Quote:
Originally Posted by Eichhörnchen
I listened to this constantly when it came out
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Lou Reed's
Rock & Roll has long been a favorite of mine, since he first recorded the song with the Velvet Underground. The song rings true for those of us who are old enough to have experienced the first rush of Rock as it developed. I was one of those kids who, like the character in the song, first heard that "fine, fine music" over transistor radios, trying to tune in sometimes distant AM stations late at night; I remember listening to Wolfman Jack when he was broadcasting from a Mexican AM superstation that could be heard almost everywhere in the US. There were also the newer AM stations who had frenetic DJs who played that 'evil' R&R. I would put my transistor radio under my pillow, so as not to bring down my mother's wrath, and listen to all kinds of R&R songs. A lot of the kids at that time had to somewhat surreptitiously indulge in &R since it was still considered to be a bad influence, leading to all manner of depravity such as wild dancing, wearing blue jeans, and horror of horrors, talking back to one's elders, not to mention all the adults knew R&R was a gateway to becoming a JD (Juvenile Delinquent). Remember, at the time, radio was the domain of Doris Day, Pat Boone, Patti Page and the like; the 'rebels', before Elvis, were such as Fabian, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes, Bobby Rydell, etc., so when Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Gene Vincent and other greats came along, it was a major shift in American pop music...
The last time I saw Lou Reed live was back in 1989, when he was touring in support of his
New York album. He did something I thought was very cool; the opening act was The Feelies, a band heavily influenced by The VU and Reed; aside from the fact The Feelies were allowed to do a full set (most headliners didn't like letting the openers play more than a brief set), they also came back out to perform an encore; as the audience watched The Feelies do a VU song as the encore, it took a bit of a while to realize that at the far end of the line of backing singers, unannounced, was Lou Reed enthusiastically singing backup, much to the surprise and delight of The Feelies; a very classy gesture by an old veteran towards the newer act...
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