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1[[quoteright:249:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lou250_3745.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:249:Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.]]
3
4->''"My week beats your year."''
5
6Lewis "Lou" Allan Reed (March 2, 1942 – October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter, known for his work with Music/TheVelvetUnderground and as a solo artist.
7
8After the VU, Reed faced a largely commercially unsuccessful start to his solo career, before finding a hit with "Walk on the Wild Side" after collaborating with and following the GlamRock influences of friend Music/DavidBowie. Since then, Reed mostly avoided writing songs that would typically be well-received commercially, to varying degrees of success. He explored many styles with his work, perhaps most infamously with the controversial ''Music/MetalMachineMusic''. Reed was married to fellow musician Music/LaurieAnderson.
9
10Reed passed away following a liver transplant on October 27, 2013.
11
12----
13!!Studio Discography:
14* 1972 - ''Lou Reed''
15* 1972 - ''Music/{{Transformer}}''
16* 1973 - ''Music/{{Berlin}}''
17* 1974 - ''Sally Can't Dance''
18* 1975 - ''Music/MetalMachineMusic''
19* 1975 - ''Coney Island Baby''
20* 1976 - ''Rock and Roll Heart''
21* 1978 - ''Street Hassle''
22* 1979 - ''The Bells''
23* 1980 - ''Growing Up in Public''
24* 1982 - ''The Blue Mask''
25* 1983 - ''Legendary Hearts''
26* 1984 - ''New Sensations''
27* 1986 - ''Mistrial''
28* 1989 - ''Music/NewYork1989''
29* 1990 - ''Songs for Drella'' [[note]]A collaboration with Music/JohnCale[[/note]]
30* 1992 - ''Magic and Loss''
31* 1996 - ''Set the Twilight Reeling''
32* 2000 - ''Ecstasy''
33* 2003 - ''The Raven''
34* 2007 - ''Hudson River Wind Meditations''
35* 2011 - ''Lulu'' [[note]]A collaboration with Music/{{Metallica}}[[/note]]
36----
37!!Live Discography:
38* 1974 - ''Rock 'n' Roll Animal''
39* 1975 - ''Lou Reed Live''
40* 1978 - ''Live: Take No Prisoners''
41* 1984 - ''Live in Italy''
42* 1998 - ''Perfect Night: Live in London''
43* 2001 - ''American Poet''
44* 2004 - ''Animal Serenade''
45* 2004 - ''Le Bataclan '72'' [[note]]A collaboration with Music/JohnCale and Music/{{Nico}}[[/note]]
46* 2008 - ''The Stone: Issue Three'' [[note]]A collaboration with John Zorn and Music/LaurieAnderson[[/note]]
47* 2008 - ''Berlin: Live at St. Ann's Warehouse''
48* 2008 - ''The Creation of the Universe''
49----
50
51!!! "Hey babe, take a walk on the trope side":
52* AbusiveParents: "Endless Cycle". Also probably in "My Old Man".
53* AudioAdaptation: ''Lulu'' is a musical adaptation of two nineteenth-century plays by German playwright Frank Wedekind, which were controversial at the time of their release for their frank depiction of sexuality, violence, prostitution, and lesbianism, and pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in theatre similarly to the way Reed's music pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in popular music.
54* AvantGardeMusic: Some of his music could be considered to fall into this category, especially with Music/TheVelvetUnderground. ''Lulu'' is AvantGardeMetal.
55* BaroquePop: ''Berlin''
56* TheBigRottenApple: ''New York''
57* BrooklynRage: Born in Brooklyn, and had a legendary temper.
58* TheCameo: "Street Hassle" has the, at the time, young and promising Music/BruceSpringsteen drop by for a verse.
59* ChildByRape: This line in "Busload of Faith":
60--> You can bet that if he rapes somebody
61--> there'll be no trouble having a child.
62* ConceptAlbum: ''Berlin'', ''Songs for Drella'' (with Music/JohnCale), ''Magic and Loss'', and ''The Raven''
63* ContentWarnings: The somewhat erratic liner notes for ''Music/MetalMachineMusic'' end with them.
64--> ''As way of disclaimer, I am forced to say that, due to stimulation of various centres (remember OOOHHHMMM, etc.), the possible negative contraindications must be pointed out. A record has to, of all things. Anyway, hyper-tense people, etc., possibility of epilepsy (petite mal) psychic motor disorder etc., etc., etc. [[BadassBoast My week beats your year.]]'' - Lou Reed
65* CoolShades / SinisterShades: One of his visual trademarks.
66* CountryMatters: Used in "Street Hassle" to emphasize the MoodWhiplash when the song goes straight from a rather explicit sex scene to a woman dying of an overdose.
67--> ''Hey, that cunt's not breathing, I think she's had too much of somethingorother...''
