Velvet 6 Feet Underground

(An epitaphany shared with Monty)

Lou Reed, the influential if underselling singer-songwriter, has died, somewhat unsurprisingly, of liver disease, at the age of 71, apparently confusing some fans of Lou Bega. As a member of the Andy Warhol-sponsored The Velvet Underground, Reed and company’s first album sold 30,000 copies in its first 5 years, but Brian Eno noted that every one of them started a band, so Reed will have that to answer for. Most commonly working around themes like sex (“Walk on the Wild Side”), and drugs (“Heroin”), his solo works included “Transformer,” “Berlin,” “New York,” and “Metal Machine Music,” which consisted of four sides of electric-guitar feedback strobing between two amplifiers, with Reed altering the speed of the tape recorder, and featuring no lyrics, drums, or anything anyone would remotely associate with music. Genius.