Lou Reed

I really like "Metal Machine Music"... Except "3" kinda lets down the other songs.

I never could figure out what all the fuss was about.

Very cerebral lyricist: "New York" is NOT a positive endorsement of the city, folks.

Monotone voiced 3-chord guitar toting junkie. Feck knows why he and the VU get all this acclaim for influencing hundreds of geeky t*rds into forming garage bands to make cr@p proto punk records.

Lou Reed would have been great if he did not suck so much. His music is pretty good, but his vocals ruined it. The Velvet Underground also suffered from the same thing, besides having Nico attribute to the lack of vocal talent on their first album. Lou Reed might have been more successful if he had a competent singer singing his songs. He does have some decent albums from the late seventies and eighties, Mistrial ("No Money Down"), New York ("Dirty Blvd"), New Sensations (I Love You, Suzanne), The Bells (All Through the Night), Live in Italy (Kill Your Sons). Lou Reed is a talented song writer, but I can not understand his influence in Rock and Roll, I just can't see how people can say that he is so important to rock music. I believe that the Velvet Underground are over hyped in their importance in the history of Rock Music, because if you listen to "The Velvet Underground: Live 1969" you can actually count the number of people clapping in between songs, which indicates the lack of sup... Read more

When he hits the mark he woud rate as one of the great songwriters and record makers of the rock and roll era. But he has hit some astounding bum notes too. He produced a handful of stone classics in the 70's but there are even some underappreciated gems from the 80's in his catalogue too, like New Sensations and New York. Is Magic and Loss from the 80's? I'd say he has been holding his own as an elder statesman of his era in the last decade.

I saw Lou at the Felt Forum in 1974- he put on a bizarre yet great show with songs like Sweet Jane, Heroin, and Walk on the Wild Side. Hair was dyed Blond, decked out in black leather- Did some great stuff with the Velvet Underground- and his first solo album simply Lou Reed, was a minor stroke of genius. 'Transformer' is just incredible- and I loved 'Coney Island Baby'. His 1974 live album - is just too much- one of the best live sessions ever done. Admittedly Reed is not for everyone.

"New York" was Lou's best album IMO. The guy had a lot of influence on other bands, and has earned the respect of many. His version of Dylan's "Foot of Pride" on the 30th Anniversary Dylan tribute was killer.

Pretty hopeless

The Velvet Underground were a truly great and quite original band, though slightly overrated by critics in my view, they did put out some bad material that either went on too long or was too grating, though not much of it. His solo stuff is occasionally impressive, but often pretentious and/ or dull. Reed is an arrogant, self-important jerk IMO, but no rock band or singer has ever quite captured the seedy and gritty side of N.Y.C nearly as well as The Velvet Underground or Reed solo.

A bad joke.

He's ok. He's too high on the list.

Velvet Underground stuff was great. Solo material is hit or miss. A bit too pretentious.

he gets a 5 just for being the singer in Velvet Underground, more importantly, the singer on Venus in Furs and Murder Mystery! well done Lou!

One of the great lyrisist of our time, not much of a singer though! Take a listen to Transformer and get adicted.

He was awesome as a member of the Velvet Underground and he achieved great singles in his solo career with "Walk on the Wild Side" and "Sweet Jane." Reed is responsible for the influx of bands from New York City to hit the scene in the 1970s. Many have tried to duplicate his style.

I loved his song Perfect day on the Train Spotting soundtrack. It went perfect with Rentons overdose.

His solo career has been pretty spotty. (The fact that his Velvet Underground, 1966-1970 was one of the five greatest bands of all time should go without saying.) The only GREAT solo record he made is the super-depressing "Berlin" (1973) which sounds like nothing else you'll ever hear (though it does share a vague similarity to Big Star's impeccable "Sister Lovers"). The tough-to-find "Street Hassle" (1977) is spotty but worthwhile. Almost every other album was real hit-or-miss.