Lou Reed: Dead

[Sukebe GG]

Zappa? Oh please, negrito...

During the early years of its heyday, Laurel Canyon?s father figure is the rather eccentric personality known as Frank Zappa. Though he and his various Mothers of Invention line-ups will never attain the commercial success of the band headed by the admiral?s son, Frank will be a hugely influential figure among his contemporaries. Ensconced in an abode dubbed the ?Log Cabin? ? which sat right in the heart of Laurel Canyon, at the crossroads of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Lookout Mountain Avenue ? Zappa will play host to virtually every musician who passes through the canyon in the mid- to late-1960s. He will also discover and sign numerous acts to his various Laurel Canyon-based record labels. Many of these acts will be rather bizarre and somewhat obscure characters (think Captain Beefheart and Larry ?Wild Man? Fischer), but some of them, such as psychedelic rocker cum shock-rocker Alice Cooper, will go on to superstardom.
 
Zappa, along with certain members of his sizable entourage (the ?Log Cabin? was run as an early commune, with numerous hangers-on occupying various rooms in the main house and the guest house, as well as in the peculiar caves and tunnels lacing the grounds of the home; far from the quaint homestead the name seems to imply, by the way, the ?Log Cabin? was a cavernous five-level home that featured a 2,000+ square-foot living room with three massive chandeliers and an enormous floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace), will also be instrumental in introducing the look and attitude that will define the ?hippie? counterculture (although the Zappa crew preferred the label ?Freak?). Nevertheless, Zappa (born, curiously enough, on the Winter Solstice of 1940) never really made a secret of the fact that he had nothing but contempt for the ?hippie? culture that he helped create and that he surrounded himself with.
 
Given that Zappa was, by numerous accounts, a rigidly authoritarian control-freak and a supporter of U.S. military actions in Southeast Asia, it is perhaps not surprising that he would not feel a kinship with the youth movement that he helped nurture. And it is probably safe to say that Frank?s dad also had little regard for the youth culture of the 1960s, given that Francis Zappa was, in case you were wondering, a chemical warfare specialist assigned to ? where else? ? the Edgewood Arsenal. Edgewood is, of course, the longtime home of America?s chemical warfare program, as well as a facility frequently cited as being deeply enmeshed in MK-ULTRA operations. Curiously enough, Frank Zappa literally grew up at the Edgewood Arsenal, having lived the first seven years of his life in military housing on the grounds of the facility. The family later moved to Lancaster, California, near Edwards Air Force Base, where Francis Zappa continued to busy himself with doing classified work for the military/intelligence complex. His son, meanwhile, prepped himself to become an icon of the peace & love crowd. Again, nothing unusual about that, I suppose.
 
Zappa?s manager, by the way, is a shadowy character by the name of Herb Cohen, who had come out to L.A. from the Bronx with his brother Mutt just before the music and club scene began heating up. Cohen, a former U.S. Marine, had spent a few years traveling the world before his arrival on the Laurel Canyon scene. Those travels, curiously, had taken him to the Congo in 1961, at the very time that leftist Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was being tortured and killed by our very own CIA. Not to worry though; according to one of Zappa?s biographers, Cohen wasn?t in the Congo on some kind of nefarious intelligence mission. No, he was there, believe it or not, to supply arms to Lumumba ?in defiance of the CIA.? Because, you know, that is the kind of thing that globetrotting ex-Marines did in those days (as we?ll see soon enough when we take a look at another Laurel Canyon luminary).
 
Making up the other half of Laurel Canyon?s First Family is Frank?s wife, Gail Zappa, known formerly as Adelaide Sloatman. Gail hails from a long line of career Naval officers, including her father, who spent his life working on classified nuclear weapons research for the U.S. Navy. Gail herself had once worked as a secretary for the Office of Naval Research and Development (she also once told an interviewer that she had ?heard voices all [her] life?). Many years before their nearly simultaneous arrival in Laurel Canyon, Gail had attended a Naval kindergarten with ?Mr. Mojo Risin?? himself, Jim Morrison (it is claimed that, as children, Gail once hit Jim over the head with a hammer). The very same Jim Morrison had later attended the same Alexandria, Virginia high school as two other future Laurel Canyon luminaries ? John Phillips and Cass Elliott.
http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr93.html

[DaveK]

Fuck Bono. (this should be a thread)

Various Lou Reed/Velvet tracks serve as time stamps in my otherwise boring life. A loss for music and New York.