68* CureYourGays: When he was 17, his parents had him undergo several weeks of electroshock therapy to cure him of his "homosexual tendencies" [[note]]at least that's what Lou said - his sister Bunny claims he underwent electroshock therapy because of his nervous breakdown after he'd gone to university[[/note]]. Judging by the song "Kill Your Sons", he was somewhat less than grateful.
69* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: "Halloween Parade" is about realising how many of his friends have died of AIDS (although it is explicitly named as such in the liner notes, the disease's name is never mentioned on the album itself). Averted in the case of ''Magic And Loss'', which goes into more detail than you want to know about watching someone die of cancer.
70* DrugsAreBad:
71** The whole of ''Music/{{Berlin}}'' is an account of a couple falling apart in large part due to dependency on legal and illegal drugs, culminating in [[spoiler:the woman's suicide]]. This laugh-fest has gems like "Caroline Says II":
72--->All of her friends call her Alaska
73--->When she takes speed, they'll laugh and ask her
74--->What is in her mind?
75--->But she's not afraid to die;
76--->All of her friends call her Alaska;
77--->It's so cold in Alaska...
78** One of Reed's best-known and loved songs, "Perfect Day" from ''Music/{{Transformer}}'', has been interpreted as being about heroin use. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr9zT5nfKnc Reed himself has said that he didn't write it that way]] [[SincerityMode and that it is just a love song,]] [[DeathOfTheAuthor but doesn't refute other people's interpretation.]]
79--->It's such a perfect day;
80--->You made me forget myself;
81--->I thought I was someone else, someone good....
82* EpicRocking: Frequently, especially live, but the crowners are the studio version of "Like a Possum" at 18:02 and "Junior Dad" at 19:30.
83* EmptyShell: The title character of "Billy" by the end of the song.
84* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: "Families", "Standing on Ceremony".
85* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: "Sad Song," [[ShapedLikeItself which is a sad song]]. [[LyricalDissonance If you ignore the lyrics]] it might not seem like it at first though.
86* FearSong: "Waves of Fear" describes a panic attack in detail.
87* {{Gayngst}}: "Families" can be interpreted as such.
88%% * Getting Crap Past The Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
89* GreenEyedMonster: A common theme through Reed's work. He believed that jealousy was a destructive emotion.
90* GriefSong: ''Songs for Drella'' and ''Magic and Loss'' are both grief ''albums'' (for Creator/AndyWarhol and Doc Pomus, respectively).
91* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: "Women" could be interpreted this way, although it's more likely intended as an anti-MisogynySong.
92* HellBentForLeather: One of his visual trademarks was his leather jacket.
93* IWantSong: "I Wanna Be Black", where Reed professes his desire to be a black man.
94* {{Jerkass}}: Both main characters of ''Music/{{Berlin}}'' qualify. Caroline is serially unfaithful, a neglectful parent, and so on, while Jim is a domestic abuser who gets custody of their children taken away from her purely out of spite and doesn't feel any remorse after his mistreatment of Caroline [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide drives her to suicide]]]], and in fact rationalizes it by saying "somebody else would have broken both of her arms". Of course, it's also possible that some or all of Caroline's characterization is a case of UnreliableNarrator, since we mostly have to take Jim's word for her actions, and various things he says throughout the course of the album suggest that he may not exactly be the stablest individual out there.
95* LiveAlbum: ''Rock 'n' Roll Animal'', ''Lou Reed Live'', ''Take No Prisoners'', among others.
96* LyricalDissonance: If you'd never heard "Walk on the Wild Side" before and just listened to the backing track--a smooth, upbeat, hook-filled bit of jazzy folk-pop with some light orchestral strings in the second half, you'd never guess in a million years that the song had lyrics that dealt with drugs, male prostitution, transgender identity[[note]]which has considered taboo in the '70s[[/note]], and oral sex.
97* MisogynySong: Inverted with "Women". Played straight in "There She Goes Again", with the line "You'd better hit her", though it may have been intended as a deconstruction, since it's based around jealousy, which Reed called "a horrible, destructive emotion". DomesticAbuse is also a major component of ''Berlin''; Jim attempts to justify his actions at the end of the album by saying "Somebody else would have broken both her arms", but we're clearly not actually supposed to ''like'' Jim.
98* MyGreatestFailure: How Reed regarded ''Music/{{Berlin}}''. It was perhaps the most ambitious thing he ever did, but it flopped commercially and was savaged by critics (though it was [[VindicatedByHistory retroactively deemed one of his best albums]]).
99* NewSoundAlbum: Fairly frequently, especially considering his shift to glam rock, followed by "NoiseRock" and experimentation with various musical styles.
100* ObsessionSong: "Satellite of Love" and pretty much all of ''Music/{{Berlin}}''. Reed considered jealousy "a destructive, horrible emotion," and his work could sometimes get {{Anvilicious}} about this (although it was also frequently misinterpreted, as on ''Berlin'' - we're not actually supposed to ''like'' the characters on that album).
