Why did Lou Reed hate British rock ‘n’ roll?
Lou Reed was never one to hide his opinions. As ruthless with interviewers as he was with his musical contemporaries, the Velvet Underground frontman was just about the prickliest fig in the music business. UK readers will be saddened to discover that he was especially critical of British rock music, feeling the likes of The Beatles to be inferior to America’s homegrown talent.
Lou Reed rose to prominence with the New York-based quartet The Velvet Underground in the 1960s. Though their four albums sold incredibly poorly, their roughshod brand of avant-garde pop has proven immensely influential. After the Andy Warhol-sponsored outfit dissolved, Reed reemerged as a rare and unconventional talent in his own right, releasing a stream of continually surprising albums that saw him conjure up romance and after-hours sleaze in equal measure.
In 1983, Reed was gearing up for the release of his twelfth studio album Legendary Hearts, which marked a new sensitivity in his songwriting. That same year, he sat down for an interview in which he expressed serious doubts about the validity of UK rock music. “I never liked The Beatles, I never really liked any British group,” he began. “I don’t think the British should play rock ‘n’ roll.”
Strong words indeed. When asked what he thought the British could get away with playing, he replied “I don’t think they should play anything.” For Reed, all British musicians were good for was playing in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. “They’re good for that, and I suppose they should learn how to cook,” he added. Reed did admit to liking a couple of UK artists, however: “I like the Stones and some a’ Ray Davies, but I never took British rock ‘n’ roll seriously and I still don’t. It’s not like listening to doo-wop or growing up on Motown. American groups could do all this stuff, and this Anglophobia has existed as far back as I can remember.”
While Reed’s lack of appreciation for The Beatles is up for debate (he gushed about their songwriting talents in the 1970s), he certainly had no time for other UK rock mainstays like The Who. In a mid-’70s magazine feature, he attacked their 1969 concept album, Tommy. “Tommy is such – Jesus, how people get sucked into that,” Reed began. “So talentless, and as a lyricist [Townshend is] so profoundly untalented, and, you know, philosophically boring to say the least…”
He was equally dismissive of Roxy Music, who he watched supporting David Bowie. “They bored me,” he declared. “I went out half-way to get a drink. I’ve heard some of the other stuff that’s supposed to be up my alley. But they don’t know what they’re talking about. I’ve been doing this stuff a long time, and all of a sudden people are starting to talk about it. They’re saying: ‘Hey, look, we’re civilised, man, and we want to know about it.’” Blimey, talk about being vicious.
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