Why is Lou Reed so often referred to as the Godfather of Punk?

Dead cats, dead rats, did you see what they were at, alright
Dead cat in a tophat

Sucking on a young man's blood
Wishing he would come, yeah
Sucking on a soldier's brain
Wishing it would be the same

Dead cat, dead rat, did you see what they were at
Fat cat in a tophat
Thinks he's an aristocrat
Thinks he can kill and slaughter
Thinks he can shoot my daughter

Yeah, right...oh yeah...alright...yeah
Dead cats, dead rats, think you're an aristocrat
Crap...ah, that's crap

All I know is, I've had discussions with drunk people about where punk came from and as hard as I try to be reasonable and light-hearted about the whole damned thing, it always ends up with my girlfriend having to tell the other guy's girlfriend that I'm really a nice guy, so I tend to avoid such conversations. I do know that I don't think Lou Reed is the godfather of punk, and that I never listen to Lou Reed these days, never. I haven't listened to any of those VU albums in years, in fact I do not own any of them at this point. I've heard the Ramones plenty but have never owned a Ramones album I can remember. I probably like the Vibrators better. I'm just as comfortable saying that "Wooly Bully" or "Diddy Wa Diddy" (however one spells that) by Capt. Beefheart is the origin of punk. I like the Adverts quite a lot, Liliput ever better, "I'm Stranded" a lot. This has been a long post to say that I try not to think about it, but of course I end up doing it just the same.

Really dig this statement Ken L., you made my day:

The Age when the Doors Were "Hawwwt" recedes further and further back into the mists of time, and is now almost lost, like the Age When Buddy Bolden Charmed All of Storyville With His Horn.

And really, I admit I don't exactly have affinities with anything like "punk" too much, you know, I'm obviously just another vicarious liver who'd much rather groove to the Dramatics or the Detroit Emeralds than listen to most of it.

As for Sister Ray, I thought of whole new question worth our puzzlement -- Who insulted Ray Charles more? The VU, Elvis Costello, or Jamie Foxx?

It's not that Drugs & Death are a "key part" of the definition of punk, it's that the Velvets were completely shunning convention by exploring lyrical/conceptual territory normally verboten in conventional pop/rock. That they were concentrating on more girtty topics (though not exclusively) when the rest of the world was wearing Nehru jackets and singing about flower power, THAT'S what makes them "punk".

And the sunglasses.

xxpost:
Now that I think of it, I have heard Steve Jones say several times on his radio show that he was inspired to be a musician when he saw the New York Dolls and that the way he learned to play guitar was by playing along to the first Stooges record and the two Dolls records, playing them over and over again. He has also said that his favorite guitar player is Mick Ronson, and, as everybody knows, a lot of the Pistols equipment was stuff Steve stole from the Spiders From Mars, especially after "the last show they ever did." After Johnny Ramone passed away, Jonesy's Jukebox replayed an interview with Johnny and Steve asked him if he ever went to see the Dolls and Johnny said, "Oh yeah, I went every time. I used to see Johnny and Jerry around town and they looked so cool. Then I heard they were in a band, but Tommy Ramone told me 'Yeah, but they're no good.' But I went anyway, because how could they be bad if they looked so cool."

Anyway, I don't know how this exactly answers the original question, I'm just trying to say that the canonical punk lineage isn't just an invention, although it was probably a simplification. In this version of the story Lou enters through the sidedoor of the Bowie connection and through John Cale producing the Stooges album. I'm still trying to think how the Lou/Jonathan Richman thing fits in here. Maybe Lou is actually the Godfather of New Wave, through the Modern Lovers alumni.

Indie Rock's roots = Punk Rock.

Why is everyone hung up on the notion that "Punk" has to be fast and stupid?

but if Television, Suicide, Patti Smith, and even the Dolls are punk you're crazy to slight him.

Well then you're simply just wrong. Those bands were Punks back when Joe Strummer was still calling himself "Woody".

Even if you were to count Television and suicide as punk rock, it seems you'd still have to recognize that they represent a wing that's somewhat removed from the mainstream or majority of what is generally considered punk. Even in Patti, I hear more Stones, Doors, and Stooges than VU FWIW.

It's not that they represent a "wing," it's that they PRE-DATE that which "is generally considered punk". It wasn't until the rise of BRITISH Punk Rock (i.e. after New York Punk Rock) that the parameters started being inforced. New York Punk was everything from the buzzsaw assault of the Ramones through the almost-proggy guitar noodling of Television (i.e. a wider umbrella of a term, rather than a strict stipulation-ridden code).

And I HATE Patti Smith.

All songs by British bands, proving that punk would never have been "punk" without the Limeys.

"Rock and Roll Animal" (from 1974) is routinely cited as a punk influence, but that's more due to the image overhaul that Lou Reed went through at the time, going from a relatively normal looking person to an emaciated freak seemingly overnight. At this point, he didn't play guitar when performing live either -- I think he was going through an Iggy worship phase and wanted to strut around the stage instead of burden himself with an instrument.

exactly ... the only way it could've been even more masturbatory would be if lou had hired rick wakeman to play synth.

He was blown out of his mind on more amphetamines than is humanly possible to ingest. I don't think Iggy had anything to do with it.

The Doors as punk: If they were so punk, hows come they let the label force them to change the lyric to “Mother, I want to murphhhharghhhhh you!”?

Punk’s roots also have a lot to do with rock-a-billy, too, methinks.

"Scientists today dug up the remains of musician Lou Reed and viewed some molecules under a megasupermicroscope. What they found were traces of a substance quite remarkably rare in the universe: punk. Physicists are mystified by this new development in the theory of the universe, however all the mathematical ramifications have not been investigated as yet."