Walking on the Wild Side - Lou Reed: 1942-2013

by Julian Spivey
Lou Reed, in my opinion, wrote the greatest song about transvestites ever recorded and for some reason I’ve always thought that to be incredibly cool. Probably because Lou Reed was the epitome of cool. Now, Lou Reed has died at age 71 succumbing to liver disease. There shouldn’t be anything cool about that, but seeing as how it’s something Lou Reed has done I think we may have to make an exception.
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Lou Reed — you can’t really just say ‘Lou’ or ‘Reed’ because it just doesn’t sound right as the name flows off of your tongue effortlessly with its two perfectly sounding syllables — was quite likely the most unknown of the great rock icons, but perhaps iconoclast is a better word. Many people today probably couldn’t tell you who Lou Reed was, even though they’ve certainly at some point heard the name. If they did know him it was likely because of that transvestite song that most people would misidentify him as a one-hit wonder for, without actually knowing that the song was indeed about transvestites, drug addicts, male prostitutes and actresses blowing whoever they came across in backrooms of clubs — you know typical Andy Warhol crowd stuff. They would skip all of that — all that truly makes it cool, all that makes it truly on the wild side – and remember the titular phrase and the ‘doo do doos.’      

They may not know him as a leading member of the incredibly influential ‘60s art or psychedelic rock band The Velvet Underground, even though they certainly should seeing how the group has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, been named the nineteenth greatest artist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine and released one of the most influential, popular and greatest albums of all-time in their 1967 debut “The Velvet Underground and Nico” (thirteenth greatest ever made according to Rolling Stone).

Those who don’t know Lou Reed are missing out — not just missing out on the greatest transvestite song of all-time (which is something nobody should ever deprive themselves of), but missing out on one of the coolest motherfuckers to ever make their mark on pop culture. A man who made some of the coolest sounding music that has ever been made.

Take a listen to the track “Heroin,” off of the Velvet Underground’s debut, and tell me it’s not the epitome of rock cool. It starts off as low droning, picks up its pace rapidly, goes back to that drone, picks up again and repeats until all hell breaks loose at the end. The rapidity of the track is supposedly to mimic the high that somebody feels while on the drug. It also represents the high you feel as a listener marveling at such a hauntingly beautiful record.

Then take a listen to “I’m Waiting for the Man,” also off of the debut. It’s a more gleeful-sounding take on the same topic as “Heroin,” this time the narrator is waiting to score $26 worth from his dealer. It’s a song that is essentially a precursor to the NYC punk scene that would take the stage a decade later and proves that gritty, dark themes can sound just as happy as they can mournful — something you would see from a lot of punk groups.

I probably shouldn’t really be the one to talk about Lou Reed, though. Yes, I loved his transvestite song that was his biggest hit as a solo artist. And, I deeply respect “The Velvet Underground and Nico” and think it has some of the coolest sounding stuff ever recorded. But, I don’t know as much about Lou Reed and his body of work as I should know or as The Word contributor Kellan Miller, who wrote this classic album review of “The Velvet Underground and Nico,” would know. I just think he’s one cool sonuvabitch. I like how he wrote about darker themes and subjects that most songwriters wouldn’t or couldn’t write about. He brought a different kind of scene to popular music. That’s what truly makes him cool. What truly makes him a rebel.

Lou Reed makes me want to walk on the wild side alongside the transvestites, the man whores, the junkies, the pusher men and the sadomasochists if only for four to seven minutes at a time. That may sound strange to a good many people, but Lou Reed was a poet and the great poets have this quality of making the strange incredibly sexy; incredibly cool. About as cool as Lou Reed, a man who walked the wild side for 71 years and will continue to walk it for all of eternity. It doesn’t get any cooler than that. Doo do doo do doo do do doo ...