FIBLAR's Lou Reed Tribute

Last week, the music world received the hard-hitting news that Lou Reed, frontman of The Velvet Underground, had passed away. Lou was an inspiration to so many people, and the entirety of the music world was all swift to pay tribute to the late, great Lou Reed.

The FIBLAR team were, of course, no exception…

To me, Lou Reed was the frontman of one of the most influential, and one of my favourite bands of all time, The Velvet Underground. I’ve always loved the Velvets, as my mum had Pale Blue Eyes and Stephanie Says on her driving playlist. Then, about ten months ago I purchased the LP of The Velvet Underground and Nico and was very blown away by it. In Particular, the song Heroin (Track 1, Side 2) spoke to me like no song I had ever listened to previously, and to this day is one of my favourite songs of all time. Since then, I’ve played the record over and over, and it never fails to make amaze me. In addition, Lou’s music (both solo and with the Velvets) has directly influenced many of my favourite bands, making it even more special than it already is. Ziggy-era Bowie and Joy Division both cite the Velvets as a favourite band, and countless bands have covered their music. It is for these reasons, and many besides those, that Lou’s death is a tragedy, Rest in Peace Lou.

Here’s what the rest of the FIBLAR team said about Lou.

Nina:

“I remember that when I was younger, and my dad used to play to me Walk on the Wild Side and I remember my parents talking about the Velvet Underground. When I was that young i had no idea who they were, but when I was 12 the Velvet Underground’s Heroin came up in my suggested videos on YouTube and since then I’ve been hooked. The Velvet Underground have changed my perception of music and they were one of the first artists that made me feel something- as cringey as that sounds.”

Avalon:

Lou pictured with the mighty David Bowie and Iggy Pop.

"Nina was actually the reason I started listening to The Velvet Underground. We were in Camden a few weeks ago, and we were just walking around aimlessly chatting, when she mentioned that she had started listening to them. I had previously seen people tweeting about Lou Reed, and I knew my parents liked The Velvet Underground, but I'd never properly listened to them. On the same day, we visited Urban Outfitters - and they had iPads that you could listen to music on. Most of the albums on them were terrible, but they surprisingly had “The Velvet Underground and Nico”. I put the headphones on and chose the song “Sunday Morning”. I instantly knew that it was one of the most, relaxed, beautiful songs that I'd ever heard. I can't explain it any other way - the song felt like it put what I had been feeling that day into words that I could never have dreamed of.”

James:

“To me, Lou Reed was an inspiration. Walk on the Wild Side was the first song that made me want to pick up a bass guitar, and it was one of the first things I learnt to play. From a different angle, the overdose scene in Trainspotting when Renton sinks into the carpet is one of my favourite scenes from a film ever. It's accompanied by Perfect Day, which indeed makes it perfect. I was on the M1 with my family when I found out he'd died via Twitter. I read it out to them, and the rest of the journey was spent in near silence, the mood reflected by the freezing, pissing-it-down darkness outside. Rest in peace, the godfather of pop music.”

Amelia:
"The Velvet Underground & Nico is one of my favourite albums ever; when I was little we’d listen to it in the car sometimes whilst driving home in the dark. When I first got into collecting records and hauled my dad’s vinyl collection out of the loft I rediscovered it - I truly fell in love with the album and daresay appreciated it far more than my sleepy six year old self ever could. Lou Reed has also been the inspiration behind so many of my other favourite bands and artists too, and for that I am eternally grateful."

Amy:

“So, Lou Reed’s death. I’m quite sad that another legend has gone. I guess because I would never call myself a Lou Reed ‘fan’ that I found it more shocking than sad. My step dad is a huge fan of Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground so I stroked his hand when a Lou Reed montage was displayed on BBC news as I could see he was trying to hold a tear back. My step dad once went to see Lou live and has a tour shirt with all the tour dates and everything. All the images on it are rubbing off so he preserves it at the back of his wardrobe under a mound of ties he never wears. I’ve also found some Lou Reed song books among our hundreds of books. Lou’s lyrics were actually pretty meaningful, I mean you won’t find ‘No matter what I did, it never seemed enough’ coming out of Harry Styles’ mouth. Another favourite lyric from Lou is “I’ve got to bring home the bacon; someone’s got to bring home the roast”. I’m not entirely sure what it means but I like it anyway.”

Rohanie:

“Growing up I had a very prominent soundtrack to my house, influenced by both my father's Catholic Northern Irish upbringing, and my mother's South American heritage, and the scenes and fads the two went through in their own upbringing. A key participant in the score of my childhood was Lou Reed, specifically with the Velvet Underground and Nico (particularly as it was originally released in 1967 on my birthday, which is something I held as a bit of a claim to fame as a 9 year old). "I'll Be Your Mirror" became intrinsic to our house, almost a lullaby. The Velvet Underground soundtracked Sunday mornings in the bath, sitting in the kitchen having wet hair combed methodically with a nit comb just on the off chance, drives on drizzly afternoons through mounds of sludgy leaves and mud. The iconic banana cover is an image etched into my youth- with Heroin and I'm Waiting For the Man, smoothly skipped without me noticing, and Femme Fatale and All Tomorrow's Parties blared as loudly as the speakers could handle in the marble green machine of a car we owned. The slick, fluid and somewhat effeminate vocals Lou provided glossing through the stagnant air of long car journeys and endless 2am nights during the Christmas holidays. Lou Reed's passing has left a gaping hole in our house, and rest assured he remains immortal on our CD shelf.”

Aisha:
“Lou Reed made so many people who didn't feel like a part of anything feel as if they weren't worthless and that they did belong. He made it against all odds and was subject to revolting ignorance but he got through it, a true hero and inspiration. Rest in Peace, beautiful angel. In the words of Carl Barat, you gave me my strength and helped me in my weakness, thank you for everything”

I find it really quite beautiful that even now, over 46 years after the release of The Velvet Underground and Nico, people still find the music of Lou Reed a source of comfort, joy and inspiration. It’s very apparent that Lou’s had a profound effect on many people of my generation, as well as those of his own generation. I think that ten, twenty, or even a hundred years from now people will look back at Lou’s music and find it sensational. Generations to come will marvel at the works of the Velvets, much like they’ll look back at the Beatles, or the Smiths, and be inspired to make rock ‘n’ roll music. So whilst Lou may have passed away, he’ll be immortalised in our iTunes libraries, our vinyl collections and our CD shelves. R.I.P Lou Reed.

(by Calum Cashin and the rest of the FIBLAR team)