Thoughts On Lulu

Thoughts On Lulu

“I think that everything happens for a reason, everything happens when it's going to happen.”

Lou Reed

By: Ghost Writer

I guess Metallica's record label was a little bit disoriented, they wanted respect and a sales winner, but without talented and will those things are inconceivable, if they wanted quick sales, they should have looked for Justin Bieber, looking for respect? Well, this wasn't also a very wise choice.

For most of his career, Lou Reed didn't looked for respect, the public didn't give his mythic band, The Velvet Underground respect in the first place, so when Lou started his solo career, sales, popularity and respect was far from his mind, he wanted artistic revenge, he wanted to do his own music, being careless about what everyone else though, that gave him the edge, he traveled effortlessly without regrets, he made the music he, and only he, wanted.

Artistic revenge doesn't come fast, it comes slowly and painful, you might even be dead before you get it, ask Van Gogh, but when it comes is definite, many loathed Berlin, a musical triumph, too dark and depressive some said, these days, it's considered one of Lou's best, and an obvious big influence on today's musical dark riders like the deceased Kurt Cobain, Layney Staley or Scott Weiland.

Lou Reed and Metallica infamous collaboration came in the form of Lulu, a fabulous creation conceived by Reed as a way to sum up his whole career, we got the noise fuck of his White Light/White Heat days (or his notorious Metal Machine Music), the epic drama of Berlin, the scary tension of The Blue Mask, and even some of his recent exploration in the live improv New York Scene, thanks to his top notch musical cohorts, well with the exception of Lars Ulrich, the Ringo Starr of heavy metal, Lou Reed was able to create this monster of a record, a sort of avant heavy metal masterpiece that I understand its impact was very hard to assimilate by many, it's no surprise that only some of the most advanced metal practitioners like Sunn O))), were able to follow in their recording with the great Scott Walker.

I considered Lulu one of Lou Reed's best effort, time will surely give him the last laugh, in a way, it is a sign of things to come, some might get it, some not, it has more to do with iconoclasts like Beck, Bjork, or the already mentioned Sunn O))), who praise the value of working out of the comfort zone, and to develop something new, something out of nothing, I'm sure it worked for Lou, it's perhaps his most accomplish master piece, as a Lou Reed record is the most complete, of course as a Metallica record is impossible to listen to, is the same as when Metal Machine Music came after Sally Can't Dance, no one expected such feat.

Metallica proved to be a worthy companion, they submitted to Reed's vision, just like musicians from Yes or Kiss, it was impossible to say no to Reed, although it could mean the kiss of death for a group, I have no doubt that in less than 15 years Lulu will be remembered as Lou's best, and Metallica will be able to reap from the avant metal crop they helped to create.

The commercial failure was imminent, no one expected anything from a Scott Walker-Sunn O))) collaboration, or from Neneh Cherry and The Thing getting together for a record, but in the case of Lulu, everyone got it a bit wrong, metalheads hated Lou's avant garde poetry and critics were waiting for Metallica's next misstep, I guess that in the end, only time will tell, each day I’m more in love with this record.