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Louder
Louder
Entertainment
Ian Fortnam

"He wrote stories so painfully real that rock’n’roll still bears their scars." From Velvet Underground to his often divisive solo work, here's why Lou Reed is rock’s greatest storyteller

Lou Reed Velvet Underground Berlin Bob Ezrin John Cale New York The Man NYC
Lou Reed posed smoking a cigarette during an interview in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1976.

When regarding the decidedly colourful back catalogue of the late Lou Reed, the phrase ‘all of human life is here’ springs to mind. Staged against a uniquely urban backdrop, Reed would habitually pick at the persistent scab of human frailty, shine white light upon darkness and generate searing white heat in the process.

The original version of this feature appeared in Classic Rock 264, in June 2019.
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