101* OdeToIntoxication: Played straight ("The Power of Positive Drinking"), subverted ("Street Hassle"), and averted ("Waves of Fear").
102** HoistByHisOwnPetard[=/=]OhCrap: "Underneath the Bottle," about how his attempts to get off of drugs via drinking backfired on him.
103* PissTakeRap: "The Original Wrapper" features Lou rapping. It's hard to tell if it was meant as joke or not, but either way, he's not very proficient at it.
104* PrecisionFStrike: "Sex with Your Parents" is basically one long set-up about how MoralGuardians do what they do to hide the shame of having had [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin sex with their parents]], ending with
105--> ''Here in [[BigApplesauce the big city]] we have a word... By God, we have a name for people like that...''
106--> ''Hey, motherfucker!''
107* ProtestSong: Several songs on ''New York'': "There Is No Time", "Hold On", "Last Great American Whale", "Good Evening Mr. Waldheim", "Dirty Blvd."
108* ProtoPunk: He is seen as one of the most influential artists in the genre.
109* RedOniBlueOni: To a certain extent with Music/JohnCale – VU turned away from the assault of ''Music/WhiteLightWhiteHeat'' to a more accessible direction under his lead, and when PunkRock broke, Reed was recording singer-songwritery albums and dismissing the movement, while Cale had been recording proto-punk music for years, e.g. on 1974's "Fear". Then again, Cale also recorded the BaroquePop ''Paris 1919'' and Reed recorded the infamously abrasive ''Music/MetalMachineMusic'', so it's not like this trope defined their post-VU careers.
110* RefugeInAudacity: "I Wanna Be Black".
111* RockOpera: ''Music/{{Berlin}}'', about two doomed lovers in the titular city; ''Songs for Drella'', about Creator/AndyWarhol,; and ''Lulu'', based on the ''Lulu'' plays by Frank Wedekind.
112* {{Sampling}}: Sort of.. ''Street Hassle'' opener "Gimmie Some Good Times" features a riff very similar to "Sweet Jane" and even opens with a few lines from it, though it's newly recorded and no literal sampling takes place.
113* SelfDeprecation: When the [[ExecutiveMeddling record company]] made him put out ''Lou Reed Live'', cobbled together from the same show as ''Rock 'n' Roll Animal'', Lou made sure the last sound on the album was a fan in the audience shouting "LOU REED SUCKS!"
114* SelfTitledAlbum: His solo debut.
115* SexByProxy: Suggested in "How Do You Think It Feels?"
116--> ''How do you think it feels\
117 To always make love by proxy''
118* ShoutOut: Delmore in "My House" is Delmore Schwartz, American poet and writer, whom Lou met at university.
119* TheSixties: "The Day John Kennedy Died".
120* TheSomethingSong: "Sad Song", "Who Am I? (Triptena's Song)".
121* SpokenWord: His singing often borders on this.
122* TakeThat: Notably on the live album ''Take No Prisoners'', where he calls [[TakeThatCritics Village Voice critic Robert Christgau]] a "toe fucker", and he also takes a potshot at Music/PattiSmith by shouting "Fuck ''Music/RadioEthiopia''! I'm Radio Brooklyn!".
123** "Dirt" is a very fiery song that's reportedly aimed at an ex-manager of his.
124* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: "Good Evening Mr. Waldheim" is one of these directed at then-President of Austria Kurt Waldheim who was found to have historical ties to the Nazi Party. However, Lou detours to dedicate an entire verse to deliver another one to Jesse Jackson over his perceived anti-semitism.
125* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: "One chord is fine. Two chords is pushing it. Three chords is jazz." Of course, quite a lot of his work averts this (such as ''Music/{{Berlin}}'').
126* Main/ThrivingExCrush: "Baton Rouge", which is a reflection on the narrator's failed marriage (possibly related to Reed's marriage to Sylvia Morales), with the following lines:
127--> So thanks for the card the announcement of child
128--> And I must say you and Sam look great
129--> Your daughter's gleaming in that -
130--> - white wedding dress with pride
131--> Sad to say I could never bring that to you that wide smile
132* UncommonTime: Occasionally. The opening of "Junior Dad" is in 9/4, for example.
133* UnreliableNarrator: There is quite a lot of evidence to suggest that Jim is this on ''Music/{{Berlin}}''.
134* VocalEvolution: While Lou never had the prettiest voice to begin with, he ''did'' used to sing really well, especially during his time with Music/TheVelvetUnderground. Sometimes he could even sound sweet. As time went on, poor technique and constant drugs turned his voice into the coarse and barely in-tune croaky monotone most people know he sounds like.
135* WhamLine: "This is the place where [[spoiler:she cut her wrist]]" in "The Bed".

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