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154-458: Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942 – October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band The Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Although not commercially successful during its existence, the Velvet Underground came to be regarded as one of the most influential bands in

308-608: A Rolling Stone article from 1970, "it wasn't eighteen groups, [Curb] was misquoted. The cuts were made partly to do with the drug scene—like maybe a third of them had to do with drug reasons. The others were dropped because they weren't selling." Lou Reed would later remark in the 1987 issue of Creem that while he did not believe that MGM dropped the Velvets for drug associations, he did acknowledge, "We wanted to get out of there." Cotillion Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records that specialized in blues and Southern soul ) signed

462-404: A "great live band" and release a live album of Velvet Underground songs. Katz would come on board as producer, and the album Rock 'n' Roll Animal (February 1974) contained live performances of the Velvet Underground songs "Sweet Jane", "Heroin", "White Light/White Heat", and "Rock and Roll". Wagner's live arrangements, and Hunter's intro to " Sweet Jane " which opened the album, gave Reed's songs

616-553: A BA cum laude in English in June 1964. Reed moved to New York City in 1964 to work as an in-house songwriter for Pickwick Records . He can be heard singing lead on two cuts on The Surfsiders Sing The Beach Boys Songbook . For Pickwick, Reed also wrote and recorded the single "The Ostrich", a parody of popular dance songs of the time, which included lines such as "put your head on the floor and have somebody step on it". His employers felt that

770-763: A charity single for Children in Need and became a Uk no.1 single. In February 2000, Reed worked with Robert Wilson at the Thalia Theater again, on POEtry, another production inspired by the works of a 19th-century writer, this time Edgar Allan Poe . In April 2000, Reed released Ecstasy . In January 2003, Reed released a 2-CD set, The Raven , based on POEtry. The album consists of songs written by Reed and spoken-word performances of reworked and rewritten texts of Edgar Allan Poe by actors, set to electronic music composed by Reed. It features Willem Dafoe , David Bowie, Steve Buscemi , and Ornette Coleman . A single disc CD version of

924-403: A choice of either no Cale or no band at all, the pair reluctantly sided with Reed. It has often been reported that before Cale's departure (following White Light/White Heat ) there was a struggle between his creative impulses and Reed's: Cale's experimentalist tendencies had contrasted with Reed's more conventional approach. According to Tim Mitchell, however, Morrison reported that while there

1078-453: A claim of $ 500,000 ($ 4,568,862 in 2023 dollars ) for use of his image. Instead of compensating Emerson for damages, MGM Records canceled all distribution of the album for nearly two months until the legal problems were settled (by which time the record had lost its modest commercial momentum), and the still was airbrushed out of the remaining copies of the album. By the time the record was re-distributed into stores, it faced stiff competition in

1232-524: A copy of the tape to Marianne Faithfull , hoping she would pass it on to Mick Jagger , lead singer of the Rolling Stones . Nothing ever came of this, but the demo was eventually released on the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See . Manager and music journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the group's first paying gig—$ 75 ($ 725 in 2023 dollars) to play at Summit High School , in Summit, New Jersey, opening for

1386-699: A critical and commercial career peak with his 1989 album New York . Reed participated in the re-formation of the Velvet Underground in the 1990s, and he made several more albums, including a collaboration album with John Cale titled Songs for Drella , which was a tribute to their former mentor Andy Warhol . Magic and Loss (1992) would become Reed's highest-charting album on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at No. 6. He contributed music to two theatrical interpretations of 19th-century writers, one of which he developed into an album titled The Raven . He married his third wife Laurie Anderson in 2008, and recorded

1540-522: A distinctive persona: "Back then he was publicly gay, pretended to shoot heroin onstage, and cultivated a 'Dachau panda' look, with cropped peroxide hair and black circles painted under his eyes." The newspaper wrote that in 1980, "Reed renounced druggy theatrics, even swore off intoxicants themselves, and became openly heterosexual, openly married." On September 22, 1985, Reed performed at the first Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois . He performed "Doin'

1694-625: A few days before the expected arrival of Hurricane Sandy in New York , Brookdale Hospital was enlisted by the New York State Department of Health in the State's emergency response efforts. Brookdale was awarded $ 2.3 million for unreimbursed operating costs. Brookdale is both a treatment facility and an academic medical center, certified with 530 acute-care beds, and more than 50 specialty clinics. In addition, Brookdale and its affiliates comprise

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1848-467: A few other session musicians in an unspecified London studio. While Yule intended to recruit Moe Tucker to play drums on Squeeze and the handful of promotional shows, Sesnick vetoed his decision and claimed she was "too expensive" to hire. Yule was also prevented by Sesnick to participate in the mixing of the album's tracks prior to the album's release the following year. Squeeze was released in February

2002-522: A few short-lived garage bands and had worked as a songwriter for Pickwick Records (Reed described his tenure there as being "a poor man's Carole King "). Reed met John Cale , a Welshman who had moved to the United States to study classical music upon securing a Leonard Bernstein scholarship. Cale had worked with experimental composers John Cage , Cornelius Cardew and La Monte Young , and had performed with Young's Theatre of Eternal Music , though

2156-406: A fixture at The Factory , Warhol's art studio, and served as his "house band" for various projects. The band released their first album , now with drummer Moe Tucker and featuring German singer Nico , in 1967, and parted ways with Warhol shortly thereafter. Following several lineup changes and three more little-heard albums, Reed quit the band in 1970. After leaving the band, Reed would go on to

2310-399: A fragile temperament" but was highly focused on things that he liked, mainly music. Having learned to play the guitar from the radio, he developed an early interest in rock and roll and rhythm and blues , and during high school played in several bands. Reed was dyslexic . He began using drugs at the age of 16. Reed's first recording was as a member of a doo-wop three-piece group called

2464-451: A hoax email (purporting to be from Reuters ) which said he had died of a drug overdose. In April 2003, Reed began a world tour featuring the cellist Jane Scarpantoni and singer Anohni . In 2003, Reed released a book of photographs, Emotions in Action . This comprised an A4 -sized book called Emotions and a smaller one called Actions laid into its hard cover. In January 2006, he released

2618-452: A lot on Loaded . It sort of devolved down to the Lou and Doug recreational recording." While the third Velvets' LP was recorded mostly live in a collaborative atmosphere, the bulk of Loaded was crafted in the studio. In addition to handling all the bass and piano duties on Loaded , Yule also contributed several lead guitar parts and played drums on five of the album's ten tracks (most notably on

2772-435: A low-budget record company that specialized in sound-alike recordings, as a songwriter and session musician. A fellow session player at Pickwick was John Cale ; together with Sterling Morrison and Angus MacLise , they would form the Velvet Underground in 1965. After building a reputation on the avant garde music scene, they gained the attention of Andy Warhol , who became the band's manager; they in turn became something of

2926-704: A majority of Nico's albums. Reed started his solo career in 1972 after a brief sabbatical. Sterling Morrison was a professor for some time, teaching Medieval Literature at the University of Texas at Austin, then became a tugboat captain in Houston for several years. Moe Tucker raised a family before returning to small-scale gigging and recording in the 1980s; Morrison was in several touring bands, including Tucker's band. Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center The Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center (often called Brookdale Hospital, or Brookdale for short)

3080-514: A much more commercially successful solo career, releasing twenty solo studio albums. His second, Transformer (1972), was produced by David Bowie and arranged by Mick Ronson , and brought him mainstream recognition. The album is considered an influential landmark of the glam rock genre, anchored by Reed's most successful single, " Walk on the Wild Side ". After Transformer , the less commercial but critically acclaimed Berlin peaked at No. 7 on

