Lou Reed on his favourite songs of the 21st century
Lou Reed was never one to be satisfied working in one genre for the rest of his life. Even though he had his feet firmly planted in the world of art rock throughout the majority of his professional career, it wasn’t out of the question for him to try on any kind of genre that would suit him, from the glam rock pastiches in the 1970s to making pure noise on Metal Machine Music. For him, music was always evolving, and even up to his death, Reed was still interested in what the new school had to say.
So, it’s not surprising that when talking about his favourite songs, Reed singled out tracks by the likes of Nicki Minaj and her song ‘Come on a Cone’. Although the idea of one of the biggest hip-hop provocateurs being on Reed’s radar feels impossible, he may have seen himself a little bit in Minaj. After all, both of them were able to transcend the typical genre labels they had on them, and given the subject matter of the Minaj track, it feels like she was trying to provoke just like Reed had done in the 1960s with ‘Heroin’.
Granted, one can only listen to provocative music forever, and Reed’s love of traditional rock favourites fell more in line with what he was used to. Considering his love of the beautiful and harsh sides of music meshing together, the fact that he listed ‘Life in Paper’ by Fucked Up and ‘I’ll Be Loving You’ by King Khan and the BBQ Show is actually a lot less strange than you might think.
Sure, both of these artists feel like they should be on opposite ends of the musical spectrum, but the sound of punk-driven attitude combined with the smoother sounds of rock and roll is actually a lot more common for someone who built his legacy off of indie music.
Rock ‘n’ roll was only one facet of Reed’s talent. He may have created caustic sounds with his guitar, but he knew a good voice when he heard one, and hearing ‘Kali Yuga’ by Georgia Anne Muldrow is the perfect mix of R&B beauty and musical sophistication. Then again, it’s that kind of insane that made Reed so versatile.
Everyone needs a diverse palette if they want to be a songwriter, and for Reed to have this much variety in his musical taste is probably a good reason why he could contribute lines to everyone from Kiss to David Bowie to Gorillaz. For an artist as diverse as Reed, there are still some artists that jump out as up his alley, like Tom Waits, who may as well be the more theatrical barfly version of what Reed did on his recent projects like ‘Bad As Me’. Even the inclusions
If anything, many of the artists that Reed included among his favourites feel like they were born from the music he made throughout his solo catalogue and with The Velvet Underground. They may have taken the sounds of rock and roll a bit further, but it’s hard not to listen to a band like Of Montreal and not hear traces of Reed’s artistic sensibilities throughout his career.
That eclectic mentality also stayed with Reed throughout his career, eventually turning to making his experimental piece Lulu with Metallica shortly before his death. Not everything may have made sense, but Reed wasn’t concerned with making something easily palatable. It was about outlining one’s emotions, and if what’s in your heart is already a little bit messy, why try to hide it?