But the real question is - How's the John Varvatos (brought to you by CBGB) store going to respond!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[Peach Lea]

Plus the light bulb lantern face guy next to Don.

Sweet, sweet bulbs.  I wouldn't say Zappa and Lou are total opposites.  Lou being a hippy-hater?  So was Zappa, he was just more satirical about it and that sense of irony is often lost.  Zappa was a hardcore Repub who never used illicit substances, for example.

[Sukebe GG]

great points all around really. I mean, I've had a few very good friends who I bonded with deeply in other musical realms and other cultural/philosophical areas also but they could never turn me around about Frank. I also knew an older guy who worked for him in the 60s..He had a huge Krassner/RAW streak, and that is a fairly respectable vibe. No doubt there was a big shitbag of NYC Rolling Stone limo. liberal "rockcrit" bias against Zappa for his individualistic take but...Steve Vai. ahem⚀⚀ My memory of the PMRC hearings is of Zappa, Denver and, uhm, some NYer who was certainly not Lou Reed..oh, and sniff my anal vapors being read into the congressional record.

[k.]

It's too bad Lou got pilloried for "Metal Machine Music" because it would have been interesting to see what else he could do in that realm, akin to Zappa's later computer/electronic music ("Civilization Part III" destroys, say, the entire Warp catalog past, present, future).

I'm not a Zappa-hater, but this is one of the most inaccurate things ever posted on this board. Prog rock Residents rip-offs by Zappa do not exist in the same reality as Richard D. James Album, or Autechre. I take it you're over forty years old and you haven't done acid in a long while, if ever.

[JEALOUS TWIN]

Love Beefheart, hate Zappa. Haven't heard "Bongo Fury" yet. Zappa estate working on "Trout Mask Replica" remaster from the original tapes according to The Wire. Good news, though those bastards charged me over $30USD  for a CD (!) of the original "Bat Chain Puller". Gots to keep them in the style to which they've becone accustomed I suppose. Does that mean >$50USD for a "TMR" 2CD with bonus tracks?!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DEz-0JphioA

"There?s only one great occupation that can change the world, that?s real rock and roll. I believe to the bottom of my heart to the last cell that rock and roll can change anything. And I?m a graduate of Warhol university and I believe in the power of punk. To this day, I want to blow it up, thank you."

Lou Reed acceptance speech GQ Men Of The Year Awards 4 September 2013

[Peach Lea]

Peach, while I agree Frank & Lou are NOT the polar opposites their Verve era legends say, I do wanna clarify that FZ was, if anything, a hardcore libertarian (with an authoritarian streak concerning his intellectual property) & capitalist. (He was also always very anti-Reagan, anti- "religious" right.) Remember too, FZ went to jail on a bullshit 'pornography' charge for making simulated sex noises on a Z-film soundtrack in 1964, was censored on Verve etc...

Ah yes, you are 100% correct on this.  It's been a while since I've spent any familiarity in the FZ world, but you've nailed his politics far more accurately-he was certainly pretty far right despite how I've heard him referred to at least once as the "musical Abbie Hoffman."  Which is total crap.  But I also agree with you Judge about FZ post 1970 being of more personal interest than Lou post 1970.

[Parsnip]

I'd like some Re-evolution too.

Love Beefheart, hate Zappa. Haven't heard "Bongo Fury" yet. Zappa estate working on "Trout Mask Replica" remaster from the original tapes according to The Wire. Good news, though those bastards charged me over $30USD  for a CD (!) of the original "Bat Chain Puller". Gots to keep them in the style to which they've becone accustomed I suppose. Does that mean >$50USD for a "TMR" 2CD with bonus tracks?!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DEz-0JphioA

"There?s only one great occupation that can change the world, that?s real rock and roll. I believe to the bottom of my heart to the last cell that rock and roll can change anything. And I?m a graduate of Warhol university and I believe in the power of punk. To this day, I want to blow it up, thank you."