3234-501: A now-legendary nine-week residency (from June 24 – August 28, 1970) at the New York nightclub Max's Kansas City , playing two lengthy sets per night, and showcasing altered arrangements of older songs from their previous albums, as well as showcasing the new material that would soon make up Loaded . Reed's last live performance with the band at Max's was informally recorded and was released two years later in 1972 as Live at Max's Kansas City , also on Atlantic Records. Disillusioned with

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3388-753: A number of these songs for his solo records over the years: "Stephanie Says", "Ocean", "I Can't Stand It", "Lisa Says", and "Andy's Chest", as well as "She's My Best Friend", which had been originally sung by Doug Yule. By 1969 the MGM and Verve record labels had been losing money for several years. A new president, Mike Curb , was hired and he decided to cancel the recording contracts of 18 of their acts who supposedly glorified drugs in their lyrics, including their many controversial and unprofitable acts. The drug or hippie -related bands were released from MGM; nonetheless MGM insisted on retaining ownership of all master tapes of their recordings and according to an MGM representative in

3542-419: A recording solely of pulsating audio feedback culminating in a locked groove , was "a precursor to [Reed's] Metal Machine Music ", say Velvets archivists M.C. Kostek and Phil Milstein in the book The Velvet Underground Companion . "Loop" also predates much industrial music . At Warhol's insistence, Nico sang with the band on three songs of their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico . The album

3696-545: A regional tertiary care center, and is a level II trauma center . It provides 24-hour emergency services and long-term specialty care, has outpatient programs, and is one of 14 New York State DOH designated Stroke Centers in Brooklyn. It provides outpatient ambulatory care services in both on campus and off site facilities. Brookdale specializes in rehabilitative medicine and long-term specialty care in its Schulman and Schachne Institute for Nursing and Rehabilitation and in addition

3850-522: A second book of photographs, Lou Reed's New York . A third volume, Romanticism , was released in 2009. The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. It originally comprised the singer and guitarist Lou Reed , the Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale , the guitarist Sterling Morrison and the drummer Angus MacLise . In 1965, MacLise

4004-482: A song titled "Last Night I Said Goodbye to My Friend", dedicated to Sterling Morrison, who had died the previous August. In February 1996 Reed released Set the Twilight Reeling , and later that year, Reed contributed songs and music to Time Rocker , a theatrical interpretation of H. G. Wells ' The Time Machine by experimental director Robert Wilson . The piece premiered in the Thalia Theater, Hamburg , and

4158-512: A stroboscopic-light show designed by Danny Williams. Because of the punishing lights, the band took to wearing sunglasses onstage. Early promo posters referred to the group as the "erupting plastic inevitable". This soon changed to "the exploding plastic inevitable". In 1966, MacLise temporarily rejoined the Velvet Underground for a few EPI shows when Reed was suffering from hepatitis and unable to perform. For these appearances, Cale sang and played organ, Tucker switched to bass guitar and MacLise

4312-550: A theater major, but left the program after one year to continue playing music. Yule had first seen the Velvets perform at a student event at Harvard University in Cambridge in early 1968, and when the band played at the Boston Tea Party later that year, the band stayed at Yule's apartment on River Street, which he happened to be renting from their road manager, Hans Onsager (who worked closely with their manager Steve Sesnick ). It

4466-489: A tribute to his late mentor. He later said that his goals as a writer were "to bring the sensitivities of the novel to rock music" or to write the Great American Novel in a record album. Reed met Sterling Morrison , a student at City University of New York , while the latter was visiting mutual friend, and fellow Syracuse student, Jim Tucker. Reed graduated from Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences with

4620-516: A vast range of lyrical subjects on the first two Velvet Underground albums, the lyrical themes of the third album were more "intimate" in nature. Reed's songwriting also covered new emotional ground as well, as heard in the songs " Pale Blue Eyes ", "Jesus", "Beginning to See the Light", and "I'm Set Free". The personal tone of the album's subject matter resulted in Reed's desire to create a "closet" mix that boosted

4774-511: A year. Tom Wilson at Verve/MGM only bought the album from me because of Nico. He saw no talent in Lou [Reed]." In 1982, Brian Eno said that while the album sold only 30,000 copies in its early years, "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band." Filmmaker and music writer, Grant McPhee conducted a 2021 investigation into Eno's famous claim into the popularity of the band's first album and concluded that it may have sold as many as 200,000 copies by 1971 alone. Nico moved on after

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4928-451: Is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) medical services provider in the borough of Brooklyn , New York City . Brookdale's primary and secondary service areas together comprise 1 million residents. It serves most of Eastern Brooklyn: Brownsville, East New York, Canarsie and East Flatbush. In 2017, it was described as "struggling." In 2009 they had 'let go' 240 employees. Brookdale is one of Brooklyn's largest voluntary nonprofit teaching hospitals ,

5082-408: Is focused on mortality, inspired by the death of two close friends from cancer. In 1994, he appeared in A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who . In the same year, he and Morales were divorced. In 1995, Reed made a cameo appearance in the unreleased video game Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors . If the player selects the "impossible" difficulty setting, Reed appears shortly after

5236-509: Is home to 86 units of assisted living and independent housing in the Arlene and David Schlang Pavilion, a federally subsidized housing project. In 1970, NYU's Medical Center and School of Medicine initiated an "affilitation agreement" to enhance training and provide student exchange opportunities. In 2023, One Brooklyn Health at Brookdale Hospital became an MBSAQIP-accredited Center of Excellence for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. This program

5390-561: Is led by Dr. Theadore Hufford who is also the Chief of General and MIS Surgery. After a decade of planning, the Brownsville and East New York Hospital opened on April 11, 1921, with one building housing 75 beds between Brownsville , East New York , and Canarsie . The first President of the Medical Board was Simon R. Blatteis , who was also a leading figure in organizing the development of

5544-409: Is that urban life is tough stuff—it will kill you; Reed, the poet of destruction, knows it but never looks away and somehow finds holiness as well as perversity in both his sinners and his quest. ... [H]e is still one of a handful of American artists capable of the spiritual home run. — Rolling Stone , 1975 The band soon came to the attention of Andy Warhol . One of Warhol's first contributions

5698-517: The Lower East Side , and invited Reed's college acquaintance Sterling Morrison and Cale's neighbor and Theatre of Eternal Music bandmate Angus MacLise to join the band on guitar and drums respectively, thus forming the Velvet Underground . When the opportunity came to play their first paying gig at Summit High School in Summit, New Jersey , MacLise quit because he believed that accepting money for art

5852-546: The UK Albums Chart . Rock 'n' Roll Animal (a live album released in 1974) sold strongly, and Sally Can't Dance (1974) peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 ; but for a long period after, Reed's work did not translate into sales, leading him deeper into drug addiction and alcoholism. Reed cleaned up in the early 1980s, and gradually returned to prominence with The Blue Mask (1982) and New Sensations (1984), reaching

6006-555: The free jazz developed in the mid-1950s. Reed said that when he started out he was inspired by such musicians as Ornette Coleman , who had "always been a great influence" on him; he said that his guitar on " European Son " was his way of trying to imitate the jazz saxophonist. Reed's sister said that during her brother's time at Syracuse , the university authorities had tried unsuccessfully to expel him because they did not approve of his extracurricular activities. At Syracuse University, he studied under poet Delmore Schwartz , who he said

