I would have rather waken up this morning and seen the headline “Lou Reed torn apart by baboons” than have seen this…

I’m trying to tell myself that it’s good that he’s still trying new things, but, Jesus Christ, this is so much worse than anything that I could have imagined. I mean, holding concerts for dogs is one thing – at least I could kind of justify that as performance art – but I’m finding it impossible to reconcile this. It’s like if I woke up one morning and read that George Harrison was rerecording All Things Must Pass with Jay Z and Justin Bieber. It’s one thing to lose your mind, it’s another to shit all over your legacy in the process.

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26 Comments

  1. eDWeiRD
    Posted November 13, 2011 at 12:57 pm | Permalink

    I’m with Iggy, Metal Machine Music is the best thing Lou Reed ever did. Metallica lost its integrity along with its conscience when Cliff Burton died. Why any one is surprised that this project sucks is beyond me.

  2. Posted November 13, 2011 at 1:09 pm | Permalink

    Nonsense. I applaud all involved for having some fun and obviously the are.

    Fans should not be required to have ownership over every aspect of a musician’s or artist’s life just because they spent $10 on a record at some point.

    Personally, I found being a musician (which I was never good at) and running a label (I was worse at that) stifling because of the multitudes of people who felt they had the right to tell me what I could and could not do. It’s a terrible life.

    If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it.

  3. Dan Richardson
    Posted November 13, 2011 at 2:56 pm | Permalink

    YEah, I’m getting kind of tired of the Loutallica bashing, too.
    Watch the song “Junior Dad” from the same concert. It’s kind of cool.
    All Things Must Pass with Jay-Z would be fucking amazing, are you crazy?

  4. Robert
    Posted November 13, 2011 at 3:33 pm | Permalink

    This is the second classiest thing Lou Reed ever did in his life.

  5. dirtgrain
    Posted November 13, 2011 at 3:56 pm | Permalink

    They are all selling out.

  6. Edward
    Posted November 13, 2011 at 6:10 pm | Permalink

    I heard one of the original songs he did with Metallica and it was horrid. I agree, though, that this is worse. It’s like growing up with a favorite cool uncle who you idolized, and then having to watch him blow a disgusting old business school professor for meth money.

  7. Posted November 13, 2011 at 6:36 pm | Permalink

    I never said that he shouldn’t have done it, Pete. I’m not trying to dictate how he expresses himself. All I said was that it was shit, which, I think, is my right. He’s produced works of shit before, and I’ve never said a thing. I’m not in the habit of just railing about his work, which has been uneven of late. Covering White Light White Heat like this – with these guys – though, was just too much… I’ve got no problem with the guy making money on his music. I thought that it was funny when Iggy Pop sold Lust for Life to the Carnival Cruise line. These guys busted their asses and they deserve to have the money to travel around, have nice apartments, send their kids to college and do whatever else it is that they do. This just bothered me, though. And it’s not just that I think the guys in Metallica are a joke. If anyone else had produced this, I would have said the same thing. I just stared at the computer screen with my mouth open, like I was watching Lou Reed shit his pants on stage. I was in shock.

  8. Posted November 13, 2011 at 7:04 pm | Permalink

    And, for what its’ worth, Dan, I wasn’t aware that there was a lot of criticism over this collaboration. I wasn’t even aware that people were referring to them as Loutallica. Anyway, I’m sorry if I bored you with my criticism… And I don’t know much about Jay Z. I probably could have picked a better person. I’ve only heard one of his songs. It was a cover of the song Hard Knock Life from Annie. It was execrable. If he’s got good stuff, I apologize.

  9. TeacherPatti
    Posted November 13, 2011 at 7:43 pm | Permalink

    Speaking of music, Mark, I’ll have you know that I dreamed of that fucking Hall & Oates video last night. Seriously. I was trying to show it to someone and I couldn’t get it to come up on your site and so I went to YouTube but it had been taken down for some reason…I finally got it but it was just basically Hall, Oates, that woman and the devil walking around in a circle (kind of like they do at the end of the video). Trying disturbing and one of those dreams where you can’t quite get your fingers to do what you want them to do….

  10. Bob
    Posted November 13, 2011 at 7:52 pm | Permalink

    It’s beyond shit. You can make a pretty strong argument that Lou has sucked almost since the Velvets, and that was a long time ago.

  11. Posted November 13, 2011 at 8:19 pm | Permalink

    One of my favorite things in the world is Lou’s solo live record Take No Prisoners. Granted, it has stuff from the Velvets on it, but I love the stuff from after the breakup as well. And I like Metal Machine Music, at least in theory. And the album New York is really good. He continues to put good stuff out, and I respect the hell out of him (even though I’ve heard that he can be an asshole). That doesn’t change the fact that this sucks, though. And, Patti, I would much rather have seen him performing Hall and Oates covers. That, I think, might have been incredible.

  12. Posted November 13, 2011 at 10:53 pm | Permalink

    Megadeth’s new album is pretty good though. They can still shred.

  13. Bob
    Posted November 13, 2011 at 11:37 pm | Permalink

    Have you tried listening to New York recently? It has not aged well. I’ll have to give Take No Prisoners another listen. Lou’s one of those guys who’s early legacy is so great, and important, that he’s sort of received a pass for decades.

