Lou Reed

Lou Reed: Street HassleStreet Hassle (1978)
Arista

Reviewer Rating: 5

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Contributed by: mg196mg196
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Published on October 23rd 2005For those who aren't aware, Lou Reed is known as the Godfather of Punk. It's a monicker he's avoided at all costs since punk music first hit the scene in the mid-`70s. Lou always considered himself too literate, too intelligent to be called the progenitor of a music scene known more for its style th.

For those who aren't aware, Lou Reed is known as the Godfather of Punk. It's a monicker he's avoided at all costs since punk music first hit the scene in the mid-`70s. Lou always considered himself too literate, too intelligent to be called the progenitor of a music scene known more for its style than its substance (whether it deserved it or not).

Street Hassle was Lou's bitch-slap to the punk scene. It was a reminder that in order to talk the talk you better fuckin' walk the walk. Anyone who grew up in the `80s (I was born in `73) may not know that Lou put himself at the front of the gay movement in the `70s. He claimed that he was what mainstream America feared: A gay man who won't take shit. A gay man who'll stand there onstage and inject heroin, tying the mic chord around his upper arm. A gay man who dated a transsexual for much of the mid-`70s (and to whom the title track of Street Hassle is dedicated). Hell, the first track opens with Lou having a conversation with himself, calling himself a "fuckin' faggot."

If you are new to Lou, this album may take a few spins for you to truly appreciate its value. Always the quintessential New York poet, the album oozes with his very personal, very disturbing portraits of the city's darkened alleys and streets.

Several concerts in Germany were recorded and used as the skeleton for this LP. The arrangements are pretty bare with Lou's voice way in front of the mix. On "Real Good Time Together," it's basically just Lou's voice played through some HEAVY reverb, until the final chorus kicks in. The title track may be the greatest love song in his entire catalog (with arguably the best bass line of any Lou Reed song, saved until the final 2 minutes of the 11+ minute track).

I wanna be black, I wanna have some natural rhythm, and shoot twenty feet of jism, too. And fuck up the Jews.

THIS is punk. This is style backed up by substance. It's Lou taking the back of his hand to all of the poseurs and wannabes and saying, "This is how it is done." Look at the album jacket. Lou, staring through his black shades at the camera...one of the most "punk" album covers of all time.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

crosstalker (July 29, 2007)

first off, this cd has it's moments. it's not great, and in no way bad. secondly and most importantly i am sick of lou reed being touted as the godfather of punk. if there should be any labeling of that title it deserves to go to jonathan richman.

Anonymous (October 26, 2005)

velvet undeground had such an interesting history.

Anonymous (October 25, 2005)

Its usually because you steal shit from the band and pawn it to pay for your smack, then call me to pick you up from whatever dump you end up in, then pick a fight with me when I do pick you up. This happens about twice a week.

-Ken

Anonymous (October 25, 2005)

Ken always acts like a dick when I do my heroin.

Mr_Pink (October 25, 2005)

Try the recent NYC Man comp. It samples every period of his career. You're guaranteed to not like some of it, and there are some odd selections, but it covers all the bases. His live version of "I'll Be Your Mirror" is better than the original Nico version, too.

exploitedyouth (October 25, 2005)

I've never heard any of Lou Reed's solo stuff i like Velvet Underground, so what would be a good album to start on.
Also everytime i hear about him i remeber reading somewhere that he would ask people if he could shit in their mouth when he met them, but thats unrelated.

~exploitedyouth~

Anonymous (October 25, 2005)

Anyone who thinks heroin is punk has obviously never had a friend whowas on heroin.

-Ken

Anonymous (October 24, 2005)

In the second line it should say mad, not made and one line below should say" that this" and not "that that". sorry about the mistakes but im high. yeah for me.

i have a wide screen and would like you to know that the lines of which your mistakes occur depend on what kind of screen a person has or what kind of aspect ratio or something they are using. for me, both mistakes are on the second line.

but if i go use my home comp(this is my library's) i bet the mistakes would be on different lines.

that is so intersting to me

Anonymous (October 24, 2005)

In the second line it should say mad, not made and one line below should say" that this" and not "that that". sorry about the mistakes but im high. yeah for me.

