Finished Su 8/4/13
Post on Good Reads-
The book delivers everything you could possibly want to know about one of the most important musical figures in contemporary music, but the overall impression of the man is that he is a most unpleasant and possibly mentally unbalanced individual. Sometimes 'heroes' are not the kind of people that you would want to befriend, and this seems absolutely true with Lou Reed.
Regardless of his disturbing personality one cannot deny the tremendous influence of his band, The Velvet Underground, and Lou Reed's other solo projects, and if you are a fan of the music (I am), you can't help but to have a certain degree of curiosity about the man who was responsible for all the wondrous music. The author of the book, Victor Bockris shares a background with Reed as both men had ties to Andy Warhol's Factory, and they both are livelong denizens of NYC. If an author and his subject have nothing in common, it might be easier to dismiss such unduly harsh observations, but since Bockris and Reed did share part of the same 'scene', I am inclined to agree with this writer's perspective on his subject. But never forget that the 'real' Lou Reed can always be found in his music, and his out-of-control life is only secondary to his monumental impact on nearly every aspect of contemporary music.
MY FIRST SHOT AT THE REVIEW
This book provides just about everything one could possibly want to know about one of the most important voices in music. However, it's unfortunate that the most important fact the one learns is the Lou Reed is not a very nice person. But I would be willing to go along with Victor Bockris's assessment since both men had close ties to Andy Warhol. Lou Reed got his first shot at fame and fortune as kind of the 'house band' for Andy Warhol's Factory during his tenure with THE EXPLODING PLASTIC INEVITABLE, and Victor Bockris was a writer for Warhol's magazine, INTERVIEW during the 1970's.
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