Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart is a documentary by Timothey Greenfield-Sanders that charts the career of Lou Reed from the inception of the Velvet Underground through to his work on the Theatrical Musical, Time Rocker. The documentary is helpful in expanding upon important points in Lou Reed's life and career and is certainly full of quotes that support the notion of Lou Reed as the founder of alternative music and punk. It also features many 'talking head' segments, which show the importance and wide-spread influence Lou Reed has had on the alternative music scence, not only in New York but in London, L.A. and Detroit, since the Velvet Underground.
There are many parallels between punk and subcultural theory and Lou Reed's early work. The quote used in the headline of this entry reflects the importance of authenticity common to both subcultural theory and Lou Reed's output. Authenticity was a central concern of the punk movement that would eventually arise, and it was evident in the Velvet Underground's early work. The lyrics are poetic and real, evoking strong images of the life that was surrounding him. This included previously untouched subject matter such as transvestites and, of course, drugs. As Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) reflects in this documentary, the song Heroin changed lyric-writing thereafter. The recording of the debut album also embodies an authentic alternative attitude - recorded in spare time, produced by Andy Warhol, all without a record deal.
There are also strong ties to postmodernism in Reed's work, brought out by his association with Andy Warhol. Of Andy Warhol, Kirk Varnedo (Chief Curator, Museum of Modern Art, New York) notes,
"His art was built on a synegy of talents; he fed off having musicians, poets, writers, filmmakers - he wanted to explore all of this together; and that this idea of 'the Factory' as a group enterprise producing work in a kind of assembly line chain, is a completely anti-romantic notion of what the art is thought to be, and it made this place, 'the Factory,' the place to be in New York in the sixties."
In this we see the deconstruction of traditional binaries between what is classified as art and what isn't, what is high culture and what isn't; we see the blurring of boundaries between the different fields of art and of the circumstances in which art is produced. Also, in Warhol's 'Exploding Plastic Inevitable,' we see the combination of different forms of media and performance to create a show unlike anything seen before, often purported to be an 'installation' artwork rather than a music show. It was this embracing of postermodernity, along with the their authentic avant-garde interests, that led to the anti-romantic lyricism, and the scratchy, droning sounds that typified their debut album.
As for Lou Reed's influence on punk, it is clear that many of his ideals, if not his aesthetics, were adopted by later New York punk bands. The fact that his band operated completely out of the system is a charcteristic to reemerge in punk. "I was interested in communicating to people who were on the outside," states Reed, an audience which undoubtedly incorporated many of the later punk musicians.
"If punk means iconoclastic, if punk means rebellious, if punk measn outside of the system... Lou Reed embodied that spirit in a way nobody else did." This is a quote from an unidentified talking head, which is included in the segment linking Lou Reed to the CBGB's punk scene in New York.
As if to further Lou Reed's claim as the father of punk, David Bowie states: "In an iconic sense, I think [Reed] projects the image of the bad boy that we all, especially when we were younger, so passionately wanted to be." His image, his ideals, his music, and the way by which he made his music would all influence and inform the next generation of New York punk bands and help the alternative movement come into fruition. In layman's terms, Lou Reed 'wrote the handbook.'
This documentary was helpful in tying Reed's music and influence to the New York punk scene, and certainly helps prove that punk has its origins in New York's underground sixties music. The importance of Lou Reed and John Cale's partnership can, seemingly, not be overstated, and the interviews throughout this film continue to affirm the belief that without the Velvet Underground, alternative music would not exist the way that know it.
(I also learnt that John Cale has aged much better than Lou Reed, and that for a period in the eighties, Lou Reed sported a horrible, full-bodied mullet).
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