6160-424: The 1970s and 1980s, and a retrospective "rarities" album, VU , was released in 1985. Reed, Cale, Tucker and Morrison reunited for a series of well-received shows in 1993, and released a live album from the tour, Live MCMXCIII , later that same year. After Morrison's death in 1995, the remaining members played a final performance at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1996. Reed died in 2013. In 2004,

6314-461: The 2001 box set Final V.U. After the brief European tour in November 1971 was finished, the lineup of Yule, Tucker, Alexander and Powers disbanded. In May 1972, Atlantic released Live at Max's Kansas City , the recording of the Velvet Underground's final performance with Reed (also with Doug Yule, Morrison, and Billy Yule) made by a fan, Brigid Polk , on August 23, 1970. Due to publicity around

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6468-487: The Eldorados) and played throughout Central New York. Per his bandmates, they were routinely kicked out of fraternity parties for their brash personalities and insistence on performing their own material. In 1961, he began hosting a late-night radio program on WAER called Excursions on a Wobbly Rail . Named after a song by pianist Cecil Taylor , the program typically featured doo wop, rhythm and blues, and jazz , particularly

6622-565: The Family Dog venues in San Francisco; recordings of these shows were released in 2001, as a triple live album, Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes , which included the line up of Reed, Yule, Morrison and Tucker. During 1969 the band recorded on and off in the studio, creating a lot of promising material (both singles and one-offs) that were never officially released at the time due to disputes with their record label. What many consider to be

6776-464: The German singer and model Nico , was released in 1967 to critical indifference and poor sales but later drew widespread acclaim. They released three more albums: the abrasive White Light/White Heat (1968), and the more accessible albums The Velvet Underground (1969) and Loaded (1970), with Doug Yule replacing Cale for the latter two. None performed to the expectations of record labels or Reed,

6930-517: The Jades, with Reed providing guitar accompaniment and backing vocals. After participating at a talent show at Freeport Junior High School in early 1958, and receiving an enthusiastic response from the audience, the group was given the chance to record an original single "So Blue" with the B-side "Leave Her for Me" later that year. While the single did not reach any music hit parade, notable saxophonist King Curtis

7084-485: The LP, and a rare Moe Tucker lead vocal is used on "After Hours", which closes the album, because Reed felt her "innocent" voice was more believable for a sad song. The album contains the experimental track "The Murder Mystery", which utilized all four band members (Reed, Yule, Tucker and Morrison) reading different lyrics, sometimes simultaneously, as well as the ballad "Pale Blue Eyes". The Velvet Underground spent much of 1969 on

7238-698: The Myddle Class . When they decided to take the gig, MacLise abruptly left the group, protesting what he considered a sellout ; he was also unwilling to be told when to start and stop playing. "Angus was in it for art", Morrison reported. MacLise was replaced by Maureen "Moe" Tucker , the younger sister of Morrison's friend Jim Tucker. Tucker's playing style was rather unusual: she generally played standing up rather than seated and had an abbreviated drum setup of tom-toms , snare and an upturned bass drum , using mallets as often as drumsticks, and rarely using cymbals (she admits that she always hated cymbals). When

7392-620: The Primitives. Reed and Morrison both played guitars, Cale played viola, keyboards and bass and Angus MacLise joined on percussion to complete the initial four-member unit. This quartet was first called the Warlocks, then the Falling Spikes. The Velvet Underground by Michael Leigh was a contemporary mass market paperback about the secret sexual subculture of the early 1960s; Cale's friend and Dream Syndicate associate Tony Conrad showed it to

7546-903: The Things That We Want To", "I Love You, Suzanne", "New Sensations" and "Walk on the Wild Side" as his solo set. In June 1986, Reed released Mistrial (co-produced with bassist Fernando Saunders ). To support the album, he released two music videos: " No Money Down " and " The Original Wrapper ". In the same year, he joined Amnesty International 's A Conspiracy of Hope short tour and was outspoken about New York City's political issues and personalities. He also appeared on Steven Van Zandt 's 1985 anti-Apartheid song " Sun City ", pledging not to play at that resort . The 1989 album New York , which commented on crime, AIDS, civil rights activist Jesse Jackson , then-President of Austria Kurt Waldheim , and Pope John Paul II , became his second gold-certified work when it passed 500,000 sales in 1997. Reed

7700-613: The UK altogether since 1976's Coney Island Baby . Although its lead single " I Love You, Suzanne " only charted at No. 78 on the UK Singles Chart it did receive light rotation on MTV . Two more singles were released from the album: " My Red Joystick " and the Dutch-only release " High in the City " but they both failed to chart. In 1998, The New York Times observed that in the 1970s, Reed had

7854-678: The United States performing a wide range of songs, including a suite of core songs from his Berlin album and the title track from The Bells featuring Chuck Hammer on guitar-synth. Around this time Reed also appeared as a record producer in Paul Simon 's film One-Trick Pony . From around 1979 Reed began to wean himself off drugs. Reed married British designer Sylvia Morales in 1980. Morales inspired Reed to write several songs, particularly "Think It Over" from 1980's Growing Up in Public and "Heavenly Arms" from 1982's The Blue Mask . The latter album

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8008-406: The Velvet Underground for what would be its final studio album with Lou Reed: Loaded . The album's title refers to Atlantic's request that the band produce an album "loaded with hits". Though the record was not the smash hit the company had anticipated, it contains the most accessible pop the Velvet Underground had performed, and two of Reed's best-known songs, "Sweet Jane" and "Rock and Roll". By

8162-509: The Velvet Underground in different directions. The differences showed in the last recording sessions the band had with John Cale in 1968: three pop -like songs in Reed's direction ("Temptation Inside Your Heart", "Stephanie Says" and "Beginning to See the Light") and a viola-driven drone in Cale's direction ("Hey Mr. Rain"). Further, some songs the band had performed with Cale in concert, or that he had co-written, were not recorded until after he had left

8316-459: The Velvet Underground in late 1972, a band with him, Billy Yule, George Kay and guitarist Don Silverman (later known as Noor Khan) was incorrectly billed as the Velvet Underground for two shows in Boston and Long Island. The band members objected to the billing (instigated by their tour manager); according to Yule, the promoter was not supposed to bill the band as the Velvet Underground. In late May 1973,

8470-399: The Velvet Underground were ranked number 19 on Rolling Stone ' s list of the " 100 Greatest Artists of All Time ". The New York Times wrote that the Velvet Underground was "arguably the most influential American rock band of our time". The foundations for what would become the Velvet Underground were laid in late 1964. Singer-songwriter and guitarist Lou Reed had performed with

8624-410: The Velvet Underground. Reed's first group with Cale was the Primitives, a short-lived group assembled to issue budget-priced recordings and support an anti-dance single written by Reed, "The Ostrich", to which Cale added a viola passage. Reed and Cale recruited Sterling Morrison —a college classmate of Reed's at Syracuse University —as a replacement for Walter De Maria , who had been a third member of

8778-414: The Velvets severed their relationship with Andy Warhol. Reed once commented on their leaving Warhol: "He sat down and had a talk with me. 'You gotta decide what you want to do. Do you want to keep just playing museums from now on and the art festivals? Or do you want to start moving into other areas? Lou, don't you think you should think about it?' So I thought about it, and I fired him. Because I thought that

