With the sad news of the passing of Lou Reed it seems silly to try and listen to anything other than him today. It is sad that it has taken his passing for me to revisit some of my favorite albums, albums that Lou Reed played a major roll in. In this endeavor to constantly find and listen to new music I sometimes forget to listen to the albums that made me appreciate the music I do today, the albums that really shaped my musical taste. And I would like to share a story about how I found and fell in love with Lou Reed’s music.
Growing up in rural New Zealand I sometimes felt isolated from the rest of the world. I remember that all the music I listened to came from the radio or my parents CD collection. I appreciated that my parents liked good music, but I wanted to be like my friends and listen to the top 40 on the radio. My experience of alternative or independent music was Nirvana and R.E.M. I liked Nirvana courtesy of my older sister and R.E.M because of my Dad. I listened to these two artists a lot, and up until I was about 14 I didn’t really listen to anything outside of these two artists and the radio.
But then everything changed thanks to the sales bin an Everyman Records in Nelson. I saw a strange looking album cover that immediately caught my eye. I picked it up and decided to purchase it as it was only $5. I liked the look of the man’s face with what looked like mascara and the gold outlined guitar, I thought he looked so cool. As soon as I got home I put on the CD and was blown away. It was simple, but not to simple. It wasn’t like Led Zepplin or Metallica, whom some of my friends at the time started to like. It had a simple elegance, was easy to listen to but seemed so meaningful and above all was catchy, almost pop like. I loved it instantly. I wanted to learn more about Lou Reed. I discovered The Velvet Underground not long after this and was equally blown away. My eyes were opened and this led me to discover so many more great bands. From Television and The Ramones to more current bands such as The Strokes. I yearned to discover other bands that cited Lou Reed/The Velvet Underground as an influence, and through this I found the Flying Nun back catalogue. This discovery blew me away and all of a sudden New Zealand didn’t feel so isolated from the music world anymore. There were amazing bands from my corner of the world, and the common bond between me and them was a shared love of Lou Reed/The Velvet Underground.
Apart from all of the amazing music Lou Reed was involved with, the amount of music he has had a direct influence is amazing, and we truly have lost one of the most iconic and important figures in the music world. Without Lou Reed I wouldn’t of discovered Flying Nun, so I owe a lot to him, and am thankful that I could appreciate his truly amazing body of work while he was alive, and will continue to enjoy for the rest of my life
Without Lou Reed it would be hard to imagine what music would be like as he was so influential. So thanks for everything and rest easy.
Filed under: music Tagged: Everyman Records, flying nun, Lou Reed, music, Nelson, New York, new zealand, Television, The Ramones, The Strokes, The Velvet Underground