Lou Reed acceptance speech GQ Men Of The Year Awards 4 September 2013

[scott b]

It's too bad Lou got pilloried for "Metal Machine Music" because it would have been interesting to see what else he could do in that realm, akin to Zappa's later computer/electronic music ("Civilization Part III" destroys, say, the entire Warp catalog past, present, future).

I'm not a Zappa-hater, but this is one of the most inaccurate things ever posted on this board. Prog rock Residents rip-offs by Zappa do not exist in the same reality as Richard D. James Album, or Autechre. I take it you're over forty years old and you haven't done acid in a long while, if ever.

i was going to say the same. early lfo, elecktroids, the whole artificial intelligence series is essential (along with aphex/polygon window and autechre as you mentioned)

[Eazy-E]

[cranley]

“LOU REED, 71"

the easiest heroes are consistent
but the ones who really shape us
are random maniacs
whose work we stumble across
at times in our lives
we desperately need misdirection

and so it was i met the music of lou reed
through a guy named buzz
who’d bought the first velvets album
but didn’t like it
just the way he hadn’t liked the first mothers album
a month earlier
which meant i got each for a buck

there is literally no way to describe
the way that record hit me
i was a ten year old seventh grader
and the first time i played the album
i was transformed into someone else
someone who knew more than my contemporaries
even if i couldn’t quite shake it all out

lou and john and sterling and moe
gave me much more info
than i could understand
but they did it in a way
i loved so intuitively
with music exploding in such amazing directions
it made sense on a molecular level

and through the years i followed lou
good scenes, bad scenes, he put us through it all
but we kinda paid attention
because, after all
this motherfucker
this lou reed

this electroshocked cocksucking bastard
who put out many more lousy records than good
was the father of everyone i’ve ever known
and i never thought he’d die
and i really miss him

more than i ever thought i would

— Byron Coley

[Jackie O]

http://www.spin.com/articles/lou-reed-unleashes-metal-machine-music-nyc/


This show was unlike anything I have ever experienced in my mere 29 years of existence.  I chose that photograph because of the scar, but I never got a confirmed story on what kind of procedure it was from.  Did he have metal rods in his arm?  My Grandfather lives down the street from Summit High School, so whenever I go to visit I get this other-lifetime-nostalgia for what it must have been like in 1965.  RIP.

[Spacecase Records]

Lou was great.

Being from Southern California I can say that Beefheart impressed me like no other. He was from Lancaster. If you've never been to Lancaster, it's one of the most depressing, godforsaken areas in California. That a genius came from Lancaster is mind boggling. I don't care too much for Zappa. He bought the studio the Surfaris recorded "Wipe Out" at. That's pretty cool.

[cenotaph]

Stop talking about Zappa.

This hit me harder than I thought it would, considering how I never get sad about musicians dying who I didn't know personally (with the exception of Charles Gocher). I grabbed a used tape of VU & Nico from Eide's entertainment in Pittsburgh when I was in 7th or 8th grade (I had read about them in books I got out from the library about punk rock) and I still remember coming home from some family visit that night and putting the tape in my stereo for the first time. It was rewound to the beginning of side two so 'Heroin' was the first track, which I had read so much about, but it didn't prepare me for the searing drone of viola (which I thought was feedback) and the intensity of it. I actually was scared by music, for the first and last time.

I continually go back to those records and as I've gotten older (i'm 33 now) different things make sense to me. Now Loaded is my jam, and nuthin' is more beautiful that 'Oh Sweet'.... Let me eulogise here, cause this is huge. Only the death of Dylan wlll matter as much.

I hate people telling me who is 'important' but it's true; no one besides Dylan and the VU impacted meaningful music (to me) as much (Stooges and Beatles are behind them, sure) and when Springsteen or Jagger kick it, there will surely be bigger waves of grief in popular culture, but you and I, we know the truth.

[Sukebe GG]