8932-465: The afternoon we'd all meet at [the bar] The Orange Grove. Me, Delmore and Lou. That would often be the center of the crew. And Delmore was the leader – our quiet leader." While at Syracuse, Reed was also introduced to intravenous drug use for the first time, and quickly contracted hepatitis . Reed later dedicated the song "European Son", from the first Velvet Underground album, to Schwartz. In 1982, Reed recorded "My House" from his album The Blue Mask as

9086-738: The airport that he was staying in Texas and quitting the band—the last founding member to quit. Morrison's replacement was singer/keyboard player Willie Alexander . This brief line-up of the band played several shows in the US and Canada in September 1971, and in October and November 1971 the band did several shows in England, Wales, and the Netherlands to support the 1971 European release of Loaded , some of which are collected on

9240-645: The album from November 1970 to August 1971, playing shows around the U.S. By this juncture, Sterling Morrison had received his degree from the City College of New York. Following a show in Houston, Texas , he left the group in August 1971 to pursue a Ph.D. in medieval literature at the University of Texas at Austin . He had packed an empty suitcase and when the time came for the band to return to New York City , he told them at

9394-415: The album purely as a money ploy. "Sesnick dumped the second iteration of the band in England with no money and no equipment and just left us there to find our way back. He gave me six copies of Squeeze as pay. I never got any money. When you sign with ASCAP or BMI you get an advance. He not only made an arrangement with them but actually signed as me and took the money." Despite the negative reviews of

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9548-402: The album upon its initial release, in recent years the album has been revisited by both critics and musicians with more sympathetic and favorable reviews. In 2011 music writer Steven Shehori included Squeeze in his "Criminally Overlooked Albums" series for The Huffington Post , and in a lengthy review of the album, offered the following positive assessment of Squeeze : "if you pluck it from

9702-420: The album was a genuine artistic effort inspired by the drone music of La Monte Young , and suggesting that references to classical music could be found buried in the feedback, but he also said, "Well, anyone who gets to side four is dumber than I am." Lester Bangs declared it "genius", though also psychologically disturbing. The album, now regarded as a visionary textural guitar masterpiece by some music critics,

9856-725: The album, focusing on the music, was also released. In May 2000, Reed performed before Pope John Paul II at the Great Jubilee Concert in Rome . In 2001, Reed made a cameo appearance in the movie adaptation of Prozac Nation . On October 6, 2001, the New York Times published a Reed poem called "Laurie Sadly Listening" in which he reflects on the September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11). Incorrect reports of Reed's death were broadcast by numerous US radio stations in 2001, caused by

10010-551: The album, which he bought while visiting the U.S., with inspiring him to become president of Czechoslovakia . By the time the band recorded White Light/White Heat , Nico had quit the band and Warhol had been fired, both against Cale's wishes. Warhol's replacement as manager was Steve Sesnick . In September 1968, Reed told Morrison and Tucker that he would dissolve the band if they did not let him fire Cale; they agreed, and Reed had Morrison inform Cale of his firing. Morrison and Tucker were discomfited by Reed's tactics but remained in

10164-535: The band Yes . The album, Lou Reed , contained versions of unreleased Velvet Underground songs, some of which had originally been recorded for Loaded but shelved. This album was overlooked by most pop music critics and did not sell well, although music critic Stephen Holden , in Rolling Stone , called it an "almost perfect album. ... which embodied the spirit of the Velvets." Holden went on to compare Reed's voice with those of Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan and praise

10318-404: The band and that Reed had been aware of most, if not all, of the edits. With manager Steve Sesnick looking to fill bookings (following the departure of Lou Reed), and with the pending release of Loaded in November 1970, the band, now with Sterling Morrison on guitar, Moe Tucker on drums, Walter Powers on bass, and Doug Yule taking over lead vocals and guitar, played periodic shows to promote

10472-556: The band and the tour manager parted ways, thus bringing the Velvet Underground to an end until the classic line-up of Reed, Tucker, Morrison and Cale reunited in the 1990s. Reed, Cale and Nico teamed up at the beginning of 1972 to play a concert in Paris at the Bataclan club . This concert was bootlegged, and finally received an official release as Le Bataclan '72 in 2003. Before that, Cale and Nico had developed solo careers, with Cale producing

10626-500: The band asked her to do something unusual, she turned her bass drum on its side and played standing up. After her drums were stolen from one club, she replaced them with garbage cans brought in from outside. Her rhythms, at once simple and exotic (influenced by the likes of Babatunde Olatunji and Bo Diddley as well as Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones), became a vital part of the group's music, despite Cale's initial objections to

10780-446: The band gain a higher profile. He helped the band secure a recording contract with MGM's Verve Records, with himself as nominal " producer ", and gave the Velvets free rein over the sound they created. During their stay with Andy Warhol, the band became part of his multimedia roadshow, Exploding Plastic Inevitable , which combined Warhol's films with the band's music, which made use of minimalist devices, such as drones. Warhol included

10934-415: The band to get an endorsement deal with Vox to enable them to use Vox equipment, including special effects pedals and an organ, for free. Sterling Morrison believed they were the first American band to get a Vox endorsement. Sterling Morrison offered the following input regarding the recording: There was fantastic leakage 'cause everyone was playing so loud and we had so much electronic junk with us in

11088-500: The band was scheduled to take the stage the following night before notifying him that Reed was not coming. "I was expecting [Lou] to show up, I thought he was late." Yule blamed Sesnick for Reed's departure. "Sesnick had engineered Lou's leaving the group. He and Lou had a relationship where Lou had depended on him for moral support, and he trusted him, and Sesnick basically said 'screw you.' ... It must have been hard for Lou to hear that because he depended on him, so he quit." While Loaded

11242-627: The band with his show in an effort to "use rock as a part of a larger, interdisciplinary-art work based around performance" (McDonald). They played shows for several months in New York City, then traveled throughout the United States and Canada until its last installment in May 1967. During a short period in September 1966, when Cale was ill, the avant-garde musician Henry Flynt and Reed's friend Richard Mishkin took turns to cover for him. The show included 16 mm film projections by Warhol, combined with

11396-539: The band with the necessary equipment and tour funds, they played the handful of dates to secure enough money for flights back to the US, and Yule left the band when the brief tour ended in December 1972. It was during this brief period in the UK that Yule recorded the Polydor album (ultimately titled Squeeze ) under the Velvet Underground name virtually by himself, with only the assistance of Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice and

11550-427: The band's leader. However, like the band's debut, all albums later achieved critical acclaim. In the early 1970s, all but Yule left the band. Yule led an abortive UK tour in 1973, and released a final album under the Velvet Underground name, Squeeze (1973), recorded mostly by Yule with session musicians, before the band dissolved shortly after. The former band members collaborated on each other's solo work throughout

11704-529: The band. Cale's replacement was Boston -based musician Doug Yule , who played bass guitar and keyboards and would soon share lead vocal duties with Reed. The band now took on a more pop-oriented sound and acted more as a vehicle for Reed to develop his songwriting craft. They released two studio albums with this lineup: 1969's The Velvet Underground and 1970's Loaded . Reed left the Velvet Underground in August 1970. The band disintegrated after Morrison and Tucker departed in 1971, and their final album Squeeze

11858-425: The beginning of a new age" as sung by Yule) was repeated many more times. A brief interlude in "Rock and Roll" was also removed. (For the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See , the album was presented as Reed intended; the "Fully Loaded" two-disc edition includes the full versions of "Sweet Jane" and "New Age".) On the other hand, Yule has pointed out that the album was for all intents and purposes finished when Reed left

