Rest in peace, Mr. Lou Reed, you were one of a kind...

Pioneer, Dead at 71

By Jon Dolan

Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71

Lou Reed, a massively influential songwriter and guitarist who helped shape nearly fifty years of rock music, died today. The cause of his death has not yet been released, but Reed underwent a liver transplant in May.
Look back at Lou Reed's remarkable career in photos

With the Velvet Underground in the late Sixties, Reed fused street-level urgency with elements of European avant-garde music, marrying beauty and noise, while bringing a whole new lyrical honesty to rock & roll poetry. As a restlessly inventive solo artist, from the Seventies into the 2010s, he was chameleonic, thorny and unpredictable, challenging his fans at every turn. Glam, punk and alternative rock are all unthinkable without his revelatory example. "One chord is fine," he once said, alluding to his bare-bones guitar style. "Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz."  (read more)


Patti Smith mourns Lou Reed (New Yorker) - here
New Yorker article written by Reed in 1996 - here
Lou Reed lyrics - here
Rock N Roll Animal - full album
Lou Reed - Wikipedia
Velvet Underground - Loaded - full album
Velvet Underground & Nico - full album 
20 Great Lou Reed Moments (Stereogum) - here
Velvet Underground, The South Bank Show - here
Lou Reed Transformer - fabulous album here