  14. Bob
    Posted November 13, 2011 at 11:39 pm | Permalink

    Hall & Oates on the other hand has aged much better than they have a right to. I heard their version of You’ve Lost That Lovin Feeling on the radio the other night and it almost crushes the Righteous Brothers classic.

  15. Eel
    Posted November 14, 2011 at 10:24 am | Permalink

    It’s like seeing your grandfather going into the pawn shop and handing over his WWII medals in exchange for $20. Sad.

  16. Mr. X
    Posted November 14, 2011 at 10:54 am | Permalink

    Debbie Harry is aging a lot better IMHO.

    Dressed in a floor-length red dress and with her trademark blonde hair Debbie took centre stage at the Museum Of Contemporary Art Gala and both shocked and disgusted attendees.

    As the 66-year-old singer stood with all eyes on her, two life-size nude statues of herself and co-curator Marina Abramovic were rolled onto the stage.

    With almost magician-like precision Harry produced a large machete and as the crowd of celebrities began to cheer she plunged the knife straight into the heart of her naked double.

    Read more:
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2061016/Debbie-Harry-butchers-model-creativity.html#ixzz1dhBZI13K

  17. Anonymatt
    Posted November 14, 2011 at 11:02 am | Permalink

    I’m disinclined to like any version of WL/WH except the original which contains the greatest bass solo ever.

    I didn’t think it was terrible, but rather bland. Metallica was adequate. Did Lou try to rework the song’s vocals, or is he really just misremembering lyrics and failing to match the words to the music?

    I also don’t think of this as a sell-out because I don’t think this was ever designed to attract a large number of buyers.

  18. Andy C
    Posted November 14, 2011 at 12:37 pm | Permalink

    These dudes have every right to get together. If they choose to market and sell it then we can criticize it. 20 seconds was enough for me to think it’s shit. Just because I think it’s shit doesn’t mean someone else might not like it. I mean people listen to and like Coldplay and others may enjoy cutting them selves.
    What sucks more than this is critics who think that anytime artist step out of their comfort zone, they’re selling out. It’s usually the opposite. I guess Lou could write another album that sounds just like VU for the VU fans, but what’s the point? Been there done that. Not the best choice here but anyone working with Metallica is never a good choice.

  19. Star Child
    Posted November 14, 2011 at 1:28 pm | Permalink

    The live performance you posted kinda sucks IMO… but I like this studio cut a little better.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LWtb621DRg

  20. ChelseaL
    Posted November 14, 2011 at 3:02 pm | Permalink

    M:

    Would you hate me if I said that, for my money, LR is the most overrated performer since Richie Havens? If so, I won’t say it.

  21. dirtgrain
    Posted November 14, 2011 at 3:40 pm | Permalink

    To clarify, Metallica sold out years ago when they went with orchestral accompaniment. They’re dicks–not artists. Lars Ulrich is a weasel. Doing anything with Metallica now is selling out, by proximity.

    I don’t see Metallica as a group of musical artists trying to stretch the boundaries of their art and discover/create great new works of art. They are marketers and money grubbers–and this collaboration did get them some press.

  22. Tommy
    Posted November 14, 2011 at 4:21 pm | Permalink

    Influential, yes. Good, no. A couple of songs that have stood the test of time. Without Warhol these dudes would have gone nowhere and influenced no one. I for one appreciated the San Fran art/psychaedelic/free love/music scene to the NYC sex/drugs/art/rock-n-roll scene around the same time frame. By the way, I read somewhere that Beck’s mom hung out at the Factory with the Warhol crowd.

    Most overrated? There are others. As far as Metallica goes – they are indeed brilliant marketers. As for being dicks and not artists? Lars actually is (was) an artist whose paintings sold for a lot of coin.

  23. Andy C
    Posted November 14, 2011 at 5:02 pm | Permalink

    When Metallica lost Cliff and Dave, they lost their writers and visionaries. The remaining guys will never get back to that level. Like The Beatles, they have to rely on selling their old catalog to new fans, hence the crack down on downloads etc. A majority of Metallica fans admit to this and I think Metallica knows it too. They sell out big shows playing 90% old stuff. It’s a good living for them.

  24. dirtgrain
    Posted November 14, 2011 at 6:05 pm | Permalink

    I did a quick search on Ulrich as an artist, and I only found that he is an art collector and has liked art his whole life.

  25. Bob
    Posted November 14, 2011 at 8:13 pm | Permalink

    Tommy, your talking about the Velvet Underground? The records released while Lou was still in the band are damn near flawless, great on every level I would argue. You know Warhol had almost nothing to do with actually contributing to the band or their music?
    He didn’t produce any of it or even go out to see them perform more than a few times I think. He did some cover art and talked them up to his circle of friends, that was about it. I think he pushed for Nico, mostly for the worse.

    The only kind of artist Lars Ulrich can be called is a bullshit artist. He’s not even a very good drummer. I’ve heard some stories firsthand from a guy who played bass temporarily and bowed out, suggesting his friend Jason for the band. He talked about what racist, redneck dum-dums Hetfield and Ulrich were in person.

  26. Eel
    Posted November 29, 2011 at 10:36 am | Permalink

    Hilarious record store writeup for the Lulu CD.

    http://i.imgur.com/ddAnf.jpg

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