12012-536: The club La Cave. Upon meeting Reed, Sesnick and Morrison at Max's, Yule was asked to handle bass and organ duties in the band, and he would soon contribute vocals as well. After several months of shows in the US, the band swiftly recorded their third album The Velvet Underground in late 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood, California . It was released in March 1969. The cover photograph was taken by Billy Name . The LP sleeve

12166-621: The collaboration album Lulu with Metallica . He died in 2013 of liver disease . Reed has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: as a member of the Velvet Underground in 1996 and as a solo act in 2015. Lewis Allan Reed was born on March 2, 1942, at Beth-El Hospital (later Brookdale ) in Brooklyn and grew up in Freeport , NY . Reed was the son of Toby (née Futterman) (1920–2013) and Sidney Joseph Reed (1913–2005), an accountant. His family

12320-637: The development of punk rock , new wave and several other genres. The group performed under several names before settling on the Velvet Underground in 1965, taken from the title of a 1963 book on atypical sexual behavior . In 1966, the pop artist Andy Warhol became their manager. They served as the house band at Warhol's studio, the Factory , and his traveling multimedia show, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable , from 1966 to 1967. Their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico , featuring

12474-461: The double album. In his notes, Murphy described a scene 100 years in the future, with a student taking a class on "classical rock'n'roll" and listening to the Velvet Underground. He wondered what the student would make of the music and concluded, "I wish it was a hundred years from today (I can't stand the suspense)". During this period the band played a series of shows in November 1969 at the Matrix and

12628-503: The energy and the electronics, but we didn't know it couldn't be recorded...what we were trying to do was really fry the tracks. Cale has said that while the debut had some moments of fragility and beauty, White Light/White Heat was "consciously anti-beauty". The title track sets a harsh opening; bassist Cale overdubbing a piano that has been described as "a cross between Jerry Lee Lewis and Henry Cowell ". Along with brash songs like " Sister Ray " and " I Heard Her Call My Name ", there

12782-489: The experience in his song "Kill Your Sons" from the album Sally Can't Dance (1974). Reed later recalled the experience as having been traumatic and leading to memory loss. He believed that he was treated to dispel his homosexual feelings. After Reed's death, his sister denied the ECT treatments were intended to suppress his "homosexual urges", asserting that their parents were not homophobic but had been told by his doctors that ECT

12936-463: The few real heroes rock & roll has raised. — Mikal Gilmore , Rolling Stone , (1979) 1975's Coney Island Baby was dedicated to Reed's then-partner Rachel Humphreys , a transgender woman Reed dated and lived with for three years. Humphreys also appears in the photos on the cover of Reed's 1977 "best of" album, Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of Lou Reed . Rock and Roll Heart

13090-572: The first Velvet Underground lineup reformed for a Fondation Cartier benefit show in France. In June and July 1993, the Velvet Underground again reunited and toured Europe, including an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival ; plans for a North American tour were canceled following a dispute between Reed and Cale. Reed had released his sixteenth solo album, Magic and Loss , in January 1992. The album

13244-573: The first issue of Punk magazine by Legs McNeil . Reed released his third live album, Live: Take No Prisoners , in 1978; some critics thought it was his "bravest work yet", while others considered it his "silliest". Rolling Stone described it as "one of the funniest live albums ever recorded" and compared Reed's monologs with those of Lenny Bruce . Reed felt it was his best album to date. The Bells (1979) featured jazz trumpeter Don Cherry . During 1979 Reed toured extensively in Europe and throughout

13398-474: The following year, 1973, in Europe only, with minimal promotion by the label, and was held in low regard by fans and critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes that the album received "uniformly terrible reviews" upon initial release, and in the early 1970s, the NME Book of Rock counted it as "a Velvet Underground album in name only". When asked about Squeeze , Yule hinted that band manager Steve Sesnick orchestrated

13552-484: The game begins as an unbeatable boss who murders the player with his laser beam eyes. Reed then pops up on the screen and says to the player, "This is the impossible level, boys. Impossible doesn't mean very difficult, very difficult is winning the Nobel Prize, impossible is eating the sun." The Velvet Underground were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. At the ceremony, Reed, Cale and Tucker performed

13706-577: The group (such as "Walk It and Talk It", "Ride into the Sun", and "Countess from Hong Kong"). Reed called Morrison and Tucker to a meeting at the Riviera Cafe in the West Village without Cale's knowledge, and informed them that Cale was out of the band; when Morrison objected, Reed said it was either Cale was sacked or the Velvets were dissolved. Neither Morrison nor Tucker was happy with the idea, but faced with

13860-672: The group, " All Tomorrow's Parties ". Kurt Loder would later describe "All Tomorrow's Parties" as a "mesmerizing gothic-rock masterpiece". Closing out the album was the avant-garde " The Black Angel's Death Song ", followed by the lengthy, feedback-laden " European Son ", which Reed dedicated to his Syracuse professor Delmore Schwartz . The overall sound was propelled by Reed and Nico's deadpan vocals, Cale's droning viola, bass and keyboards, Reed's experimental avant-garde guitar, Morrison's often R&B - or country -influenced guitar, and Tucker's simple but steady and tribal-sounding beat with sparse use of cymbals. A technique used on many songs

14014-592: The group, and MacLise made a suggestion to adopt the title as the band's name. According to Reed and Morrison, the group liked the name, considering it evocative of "underground cinema", and fitting, as Reed had already written " Venus in Furs ", a song inspired by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch 's book of the same name , which dealt with masochism. The band immediately and unanimously adopted "The Velvet Underground" as its new name in November 1965. The newly named Velvet Underground rehearsed and performed in New York City. Their music

14168-526: The history of underground and alternative rock music. Reed's distinctive deadpan voice, poetic and transgressive lyrics, and experimental guitar playing were trademarks throughout his long career. Having played guitar and sung in doo-wop groups in high school, Reed studied poetry at Syracuse University under Delmore Schwartz , and served as a radio DJ , hosting a late-night avant garde music program while at college. After graduating from Syracuse, he went to work for Pickwick Records in New York City,

14322-471: The hospital. It was renamed Beth-El Hospital in 1932. The hospital, under the directorship of Jacob Rutstein , greatly expanded its facilities at that time. It became Brookdale Hospital in 1963, and Brookdale Hospital Medical Center in 1971. In 1993, Brookdale opened the first designated long term AIDS center in Brooklyn. It was later renamed the Treatment for Life Center. The Radutzky Emergency Care Pavilion

14476-470: The influence of the new equipment. Morrison's ringing guitar parts and Yule's melodic bass guitar and harmony vocals are used prominently on the album. Reed's songs and singing are subdued and confessional in nature, and he shared lead vocals with Yule, particularly when his own voice would fail under stress. Doug Yule sang the lead vocal on "Candy Says" (about the Warhol superstar Candy Darling ), which opens

14630-509: The lack of progress the band was making, and facing pressure by manager Steve Sesnick , Reed decided to quit the band during the last week of the Max's Kansas City shows in August 1970. Although Reed had informed Tucker, who was attending the show but not playing with the band because of her pregnancy, that he planned to leave the group on his last evening, he did not tell Morrison or Yule. In a 2006 interview, Yule said Sesnick waited until one hour before

14784-598: The live rock sound he was looking for, and the album peaked at No. 45 on the Billboard 200 for 28 weeks and soon became Reed's biggest selling album. It went gold in 1978, with 500,000 certified sales. Sally Can't Dance which was released later that year (in August 1974), became Reed's highest-charting album in the United States, peaking at No. 10 during a 14-week stay on the Billboard 200 album chart in October 1974. In October 2019, an audio tape of publicly unknown music by Reed, based on Warhol's 1975 book, " The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again ",

