Lou Reed is one of those people nobody asks "what killed him?" Its more like what did not kill him in his 71 highly influential years. Reflecting today his greatest legacy may have been making being Gay socially acceptable to mainstream baby boomers. His only billboard hit "Walk on the Wild Side" climbed to number 16 in 1973. It was a song unabashedly celebrating homosexuality and drug abuse. A song incomparable to any other on the top 100 at that time. For example the top song was Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak tree, the seminal plastic ballad by Tony Orlando and Dawn. In a world dominated by pretty little love songs Lou illuminated a side of the world few had seen or could even imagine. I would never have called myself a Gay basher, but in 1972 the product of life in a very small town I would have had zero respect for Gays. My love of Lou Reed opened my eyes and changed my mind.
Listen to Rolling Stones top twenty picks here.
More great videos at Boing Boing
Twenty one more, they did not include I love you Suzanne which IMHO should have been a top twenty hit.
Dig the sound quality on NY Stars
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