Transformer: The Complete Lou Reed Story

Also by Victor Bockris (#ulink_6da678b6-0536-5336-a5fd-f28399b9dadc)

Dedication (#ulink_e2b2f15e-4d31-5b10-832e-5945c226cc8a)

Acknowledgments (#ulink_b40e80f8-54be-56a6-9bd1-77dd6f97dc48)

Epigraph (#ulink_15ed0903-1d0e-5e16-83b7-5a10a59343c9)

One: Kill Your Son, 1959–60 (#ulink_5606e22e-d3eb-5006-a9b4-6c1f0b07b15a)

Two: Pushing the Edge, 1960–62 (#ulink_7cbf017d-51f2-5aaa-b64f-748082cbbb56)

Three: Shelley, If You Just Come Back, 1962–64 (#ulink_3a510f9a-d942-5492-adff-3d964ecf30d7)

Four: The Pickwick Period, 1964–65 (#ulink_80dc41f7-8888-5d87-874b-625bc9c52398)

Five: The Formation of the Velvet Underground, 1965 (#ulink_44fb207e-60e2-5752-baf2-d96a27ba397a)

Six: Fun at the Factory, 1966 (#ulink_762d8bbc-fcbd-5efa-bfa9-d89b5713df66)

Seven: Exit Warhol, 1966–67 (#litres_trial_promo)

Eight: Exit Cale, 1967–68 (#litres_trial_promo)

Nine: The Deformation of the Velvet Underground, 1968–70 (#litres_trial_promo)

Ten: Fallen Knight, 1970–71 (#litres_trial_promo)

Eleven: The Transformation from Freeport Lou to Frankenstein, 1971–73 (#litres_trial_promo)

Twelve: No Surface, No Depth, 1973–74 (#litres_trial_promo)

Thirteen: The Nervous Years, 1974–76 (#litres_trial_promo)

Fourteen: The Master of Psychopathic Insolence, 1977–78 (#litres_trial_promo)

Fifteen: Mister Reed, 1978–79 (#litres_trial_promo)

Sixteen: Ladybug, 1978–83 (#litres_trial_promo)

Seventeen: The New, Positive Lou (The Blue Lou), 1984–86 (#litres_trial_promo)

Eighteen: The Commercial, Political Lou, 1984–86 (#litres_trial_promo)

Nineteen: Imitation of Andy, 1987–89 (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty: Death Makes Three, 1990–93 (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-One: In Which Lou Reed Cannot Put On the Velvet Underwear, 1990–96 (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-Two: The Transformation of Lou and Laurie, 1994–2000 (#litres_trial_promo)

Fast Forward: Val Kilmer’s Ranch, The Pecos, New Mexico, 2005 (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-Three: Ecstasy, 1999–2001 (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-Four: Lou Reed Rewrites Edgar Allan Poe, 2001–04 (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-Five: Lou Reed Classics, 2006 (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-Six: Lou Is Lulu, 2011–12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-Seven: The Death of Lou Reed, 2013 (#litres_trial_promo)

Appendix A: Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson’s Inventories of Work (#litres_trial_promo)

Appendix B: Interviews with Lou Reed (#litres_trial_promo)

Source Notes (#litres_trial_promo)

Bibliography (#litres_trial_promo)

List of Searchable Terms (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgments (#u38abb036-9b1c-55df-a553-8dc550b33194)

Thanks for input and enlightenment to Andy Warhol, Lisa Krug, Andrew Wylie, Albert Goldman, Robert Dowling, Gerard Malanga, Syracuse University Rare Book Room, the staff of Creedmore Mental Hospital, Paul Sidey, lngrid von Essen, Dawn Fozard, Stellan Holm, Marianne Erdos, Barbara Wilkintson, Jessica Berens, Chantal Rosset, Elvira Peake, Anita Pallenberg, Marianne Faithfull, Allen Ginsberg, David Dalton, Miles, Jeff Goldberg, Ira Cohen, Rosemary Bailey, Phillip Booth, Allen Hymari, Andy Hyman, Richard Mishkin, Bob Quine, Raymond Foye, Diego Cortez, Clinton Heylin, Jan van Willegen, John Holmstrom, Legs McNeil, Bobbie Bristol, Ann Patty, Carol Wood, John Shebar, Charles Shaar Murray, Mick Farren, Michael Watts, Emie Thormahlen, Gisella Freisinger, William Burroughs, John Giomo, Stewart Meyer, Terrence Sellers, Chris Stein, Bob Gruen, David Bourdon, Jonathan Cott, Ed and Laura DeGrazia, Bobby Grossman, Art and Kym Garfunkel, Patti Giordano, Stephen Gaines, Lee Hill, Marcia Resnick, Michelle Loud, Terry Noel, Glenn O’Brien, Robert Palmer, Rosebud, Geraldine Smith, Walter Stedding, David Schmidlapp, Lynn Tillman, Hope Ruff, James Carpenter, Tei Carpenter, Toshiko Mori, Gus Van Sant, Mary Woronov, Matt Snow, Roger Ely, Paul Katz, Gayle Sherman, Cassie Jones, Dominick Anfuso, J. P. Jones, James Grauerholz, Terry and Gail Southern, Heiner Bastian, Danny Fields, Dr. J. Gross, Steve Bloom, Bridget Love, Mary Harron, Jeff Butler, Solveig Wilder, Rick Blume, Lenny Kaye, Tony Zanetta, Doug Yule, Tony Conrad, Richard Meltzer, Nick Kent, Richard Witts, Nick Tosches, Kurt Loder, Julie Burchill, and John Wilcock.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO THE 2014 EDITION

I am particularly grateful to the writers Barney Hoskyns, Nick Johnstone, and David Fricke, whose profiles of Lou Reed were always spectacular and insightful; Allan Jones for Uncut’s ultimate guide to Lou’s music and all his Lou Reed articles; Jann Wenner for Rolling Stone’s Lou Reed issue; Phil Alexander at Mojo, and all the rock writers who work so passionately to keep us in touch with the music; Roderick Romero, the creative force in his legendary trance rock band Sky Cries Mary and a giant in the tree-house world, who shared some visionary memories of his friendship with Lou; thanks also to Bob Gruen for his eyes and his sense of humor; David Schmidlapp, Barry Miles, and the staff of the beautiful Jane West Hotel.

One of the great ironies of Lou Reed’s life is that he would hardly have had a career if it weren’t for the outstanding writers who wrote glowingly about him in the face of his scorn. I have never understood why people in the rock world look upon biographies as attacks when they are the best free advertising a rock star could possibly get. All those people should thank the writers for taking the time to address their audiences intelligently, just as I am thanking every writer for everything I learned about Lou in his last truly great period. There is something deeply engaging in the Lou and Laurie story. Somebody should write a book about it.

Epigraph (#u38abb036-9b1c-55df-a553-8dc550b33194)

When I think of Lou, I remember what a romantic he was. And fun. And then when he had you hooked with that sweetness, he had to destroy you in order to survive. He couldn’t help himself, like any predator. He always warned his prey, partly as a challenge and partly to cover his ass for any later moral responsibility. What made the process interesting was the fact that it was an ongoing intellectual and artistic work—a performance piece.

An acquaintance

Chapter One

Kill Your Son (#u38abb036-9b1c-55df-a553-8dc550b33194)

ELECTROSHOCK: 1959–60

I don’t have a personality.