Backstory:
Lou called his sister, who was living on Long Island with her husband, Harold, to warn her about the [new] album. “Bunny, I have to tell you something.”From "Lou Reed Described Bob Dylan as a ‘Pretentious Kike’/The legendary musician is accused in a new book of racial slurs and abusing women."
“What did you do now?”
“This song’s coming out.” Lou recited the lyrics of “Kill Your Sons”...
“Are you serious?” asked Bunny. “You wipe out my lifestyle and my husband in four phrases?”
“Ah, I needed something to rhyme with train. So I had to take poetic license.”
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37 comments:
Check the record sales of Lou v Bob.
No contest.
Lou was sub third rate.
I have always liked Lou Reed. Maybe I'm just a people person.
No point comparing anyone to Bob.
If only Reed had restricted his slander to Republicans and misogyny to Bristol Palin, he would be remembered today for his outspoken and passionate idealism.
Well, bad as it sounds, Pretentious Kike is just another way to say Hebrew a Prophet. The Word' behind it is the thing.
Anything is OK if it's "art".
Reed was legendary to whom?
NYC hipsters?
He was legendarily bad. I wouldn't cross State street to see him free at the Majestic.
"No point comparing anyone to Bob."
Makes me think of all the artists over the years that have been called 'the new Bob Dylan.'
Springsteen, of course, was one of these 'new Dylans'. Springsteen being the guy who only wrote one good song, and the only listenable version of it was the cover by Manfred Mann..
Do NOT compare Springsteen to Dylan. Do not even compare him to Bob Seger.
Also: Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" is a gem, even if it was written by an asshole.
I am Laslo.
"and the only listenable version of it was the cover by Manfred Mann."
Manfred Mann, of course, covered Dylan's ""Quinn The Eskimo (Mighty Quinn). as "The Mighty Quinn".
Both versions are very listenable.
I am Laslo.
“Ah, I needed something to rhyme with train. So I had to take poetic license.”
Hadn't he ever heard about the rain in Spain falling mainly on the plain? Lots of words rhyme with train!
(Though I must say I like Lou Reed. And to Laslo, if you like Perfect Day, look on YouTube for Lou's live duet of it with Pavarotti - high camp, but entertaining.)
"Rock and Roll" is arguably the greatest Rock song ever written.
Bruce Springsteen did add vocals to the "Slipaway" section of Lou Reed's "Street Hassle", the weakest part of an otherwise good song.
I'll take Lou Reed over Springsteen any day.
I am Laslo.
Lou Reed was not available for comment, being dead now.
This is a nice pair with yesterday's Miles post. I didn't put Reed in my list of artist/asshole ratio contenders. I've liked some of his stuff, but don't think of him as a really great artist. He's very influential, of course, but that's because he (with the VU) was a primitive. That's a hardy staple in rock (Link Wray, Ramones, Nirvana) and we are probably due for another round of musicians with a lot of attitude and no technical chops.
Returning to Althouse's comment:
""No point comparing anyone to Bob.""
Lou Reed, contained in the list of 10 musicians influenced by Bob Dylan who are better than Bob Dylan
I'm assuming for Althouse these are Fighting Words.
I am Laslo.
I'd like to see the list of "Musicians better than Dylan and not influenced by Dylan". That would be one long list.
People are quick to declare Lou Reed an asshole, but give a pass on the likes of John Lennon.
There is some tasty stuff there -- Sexism/abuse, Homophobia and antisemitism, Racism, Harassment/bullying/acts of violence -- for those who want to see the pin prick the Lennon bubble.
But he wrote "Imagine", so there is that.
Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" is the song "Imagine" could have been, if "Imagine" wasn't such a piece of twaddled shit.
I am Laslo.
I haven't read the book, but the Guardian review states that (according to the book) he was relatively sober and happy for the last 25 years of his life, particularly after he became involved with (and later married) Laurie Anderson, whom some including me consider his artistic equal. And neither Lou nor Laurie as solo artists can match the Velvet Underground.
As for comparing Lou to Bob, I won't rank them equals, but I will say that both recorded a fair amount of subpar music, which is par for the course when you record music for 40 or 50 years.
Lou Reed – I Wanna Be Black Lyrics
I want to be black
Have natural rhythm
Shoot twenty feet of jism, too
And fuck up Jews
I want to be black
I want to be a Panther
Have a girlfriend named Samantha
And have a stable of foxy whores
Oh I want to be black
[Chorus:]
I don't want to be a fucked up, middle class,
College student anymore
I just want to have a stable of foxy little whores
Yeah, yeah I want to be black
I want to be black
I want to be like Martin Luther King
And get myself shot in spring
And lead a whole generation too
And fuck up the Jews
I want to be black, I want to be like Malcolm X
And cast a hex over President Kennedy's tomb
And have a big prick, too
A Rorschach test, this one.
