Genre-altering, singer and songwriter Lou Reed passed away on Oct. 27 at the age of 71 due to complications from a recent liver transplant, but his musical influence continues to live on in the hearts of many.
Reed is best known for being the front-man of the indie-rock band, “The Velvet Underground.” One of his best known tracks would be “Walk on the Wild Side” that would be a Top 40 solo hit. Through his intimate sound, simplistic bass lines and gritty lyrics, Reed often painted poetically dark pictures showing the underbelly of city-life in his works.
He leaves behind his wife, musician Laurie Anderson, whom he married in 2008.
According to NPR, “Reed’s songs as a guitarist for The Velvet Underground and later during his solo career blended art and noise in deceptively simple combinations, with his New York-inflected voice telling stories of street deals and odd characters.”
Over the years Reed has worked with and influenced many well-known musicians and artists including Metallica, David Bowie, Andy Warhol, REM and Talking Heads.
“There is no one like him,” Dylan Matz, 18, a music major at Bucks said. “If you ask any musician, they all say they have been influenced by him.”
Since Reed’s death, many have been expressing their sorrow for the rock legends passing. Artists and actors such as David Bowie, Miley Cyrus, Iggy Pop, Samuel L. Jackson, Elijah Wood, and many others paid their respects to Reed. Over 30,000 posts from fans expressing condolences for the artist have appeared on Reed’s official Facebook page.
“It was three years ago when I first heard of him,” Miranda Krause, 18, communications major said. “I was sitting around a fire with some friends and listening to music when I first heard him…It’s a shame, he’s amazing.”
Reed was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1947.
According to the Grammy-award winning documentary “Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart”, Reed got his start in the music industry in 1964 at Pickwick Records as a company songwriter. In the very same year he scored a small hit with his song entitled “The Ostrich”, which was a satire of 1960’s dance songs,
While working for Pickwick, Reed met John Cale, who would later band together with two of Reed’s college
acquaintances, guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker, to form The Velvet Underground.
“Lou, lyrically, was really incredible in a different way,” Cale said in the documentary.       “Lou created mythology on the street.”
From 1964 to 1970, Reed produced three albums with the band including “The Velvet Underground & Nico” in 1967, “White Light/White Heat” in 1969 and “Loaded” in 1970.
Even though The Velvet Underground did not achieve any critical success, rock legend says that all of the 30,000 individuals, who bought their first album, started a band.
In an article written by Rolling Stone in 1975, reporter Paul Nelson says,      “Had he [Lou Reed] accomplished nothing else, his work with the Velvet Underground in the late Sixties would assure him a place in anyone’s rock & roll pantheon; those remarkable songs still serve as an articulate aural nightmare of men and women caught in the beauty and terror of sexual, street and drug paranoia, unwilling or unable to move.”
During the 1970’s, after Reed left the band, Reed entered into the sphere of David Bowie and Iggy Pop and produced several albums including “Transformer” (1972) and “Berlin” (1974).
Since then, Reed continued writing music for multiple benefits and world tours. NPR reporter Neda Ulaby says, “When Reed was not onstage or working with other artists, he was happiest in New York City, where he mellowed into a Lower Manhattan elder statesman, riding his bike, practicing tai chi and taking photos.”