3 Times Lou Reed Put Other Musicians in Their Place

One can’t deny that Lou Reed was one of the most influential frontmen of the 1960s, particularly in the world of garage rock. The Velvet Underground is still revered today, and much of that reverence comes from Reed’s lack of interest in appeasing the masses. However, Lou Reed was also known for being on the hostile side, and he had a habit of talking smack about other musicians, as well as journalists. Let’s look at just a few instances!

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1. The Doors

Nobody was safe from Lou Reed’s scorn, and that includes The Doors. You’ll notice a pattern here. Reed was really not into West Coast rocker stardom, and The Doors were the kings of that realm for a hot minute.

“They were just painfully stupid and pretentious, and when they did try to get arty, it was worse than stupid rock and roll,” Reed said in a 1987 PBS interview when asked about his opinions on San Fransisco bands in general. “What I mean by ‘stupid,’ I mean, like, The Doors.”

2. Frank Zappa

Lou Reed had beef with other musicians. And he was often right, even if the sentiment was still rude. However, his choice of words for his contemporary, Frank Zappa, was a point of contention for a lot of fans who liked both musicians.

We get why Reed wasn’t exactly thrilled about Zappa. The Velvet Underground was shooting to do the opposite of what every other West Coast rocker was doing. 

“He’s probably the single most untalented person I’ve heard in my life,” Reed said of Zappa back in the day. “He’s a two-bit pretentious academic, and he can’t play rock’n’roll, because he’s a loser. And that’s why he dresses up funny. He’s not happy with himself, and I think he’s right.”

Reed eventually made up for his statements when he inducted Zappa into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the mid-1990s.

3. Pete Townshend

In one of the most famous examples of when Lou Reed had choice words for other musicians, he had some rough criticism of The Who’s concept album Tommy from 1969. The album was written primarily by The Who’s guitarist, Pete Townshend.

“Jesus, how do people get sucked into that?” said Reed of the record in the 1970s. “So talentless, and as a lyricist [Townshend] is so profoundly untalented. And, you know, philosophically boring to say the least… Like the record ‘The Searcher’ [Reed was referring to ‘The Seeker’]… ‘I ask Timothy Leary’… I wouldn’t ask Timothy Leary the time of day, for cryin’ out loud.”

Photo by Ian Dickson/Shutterstock

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