14938-489: The live shows the band played during this period would end up released as live albums many years later. The live album 1969: The Velvet Underground Live (with Reed, Yule, Morrison & Tucker) was recorded in October 1969 but not released until 1974, on Mercury Records, at the urging of rock critic Paul Nelson , who worked in A&;R for Mercury at the time. Nelson asked singer-songwriter Elliott Murphy to write liner notes for

15092-424: The marketplace. The album was re-distributed at nearly the same time as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in June 1967, which further hindered the release. Regarding MGM/Verve's delay in releasing the album, Warhol's business manager Paul Morrissey once offered the following: "Verve/MGM didn't know what to do with The Velvet Underground and Nico because it was so peculiar. They did not release it for almost

15246-441: The most influential in rock history. Reed was the main singer and songwriter in the band. Had he accomplished nothing else, his work with the Velvet Underground in the late sixties would assure him a place in anyone's rock & roll pantheon; those remarkable songs still serve as an articulate aural nightmare of men and women caught in the beauty and terror of sexual, street and drug paranoia, unwilling or unable to move. The message

15400-525: The next album with the amplifiers underwater, and [Lou] just couldn't have it. He was trying to make the band more accessible." Ultimately, Morrison was dispatched by Reed to tell Cale that he was out of the band. Before work on their third album started, Cale was replaced by musician Doug Yule of the Boston group the Grass Menagerie, who had been a close associate of the band. Yule, a native New Yorker, had moved to Boston to attend Boston University as

15554-415: The poetic quality of his lyrics. Reed's commercial breakthrough album, Transformer , was released in November 1972. Transformer was co-produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson , and it introduced Reed to a wider audience, especially in the UK. The single " Walk on the Wild Side " was a salute to the misfits and hustlers who once surrounded Andy Warhol in the late '60s and appeared in his films. Each of

15708-508: The presence of a female drummer. The group earned a regular paying gig at the Café Bizarre and gained an early reputation as a promising ensemble. In 1965, after being introduced to the Velvet Underground by filmmaker Barbara Rubin , Andy Warhol became the band's manager and suggested they use the German-born singer Nico (born Christa Päffgen) on several songs. Warhol's reputation helped

15862-402: The prime songs of these recording sessions were released years later, in 1985, in a compilation album called VU . The album VU marks the transitional sound between the whisper-soft third album and the band's movement to the later pop rock song-style of their final record, Loaded . Two of the songs the Velvets recorded during this period were later used on film soundtracks: "Stephanie Says"

16016-411: The recording of Loaded , Doug Yule played a more prominent role in the band, and with Reed's encouragement, sang the lead vocal on four songs: "Who Loves the Sun", which opened the album, "New Age", "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" and the final track, "Oh! Sweet Nuthin". Yule once commented on the recording of Loaded : "Lou leaned on me a lot in terms of musical support and for harmonies, vocal arrangements. I did

16170-615: The release, and growing interest in the Velvet Underground in Europe, Sesnick was able to secure a single album deal with Polydor in the UK, and a handful of promotional shows were booked in the UK in November and December 1972. After Sesnick reached out to Yule, a new Velvet Underground lineup was quickly assembled by Yule to do the UK shows. This brief lineup of the Velvet Underground consisted of Yule, guitarist Rob Norris (later of The Bongos ), bassist George Kay (Krzyzewski), and drummer Mark Nauseef . After Sesnick failed to show up in London to meet

16324-544: The road both in the US and Canada, and not making much headway commercially. Despite these commercial setbacks, the band focused on performing live shows on the road, playing both re-worked songs from their past albums, and debuting new songs that would find their way onto the Loaded album, such as "New Age", "Rock and Roll", and "Sweet Jane". While the band continued to do extended improvisations in their live shows, by 1969 they were focusing on tight live performances, and several of

16478-418: The road with them. Though they improved over the months, Reed (with producer Bob Ezrin 's encouragement) decided to recruit a new backing band in anticipation of the upcoming Berlin album. He chose keyboardist Moogy Klingman to come up with a new five-member band on barely a week's notice. Reed married Bettye Kronstad in 1973. She later said he had been a violent drunk when on tour. Berlin (July 1973)

16632-462: The same note, which they began to call his " ostrich guitar " tuning. This technique created a drone effect similar to their experimentation in Young's avant-garde ensemble. Disappointed with Reed's performance, Cale was nevertheless impressed by Reed's early repertoire (including " Heroin "), and a partnership began to evolve. Reed and Cale (who played viola, keyboards and bass guitar) lived together on

16786-513: The sessions, Sterling Morrison resumed his undergraduate studies at the City College of New York . Although he contributed guitar tracks to the album, he began to split his time between classes, the sessions and the gigs at Max's, thus leaving Reed and Yule to handle the bulk of the arrangements. It was during the Loaded recording sessions that the Velvets (with Billy Yule deputizing on drums) secured

16940-450: The shackles of its murky back-story, Squeeze is nothing short of a quintessential listening experience." The UK band Squeeze took their name from its title according to band member Chris Difford , who offered the following opinion of the album in a 2012 interview: "It's an odd record, but the name came from that, definitely. ... In a retrospective way I really enjoy it. It has kind of a naivety about it." Although Yule had put an end to

17094-633: The song had hit potential, and assembled a supporting band to help promote the recording. The ad hoc band, called the Primitives: Reed; Welsh musician John Cale , who had recently moved to New York to study music and was playing viola in composer La Monte Young 's Theatre of Eternal Music , on bass; Tony Conrad , violinist in the Theatre of Eternal Music, on guitar; and sculptor Walter De Maria on percussion. Cale and Conrad were surprised to find that for "The Ostrich", Reed tuned each string of his guitar to

17248-404: The song's five verses describes a person who had been a fixture at The Factory during the mid-to-late 1960s: (1) Holly Woodlawn , (2) Candy Darling , (3) "Little Joe" Dallesandro , (4) "Sugar Plum Fairy" Joe Campbell and (5) Jackie Curtis . The song's transgressive lyrics evaded radio censorship. Though the jazzy arrangement (courtesy of bassist Herbie Flowers and saxophonist Ronnie Ross )

17402-414: The songs "Rock and Roll" and "Sweet Jane") since Moe Tucker (who was erroneously credited as the album's drummer, despite not playing on it) was absent on maternity leave to have her first child, a daughter named Kerry. Other drum parts were performed by engineer Adrian Barber , session musician Tommy Castanaro, and Billy Yule (Doug Yule's younger brother), who was still in high school at the time. During

17556-412: The studio—all these fuzzers and compressors. Gary Kellgren , who is ultra-competent, told us repeatedly: "You can't do it—all the needles are on red." and we reacted as we always reacted: "Look, we don't know what goes on in there and we don't want to hear about it. Just do the best you can." And so the album is fuzzy, there's all that white noise...we wanted to do something electronic and energetic. We had

17710-545: The time of its release was generally negative, with Rolling Stone pronouncing it "a disaster". Reed found the poor reviews it received very disheartening. Since then the album has been critically reevaluated, and in 2003 Rolling Stone included it in their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Berlin peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart . Following the commercial disappointment of Berlin , Reed befriended Steve Katz of Blood, Sweat & Tears (brother of his then-manager Dennis Katz), who suggested Reed put together

