Lou Reed’s problem with Californian bands
The Velvet Underground frontman and solo songwriter Lou Reed was heavily influenced by the east coast. Born and educated in New York, the city and its culture inspired much of his discography – from Andy Warhol’s studio to the poetry of Allen Ginsberg.
In fact, Reed even wrote an album named after his birthplace, the 1989 release New York, a record full of protest and politics. The city was Reed’s muse, and though he also criticised it, he once stated: “I’m not leaving New York. And neither is anyone else. We’re here. We are quintessential Americans – we’re not only American, but New York-American.”
Reed’s love for the city that never sleeps, as well as its arts and cultural scenes, was accompanied by a hatred for the scene over on the west coast. A magazine page from the time collated Reed’s thoughts on many of the cultural icons from the 1960s and 1970s, from The Beatles to David Bowie, and details his disdain for California psychedelia.
While Reed had some kind words to share about many of his peers, calling The Beatles “the most incredible songwriters ever” and John Cale “the Beethoven or something of his day”, Reed was less complimentary towards the bands who were making music in California. He notes his vast objections to the San Francisco scene, which he called “tedious, a lie, and untalented”.
Reed continued: “They can’t play and they certainly can’t write. I keep telling everybody and nobody cares. We used to be quiet, but I don’t even care anymore about not wanting to say negative things, ‘cause things have gone so far that somebody really should say something”.
The Velvet Underground leader also named eclectic psych-rock bands born out of the 1960s, including Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead, who he called “just the most untalented bores that ever came up”. Taking things a little further, Reed even mocked their appearances: “Just look at them physically, I mean, can you take Grace Slick seriously? It’s a joke, it’s a joke. The kids are being hyped.”
Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead were two of the biggest names in the west coast psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s. Both bands played at the movement’s climactic event, Woodstock 1969, and have been remembered as pioneers of psychedelia. But their eccentricity was unaligned with Reed’s straightforward rock instrumentals and blunt lyricism.
Reed’s criticism wasn’t limited to the Californian psych scene, though, he also derided legendary folk songwriter Bob Dylan. He said: “Dylan gets on my nerves. If you were at a party with him I think you’d tell him to shut up”.
Frank Zappa and The Who’s Pete Townshend are subject to Reed’s ridicule too, and he dubs Zappa “the single most untalented person I’ve heard in my life” before adding: “He can’t play rock ’n’ roll, because he’s a loser… He’s not happy with himself and I think he’s right.”
Of Townshend, Reed commented: “As a lyricist, he’s so profoundly untalented and, you know, philosophically boring to say the least.”
Reed’s musical criticism was harsh and opinionated, like much of his musical output. But the sarcastic and self-destructive guitarist was famously cruel to himself and others, often bitter towards his more successful peers and plagued by struggles with substance abuse and sexuality. His contempt towards the California scene may have come from a real dislike for their music, but it also could have been born out of jealousy for the movement’s wider commercial success.
