vinyl Solution in Tuscaloosa in 1982, and Loaded not long after that. 2nd & 3rd albums didn't happen until the 1986 reissues, but some songs from those two were available on the 1980 comp Rock and Roll Diary 1967-1980.

how available were the RCA solo albums in the mid eighties?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm8n0vhVJcg this is how i'll remember him

Alfred - used LPs were cheap and plentiful back then, but I never saw the 1st one for some reason.

I'd guess the RCA albums were generally in print? You'd have to order them, of course, in most stores. A store like Tower might have kept certain titles in stock.

Only RCA title I saw new in the 80s was Transformer. The other RCA titles were used (and insanely expensive, particularly at a notorious suburban Chicago record store), except for Rock 'n' Roll Animal, but that had gotten the RCA "Best Buy" half-assed pseudo-reissue treatment.

Yup. Some of us bought a few of those RCAs on eight-track, a format we might have otherwise shunned.

Yeah, I remember seeing Transformer a lot, that's pretty much it for that era.

The Lou Reed album I remember seeing most at record stores was Mistrial, because by 1987 it was in every remainder bin everywhere.

Now that I think about it, that definitely sounds right. When I bought a used copy of the first album, I remember thinking, "You never see this."

I'm thinking he got higher promo budgets b/w New Sensations and Magic and Loss.

when he did the amex magazine ad my local record store taped it to the plastic divider in the vinyl bins and wrote SELLOUT on it in sharpie

that was raven records in knoxville, tennessee, fact fans

https://twitter.com/GaizkaMendieta6/status/394837463531012096/photo/1

Alfred - used LPs were cheap and plentiful back then, but I never saw the 1st one for some reason.

I bought Coney Island Baby in the late 80s. Transformer was definitely around. NEVER saw the 1st one either, still don't really. Rock n Roll Animal also really common.

The Lou Reed album I remember seeing most at record stores was Mistrial, because by 1987 it was in every remainder bin everywhere.

― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Monday, October 28, 2013 2:34 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Bought the cassette on release day. First song: "Neat!" Every song thereafter: "uh...oh..."

"Metal Machine Music" was pretty hard to find (paid $40 for the first copy I saw, in '89)

yeah was gonna mention that, I never saw a copy of that until a few years ago.

I remember Loaded being available as a mid price lp in the 80s. I think that cover was well known though I don't think I was familiar with the record until a while later. THink I came to the s/t 3rd lp a while later too, though I think it was that record that a lot of 80s Australian & possibly NZ bands were being compared to.
I was familiar with & Nico in my early teens and used to go around at school singing what I knew of Waiting For The Man. Think I got WL/WH a year or so later but got it with the UK cover.

I also remember that there was a Velvets history in NME in '79 or '80 when I think the 1st lp was reissued. Wishing I'd made sure I had the gatefold sleeve version of the lp when I picked it up in 81 or 82 cos it does add to the cover. THink it may have been a couple of £ more expensive at a time i didn't have oodles of money though.

Save Mistrial for the sake of "Tell It to Your Heart" and "I Remember You."

"I bought Loaded new in 1985;"

same here. or maybe 1984? it was perfect for all the acid i was taking. and i bought new sensations when it came out. and i had growing up in public on tape. dollar cut-out. i also had some Pear Records budget double album that had stuff from the first album and live stuff from Lou Reed Live on it. i played that thing a zillion times. my brother had all the lou solo i think, but i didn't really listen to his copies. got everything else bit by bit as the years went by. i don't remember when in the 80's i got the rest of the velvets stuff.

oh and the live at max's album. bought that new around the time i got loaded. those two you could find.

Yeah, I bought New Sensations around the same time, on cassette. I remember seeing the video for "I Love You, Suzanne" on an ABC Saturday morning video show aimed at kids, hosted by Wolfman Jack.

Lou in the wild: last Friday I heard "New Sensations" on the local "classic rock" station. This is one of those "classic rock" stations that's far more likely to play Warrant or Whitesnake than Humble Pie or Bad Company; as such, the likelihood that you'll even hear "Walk On The Wild Side" is zilch. "New Sensations" was a serious left-field pick.

Cardinal Ravasi's homage to Lou Reed: https://twitter.com/CardRavasi/status/394756812576006145

you're going to tweet just what you post

xpost -- Well I didn't expect THAT.

"New Sensations" wasn't even a single!

I remember seeing the video for "I Love You, Suzanne" on an ABC Saturday morning video show aimed at kids, hosted by Wolfman Jack.

Yes! I remember this show too. It's where I saw "What's Love Got to Do with It" by Tina Turner for the first time.

NYC eateries talk about Lou's change to a macrobiotic diet:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/dining/for-lou-reeds-chefs-a-walk-on-the-mild-side.html

http://www.missionmission.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/giffer.gif

(Osage St in the Mission in SF)

I mean this in the best way possible: It's no surprise that this is easily the most entertaining RIP thread I've read this year.

i would like to thank my local libraries for having some of the recorded output of VU and Lou Reed. Otherwise I don't think I would have ever heard that stuff in high school. IIRC there wasn't much solo Cale, but there was Eno and Cale bc I distinctly remember liking "Spinning Away".

Yeah I got Velvet Underground & Nico from my local public library.

good ol' geeta:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/10/lou_reed_s_metal_machine_music_the_artist_was_a_rock_god_he_was_also_a_big.html

ann powers:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/10/27/240841092/what-lou-reed-taught-me

carl wilson:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_box/2013/10/lou_read_obit_an_appreciation_of_the_velvet_underground_frontman.single.html

I love Rob Sheff's, particularly for explaining why Lou was an awesome guitarist.

x-post- My university radio station in 1979 was run by Radio/tv/film majors who wanted to get jobs at top 40 stations and believed that the university's am carrier current station heard only in buildings on campus and the low-watt FM station should just imitate commercial top 40 radio of the time. But they let us djs get a few token choices of our own per hour on the air. Freshman me found the Velvets back in the record library, and played "Heroin" in the wee hours on the AM station. The program director later disdainfully asked why I would choose to play a song with that title. She then listened to it, and said "sounds like that guy is on heroin." I forgot how I responded, but she dealt with it (she was a graduating senior), and eventually me and others transformed the Fm station into a free-form one where such a question was never asked again.

What a shitty excuse for a program director!

I wanna talk to that program director, she threw a cup at curmudgeon.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/today-particularly-rough-day-for-east-village-junk,34367/

Does anybody know where I can find that 1979 WPIX radio show with Lou and Cale? The link for it on that tumblr is gone.

So, older people, did "I Love You, Suzanne" and "No Money Down" get daytime MTV play? Their respective album's chart positions suggest he was actually selling records, peaking of course with New York (certified gold).

Does anybody know where I can find that 1979 WPIX radio show with Lou and Cale? The link for it on that tumblr is gone.

tylerw has it

Seem to remember "Suzanne" being played a lot, vaguely remember there being a video.