Anonymous (October 24, 2005)

lou reed is commonly considered proto-punk along with others such as iggy and the stooges and the mc5's. i don't really see how this isn't appropriate for this site since this is punk rock history and its roots. i especially don't see why some people would be made at this album being reviewed when no one complained about the coheed and cambria which is a pop- prog rock concept album. i would say that that album is the one out of place and not lou reed. Punk rock would be very different today if it were not for the bravery of lou reed and those already mentioned. I mean who's more "punk", lou reed or fall out boy singing about there girlfriends.

Anonymous (October 24, 2005)

didnt he do mambo number five

moneenerd (October 24, 2005)

I like the reviews, punk or not. but yeah maybe they should consider renaming PunkNews to something more appropriate.

Anonymous (October 24, 2005)

yeah I didnt get it either. it wasnt long ago there was a dead prez review, and one of the 'non punk joke reviews' was the 2nd strokes cd, when theres (after checking) THREE reviews for their first album,plus atleast one live review.

Anonymous (October 24, 2005)

Punknew's homepage has both an article about the Deftones and an ad for Dangerdoom - and that got me wondering: why exactly were those reviews pulled?

Anonymous (October 24, 2005)

""A gay man who won't take shit"

.........EXCEPT ON HIS DICK!!! OMG IMA ROLLERSKATE TO THE FRIDGE TO GET SOME LMAONADE."

Brilliant. I kneel at your feet.

Mr_Pink (October 24, 2005)

Go with Blue Mask or Legendary Hearts before this one. Robert Quine and Lou together were incredible. "The Last Shot" is damn near the most honest song about drug addiction ever recorded. Lou Reed has put out some real head-scratchers over the years, but everything between Berlin and New Sensations is at least worth checking out.

Dante3000 (October 24, 2005)

Kenjamin, that's fucking cool. My parents are such homophobes I doubt they'd ever listen to Lou Reed (or attend said Jazz fastivities once they knew who he was).
As for the dude below me...will it be pink lemonade?
-Dante

Anonymous (October 24, 2005)

YES!!! NO ONE MADE THIS COMMENT YET...I WIN!!

"A gay man who won't take shit"

.........EXCEPT ON HIS DICK!!! OMG IMA ROLLERSKATE TO THE FRIDGE TO GET SOME LMAONADE.

davebrave4 (October 24, 2005)

This review would be much better if the reviewer added some valuable London punk history amidst the review. Too bad he didn't take the initiative.

Haven't heard much Lou Reed, but I know a lot about him. He's definitely one of the more influencial people to the punk scene-right up there with Iggy Pop and the rest.

superdude (October 24, 2005)

Yeah, I mean "threw"

Sirens (October 24, 2005)

hahahhaaaa

superdude (October 24, 2005)

This review wasd pretty good, but here's how I would make it better:

1. Dude, avitaors are sooooo last year.

2. Did he get pissed off when the person through that red Nerf ball at him?

3. Punk wasn't even inveted until Dookie and Smash dropped. Get this off the site.

Anonymous (October 24, 2005)

Shitty, boring review. Pretty good music.

Anonymous (October 24, 2005)

Like this album very much

Street Hassle the song is amoung my top 5 favorite Lou Reed songs!

Bettina

Anonymous (October 24, 2005)

"herion" by Velvet Underground is one of the best songs i have ever heard.

GreenVandal (October 23, 2005)

I want to see this hilary duff review. I want to see that dude who is jissing all over her fair name try to defend her fomr the oncoming onslaught.

That guy makes me laugh so hard. There is nothing quite as funny as watching intelligent people try to defend their vices.

kenjamin (October 23, 2005)

Dante, I actually saw Lou Reed headline a jazz festival so your assumptions aren't too far off. when my dad told me he bought these tickets and some guy name Lou Reed was headlining, I couldn't believe it.