17864-466: The tip. Those who did remove the banana skin found a pink, peeled banana beneath. Eleven songs showcased the Velvets' dynamic range, veering from the pounding attacks of " I'm Waiting for the Man " and " Run Run Run ", the droning "Venus in Furs" and " Heroin ", the chiming and celestial "Sunday Morning", to the quiet " Femme Fatale " and the tender " I'll Be Your Mirror ", as well as Warhol's own favorite song of

18018-419: The tour, causing Copeland to replace him with Ike & Tina Turner . Reed's double album Metal Machine Music (1975) was an hour of modulated feedback and guitar effects. Described by Rolling Stone as the "tubular groaning of a galactic refrigerator", many critics interpreted it as a gesture of contempt, an attempt to break his contract with RCA or to alienate his less sophisticated fans. Reed claimed that

18172-414: The two were briefly lovers. The Velvet Underground & Nico was released in March 1967 and peaked at No. 171 on the U.S. Billboard 200 . Much later, Rolling Stone listed it as the 13th greatest album of all time; Musician Brian Eno once stated that although few people bought the album at the time of its release, most of those who did were inspired to form their own bands. Václav Havel credited

18326-550: The vocals to the forefront, while reducing the album's instrumentation. The second (and more widely distributed) mix is the stereo mix done by MGM/Verve staff recording engineer Val Valentin. Another factor in the change of sound was the band's Vox amplifiers and assorted fuzzboxes were rumored to have been stolen from an airport while they were on tour and they obtained replacements by signing a new endorsement deal with Sunn . In addition, Reed and Morrison had purchased matching Fender 12-string electric guitars , but Doug Yule plays down

18480-460: Was "the first great person I ever met", and they became friends. He credited Schwartz with showing him how "with the simplest language imaginable, and very short, you can accomplish the most astonishing heights." One of Reed's fellow students at Syracuse in the early 1960s (who also studied under Schwartz) was the musician Garland Jeffreys ; they remained close friends until the end of Reed's life. Jeffreys recalled Reed's time at Syracuse: "At four in

18634-494: Was Jewish and his grandparents were Russian Jews who had fled antisemitism; his father had changed his name from Rabinowitz to Reed. Reed said that although he was Jewish, his "real god was rock 'n' roll". Reed attended Atkinson Elementary School in Freeport and went on to Freeport Junior High School. His sister Merrill, born Margaret Reed, said that as an adolescent, he suffered panic attacks , became socially awkward and "possessed

18788-431: Was a concept album about two speed-freaks in love in the city. The songs variously concern domestic violence ("Caroline Says I", "Caroline Says II"), drug addiction ("How Do You Think It Feels"), adultery and prostitution ("The Kids"), and suicide ("The Bed"). Reed's late 1973 European tour, featuring lead guitarists Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner , mixed his Berlin material with older numbers. Response to Berlin at

18942-406: Was a sellout and did not want to participate in a structured gig. He was replaced on drums by Moe Tucker , the sister of Reed and Morrison's mutual friend Jim Tucker. Initially a fill-in for that one show, she soon became a full-time member with her drumming an integral part of the band's sound, despite Cale's initial objections. Though it had little commercial success, the band is considered one of

19096-674: Was almost entirely Yule's work. After leaving the Velvet Underground, Reed moved to his parents' home on Long Island , and took a job at his father's tax accounting firm as a typist, by his own account earning $ 40 a week ($ 314 in 2023 dollars). He began writing poetry, which was published later in 2018 by Anthology Editions through the Lou Reed Estate. He signed a recording contract with RCA Records in 1971 and recorded his first solo album at Morgan Studios in Willesden , London with session musicians including Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman from

19250-434: Was also interested in rock music. Young's use of extended drones would be a profound influence on the band's early sound. Cale was pleasantly surprised to discover that Reed's experimentalist tendencies were similar to his own: Reed sometimes used alternative guitar tunings to create a droning sound. The pair rehearsed and performed together; their partnership and shared interests built the path towards what would later become

19404-449: Was brought home one day, having had a mental breakdown , after which he remained "depressed, anxious, and socially unresponsive" for a time, and that his parents were having difficulty coping. Visiting a psychologist, Reed's parents were made to feel guilty as inadequate parents, and they consented to giving him electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Reed appeared to blame his father for the treatment to which he had been subjected. He wrote about

19558-482: Was brought in as a session musician by the producer Bob Shad to play on both songs, and the single was played by a substitute DJ during the Murray the K radio show, which gave Reed his first-ever airplay. Reed's love for playing music and his desire to play gigs brought him into confrontation with his anxious and unaccommodating parents. His sister recalled that during his first year in college, at New York University , he

19712-494: Was creative tension between Reed and Cale, its effects have been exaggerated over the years. Cale played his last show with the band at the Boston Tea Party in September 1968 and was fired shortly afterwards. According to Michael Carlucci, a friend of Robert Quine , "Lou told Quine that the reason why he had to get rid of Cale in the band was Cale's ideas were just too out there. Cale had some wacky ideas. He wanted to record

19866-434: Was dedicated in 1982, and was designated a Level I Trauma Center in the same year (now it is a level II trauma center). A major expansion was completed in 2004. In 2005 Brookdale became a 911 receiving Stroke Center. The hospital was under the management of MediSys Health Network for twelve years; this ended a year after Medisys's CEO and others pleaded guilty to federal charges, including bribery. In late October 2012,

20020-418: Was designed by Dick Smith, then a staff artist at MGM/Verve. Released on March 12, 1969, the album failed to make Billboard' s Top 200 album chart. The harsh, abrasive tendencies on the first two records were almost entirely absent on their third album. This resulted in a gentler sound influenced by folk music , prescient of the songwriting style that would soon form Reed's solo career. While Reed had covered

20174-463: Was during this period that Morrison heard Yule playing guitar in his apartment, and mentioned to Reed that Yule was practicing guitar and was improving quickly. It was following this discussion that led to a phone call from Steve Sesnick inviting Yule to meet with the band at Max's Kansas City in New York City in October 1968 to discuss joining the Velvets before two upcoming shows in Cleveland, Ohio, at

20328-585: Was enthusiastically received by critics such as Rolling Stone writer Tom Carson, whose review began, "Lou Reed's The Blue Mask is a great record, and its genius is at once so simple and unusual that the only appropriate reaction is wonder. Who expected anything like this from Reed at this late stage of the game?" In the Village Voice , Robert Christgau called The Blue Mask "his most controlled, plainspoken, deeply felt, and uninhibited album." After Legendary Hearts (1983) and New Sensations (1984), Reed

20482-442: Was finalized and mixed, it had yet to be mastered and was not set to be released by Atlantic until November of that year. Reed often said he was completely surprised when he saw Loaded in stores. He also said, "I left them to their album full of hits that I made". Reed was perturbed about a verse being edited from the Loaded version of " Sweet Jane ". " New Age " was changed as well: as originally recorded, its closing line ("It's

20636-477: Was generally much more relaxed than it would later become: Cale described this era as reminiscent of beat poetry, with MacLise playing gentle "pitter and patter rhythms behind the drone". In July 1965, Reed, Cale and Morrison recorded a demo tape at their Ludlow Street loft without MacLise, because he refused to be tied down to a schedule and would turn up to band practice sessions only when he wanted. When he briefly returned to Britain, Cale attempted to give