I am Laslo.
I'm partial to Jerome Kern. Those who wish to ban his music because of his cultural appropriation of ragtime are overreacting.
"No point comparing anyone to Bob."
Hank Williams!
Again on "No point comparing anyone to Bob."
You can only compare Bob to Bob.
Acoustic Bob vs. Electric Bob.
Early Bob vs. Blonde on Blonde Bob.
Blonde on Blonde Bob vs. Blood on the Tracks Bob.
Blood on the Tracks Bob vs. Modern Times Bob.
And, of course:
Christian Bob vs. All The Rest of Bob.
I am Laslo.
"the times they are a changing" Bob to "I used to care, but things have changed" Bob.
Not to get too simple-minded or overly righteous, but what kind of moron would casually write a song called, "Kill Your Sons"?
Laurie Anderson may be many things but I'd bet anything that she's no doormat. If there were abusive to her it would have been the last thing he did. And people don't really change, not really. So I doubt all of it.
Reed was considered cool because of his associations with and survival of, heroin, Warhol and Nico. Sweet Jane was a pretty good song but his good songs make a very short list. I agree with Laslo, you only compare Bob to Bob.
Springsteen, of course, was one of these 'new Dylans'. Springsteen being the guy who only wrote one good song, and the only listenable version of it was the cover by Manfred Mann..
Do NOT compare Springsteen to Dylan. Do not even compare him to Bob Seger.
I heard Bob Dylan say this on the radio once:
"Some people think Bob Seger is the poor man's Bruce Springsteen, but I like to think of Bruce Springsteen as the rich man's Bob Seger."
Or something to that effect. Heh.
And then upstanding Lou went on to hawk Honda scooters.
"described Bob Dylan as a “pretentious kike.”"
The article doesn't seem to mention it but Lou Reed was jewish. Perhaps next the author will write an article about that black rapper, whose name I forget, who uses racial slurs against blacks.
" Lou Reed was jewish."
And pretentious! So he gets a pass on both slurs.
Lou Reed...always overrated by orders of magnitude. He wrote a handful of songs that were more than okay, though he was never a good performer of his slim corpus of good songs. The only album of his I own is METAL MACHINE MUSIC, which has the singular virtue of being a Lou Reed album unburdened by his awful singing. (Some people call it "unlistenable," but if you let yourself listen to it, it's actually kind of relaxing. Those who think it's unlistenable can only be unfamiliar with a whole world of music out there that is as abrasive and more so than MMM.)
Almost everyone who ever met him in person agreed Reed was a huge asshole. I'm curious how Laurie Anderson felt about it.
No point comparing anyone to Bob Dylan? That's crazy. It's one thing to love someone's music and to think that he's YOUR favorite, but to talk as if there is no other artist that compares... is just crazy.
Better than John or Paul? Not even close.
Better than Jimi? What singular thing does Bob do? Write crappy mumbo jumbo lyrics? Occasionally clever, but too often predictable and rambling.
Better than Willie Nelson? Decade after decade Willie hit the charts with not only his own songs but wrote great hits that made others famous. And Dylan is about the only one who Willie could out sing. Willie was a better songwriter and a fantastic musician, one of the top 50 guitarists of all time. Legendary. Not even close.
Johnny Cash? Pleeeese.
Elvis? Michael Jackson? Marvin? Ray freaking Charles? Not in the same league.
How about Robert Plant? Plant's a much better, more varied, writer and blows the doors off Dylan as a singer and a front man. Come on, any panties being thrown at the stage when Dylan's on it?
A 3 year spurt of really good, original songs, and he's been singing them for 50 years. That sounds like a circle of hell. "I am going to give you this great gift, but it will only last until you are 25, then you are on your own". Sounds like Bob made a deal with the devil and has been paying it off, singing the same 25 songs for 50 years. Ugg.
Actually, there is someone who compares with Bob Dylan... Bob Dylan is the Obama of Rock and Roll. Something new and shiny mistaken for something great. Words, just words, for the both of them.
Terry Castle's hilarious memoir of her friendship with Susan Sontag contains an illuminating account of Lou Reed.
Reed was mostly overrated because he was a favorite of NYC hipsters. But he will always be remembered for writing the line, "She never lost her head even when she was giving head".
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