* ArchivePanic: Has a colossal catalogue, especially if you want to include his work with the Music/VelvetUnderground
* BrokenBase: ''Mistrial'' is much more synth and digital oriented than this other records, fans of his either enjoy what he did with this album or [[FanonDiscontinuity try to ignore it entirely.]]
* BileFascination: ''Music/MetalMachineMusic'' somehow managed to sell 100,000 copies despite (or perhaps ''because of'') its overwhelmingly negative critical reception, which nearly ruined Lou Reed's credibility as a musician.
* EpicRiff:
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FdWPeHFAMk Sweet Jane]]".
** The bass line on "Walk on the Wild Side," played with both a bass guitar and a stand-up bass because the session bassist realized [[MoneyDearBoy he'd get paid twice for playing two parts on the song]].
* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: The idea of Lou Reed being forced to spend a Saturday night alone in "Goodnight Ladies" is absurdly hilarious.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: He was more popular in the U.K. than in his native U.S. Not to mention his popularity in Italy and behind the Iron Curtain.
* HarsherInHindsight: It might be hard to listen to ''Le Bataclan '72'' after the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, since it happened at the same venue where the album was recorded.
* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
** "Coney Island Baby". Possibly "Perfect Day" too, depending on how you interpret it.
** Listen to Lou Reed [[ThePowerofFriendship speaking about Václav Havel]]... consistently referring to him as "President Havel" or "Mr Havel", with no hint of irony in sight.
** All of the tributes Reed got from fans and the artists he influenced upon his death.
* HilariousInHindsight: "Satellite of Love" includes the line, "Satellite's gone way up to Mars/Soon it will be filled with parking cars." That was in 1973. It's been over forty years. No cars on Mars yet.
* MemeticBadass: You will never be as cool as Lou Reed.
* NightmareFuel: The music video for "No Money Down", with a Lou Reed animatronic [[spoiler:flipping out and tearing its face and jaw off]].
* PosthumousPopularityPotential: He was already very well-regarded among critics and musicians, but when Reed died in 2013, tributes poured out from nearly every corner of the Internet.
* QuestionableCasting: Most people are confused by his collaboration with Music/{{Metallica}} on ''Lulu''.
* SignatureSong: Walk on the Wild Side", full stop. The other most popular songs by him are "Perfect Day" and "Satellite of Love" for his solo material.
** For his songs with Music/TheVelvetUnderground, the ones more associated with him are easily "Pale Blue Eyes" and "Sweet Jane".
* SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel: Yes, even Reed has an example. "Junior Dad" could practically be a Music/SigurRos song. With the RealitySubtext of it being the last song on his last album, though, it's also a TearJerker.
* TearJerker:
** A whole Tear Jerker '''album''' with ''Music/{{Berlin}}'', a ConceptAlbum about a doomed romantic couple with a woman [[spoiler:DrivenToSuicide after her children are taken away]].
** ''Lulu'' qualifies as well, especially with the RealitySubtext of it being Reed's last album. Within the context of the album, "Little Dog" is probably the most obvious example.
* UnintentionalUncannyValley: The music video for "No Money Down" shows an ''amazingly'' creepy Lou Reed animatronic lip-syncing the song. [[spoiler:It then proceeds to tear its face apart, putting into question how unintentional this is.]]
* VindicatedByHistory: Upon release, ''Music/{{Berlin}}'' was almost universally panned by critics, and called "a disaster" by ''Rolling Stone'', who would go on to include the album in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time many years later. The same goes for ''Music/MetalMachineMusic'', which has received some vindication for being a progenitor to NoiseRock and {{Industrial}}. Time will tell whether the same thing happens for ''Lulu'', although it's perhaps worth noting that Music/DavidBowie considered it Reed's best album, and drew heavy inspiration from it for his own final album, ''[[Music/BlackstarAlbum ★]]'' (which itself was highly acclaimed even before Bowie's death).
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