20790-452: Was his 1976 debut for his new record label Arista , and Street Hassle (1978) was released in the midst of the punk rock scene he had helped to inspire. Reed took on a watchful, competitive and sometimes dismissive attitude towards punk. Aware that he had inspired the scene, he regularly attended shows at CBGB to track the artistic and commercial development of numerous punk bands, and a cover illustration and interview of Reed appeared in

20944-507: Was later also shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. From 1992, Reed was romantically linked to avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson , and the two worked together on several recordings. They married on April 12, 2008. In 1997, the BBC created a version of Perfect Day which featured many artists, including Reed. Initially created for advertising purposes, it was later released as

21098-546: Was musically atypical for Reed, it eventually became his signature song. It came about as a result of a commission to compose a soundtrack to a theatrical adaptation of Nelson Algren 's novel of the same name ; the play failed to materialize. "Walk on the Wild Side" was Reed's only entry in the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, at No. 16. Ronson's arrangements brought out new aspects of Reed's songs. " Perfect Day ", for example, features delicate strings and soaring dynamics. It

21252-500: Was necessary to treat Reed's mental and behavioral issues. Upon his recovery from his illness and associated treatment, Reed resumed his education at Syracuse University in 1960, studying journalism, film directing, and creative writing. He was a platoon leader in ROTC ; he said he was later expelled from the program for holding an unloaded gun to his superior's head. Reed played music on campus under numerous band names (one being L.A. and

21406-456: Was nominated for a Grammy Award for best male rock vocal performance for the album. Reed met John Cale for the first time in several years at Warhol's funeral in 1987. They worked together on the album Songs for Drella (April 1990), a song cycle about Warhol. On the album, Reed sings of his love for his late friend, and criticizes both the doctors who were unable to save Warhol's life and Warhol's would-be assassin, Valerie Solanas . In 1990,

21560-454: Was on drums. Also at these appearances, the band often played an extended jam they had dubbed "Booker T", after musician Booker T. Jones . Some of these performances have been released as a bootleg ; they remain the only record of MacLise with the Velvet Underground. According to Morrison, MacLise is said to have regretted leaving the Velvet Underground and wanted to rejoin, but Reed specifically prohibited this and made it clear that this stint

21714-631: Was one of the things to do if we were going to move away from that…" Steve Sesnick was soon brought in as a replacement manager, much to the chagrin of Cale, who believes that Sesnick tried to push Reed as band leader at the expense of band harmony. Both Cale and Reed called Sesnick a "snake" in different interviews after leaving the band. In September 1967, the Velvet Underground began recording their second album, White Light/White Heat , with Tom Wilson as producer. The band performed live often, and their performances became louder and harsher and often included extended improvisations . Warhol arranged for

21868-468: Was only temporary. MacLise still behaved eccentrically with time and commerce and went by his own clock: for instance, he showed up half an hour late to one show and carried on with a half-hour of drumming to compensate for his late arrival, long after the set had finished. In December 1966, Warhol and David Dalton designed Issue 3 of the multimedia Aspen . Included in this issue of the "magazine", which retailed at $ 4 ($ 38 in 2023 dollars ) per copy and

22022-436: Was packaged in a hinged box designed to look like Fab laundry detergent, were various leaflets and booklets, one of which was a commentary on rock and roll by Lou Reed, another an EPI promotional newspaper. Also enclosed was a 2-sided flexi disk : side one produced by Peter Walker , a musical associate of Timothy Leary ; and side two titled "Loop", credited to the Velvet Underground but actually recorded by Cale alone. "Loop",

22176-554: Was recorded primarily in Scepter Studios in New York City during April 1966, but for reasons unclear, some songs were rerecorded at TTG Studios in Los Angeles , along with the new song " Sunday Morning ", later in the year with Tom Wilson producing. The album was released by Verve Records the following year in March 1967. The album cover is famous for its Warhol design: a yellow banana sticker with "Peel slowly and see" printed near

22330-488: Was rediscovered in the 1990s and allowed Reed to drop "Walk on the Wild Side" from his concerts. Several years later, Bowie and Reed fell out during a late-night meeting which led to Reed hitting Bowie. Bowie had reportedly told Reed that he would have to "clean up his act" if they were to work together again. Reed hired a local New York bar-band, the Tots, to tour in support of Transformer and spent much of 1972 and early 1973 on

22484-400: Was released on March 12, 1967 (after a lengthy delay by Verve), and reached No. 171 on Billboard magazine's Top 200 charts. The commercial growth of the album was hampered by a legal claim: as the album's back cover included a photo of the group on stage with an unauthorized image projected behind them of actor Eric Emerson from a Warhol motion picture, Chelsea Girls , Emerson made

22638-404: Was replaced by Moe Tucker , who played on most of the band's recordings. Though their integration of rock and the avant-garde earned them little commercial success, they are now widely regarded as one of the most influential bands in rock, underground , experimental , and alternative music. Their provocative subject matter, experimentation, and nihilistic attitude were also instrumental in

22792-451: Was reported to have been discovered in an archive at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania. Throughout the 1970s, Reed was a heavy user of methamphetamine and alcohol. In the summer of 1975, he was booked to headline Startruckin' 75 in Europe, a touring rock festival organized by Miles Copeland . However, Reed's drug addiction made him unreliable and he never performed on

22946-452: Was reportedly returned to stores by the thousands and was withdrawn after a few weeks. Lou Reed doesn't just write about squalid characters, he allows them to leer and breathe in their own voices, and he colors familiar landscapes through their own eyes. In the process, Reed has created a body of music that comes as close to disclosing the parameters of human loss and recovery as we're likely to find. That qualifies him, in my opinion, as one of

23100-485: Was sufficiently reestablished as a public figure to become a spokesman for Honda scooters. In the early 1980s, Reed worked with guitarists including Chuck Hammer on Growing Up in Public , and Robert Quine on The Blue Mask and Legendary Hearts . Reed's 1984 album New Sensations marked the first time that Reed had charted within the US Top 100 since 1978's Street Hassle , and the first time that Reed had charted in

23254-411: Was the "drone strum", an eighth-note rhythm guitar style used by Reed. Although Cale was the band's usual bassist, if he switched to viola or keyboards, Morrison would normally play bass. Despite his proficiency on the instrument, Morrison hated playing bass. Conversely, some songs had Reed and Morrison playing their usual guitars with Cale on viola or keyboards, but with nobody playing bass. The album

23408-529: Was the darkly comic " The Gift ", a short story written by Reed and narrated by Cale in his deadpan Welsh accent . The meditative "Here She Comes Now" was later covered by Galaxie 500 , Cabaret Voltaire , and Nirvana , among others. The album was released on January 30, 1968, entering the Billboard Top 200 chart for two weeks, at number 199. Tensions were growing: the group was tired of receiving little recognition for its work, and Reed and Cale were pulling

23562-485: Was to integrate them into the Exploding Plastic Inevitable . Warhol's associates inspired many of Reed's songs as he fell into a thriving, multifaceted artistic scene. Reed rarely gave an interview without paying homage to Warhol as a mentor. Warhol pushed the band to take on a chanteuse , the German former model and singer Nico . Despite his initial resistance, Reed wrote several songs for Nico to sing, and

23716-403: Was used in the 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums ; "I'm Sticking With You" has a rare Moe Tucker–Lou Reed dual-lead vocal track, with Doug Yule accompanying on piano, and was included in the film Juno . The rest of the recordings, as well as some alternative takes and instrumental tracks were later bundled on Another View which was released in 1986. After Reed's departure, he later reworked

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