Gone But Not Forgotten - Why the world fell in love with Lou Reed.

'Venus In Furs' was the first Velvet Underground song I heard, I was around 14 and at that age you feel like the whole world is against you, and that no one understands you. It's a conflict between wanting to be an individual but craving a sense of comradeship and belonging. It was also at that point in my childhood where I would hear my Grandparent's stories of the exuberant and exciting 60s. I consequentially thought that I had been born into the wrong era and this is perhaps where my mutual love for history akin to music stems from. I'm pretty sure I lived in 'Venus in Furs' for about two weeks straight, and that was it for me. After that I delved into the rest of their prolific work, and then finally became engulfed in Lou Reed's most critically acclaimed solo album 'Transformer'. It was also around that time I became obsessed with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. What connects these colossal artists together is that once you become obsessed with one song, you're in. From then on they become an important landmark in your life, and even though you progress to find new bands and fall in love with bands of the moment, you always find yourself returning to where it all started.

Artists like Lou Reed are timeless due to their profound lyrics which are relevant to any individual in any era, be it in 2013 or 1967. Music like this has no expiry date. 'Pale Blue Eyes' particularly spoke to me when I was going through a rather difficult time in a relationship, and has been covered by so many other influential artists, The Kills version of the classic is perhaps my favourite. Despite having little commercial success in terms of selling physical copies (although I am sure that will imminently change) The Velvet Underground have provided inspiration for so many successful bands today. You will find few artists who do not cite Lou Reed as a huge influence, and he has probably inveigled other artists to cover his material more than any other singer/song writer, ever. It was only this morning that I started my day listening to 'Vicious' from the 'Transformer' LP and so to hear of the tragic news this evening was all the more overwhelming and quite frankly, staggering. Whilst the the world of music has suffered an immeasurable loss, his prolific work will continue to inspire future generations and he will certainly not be forgotten. For some one who led such a debauched and turbulent chaotic life, it is actually astounding that he didn't make it into the infamous '27 club' and made it to the impressive age of 71, not that that makes the loss any less calamitous. I'm just searching for some silver linings and i'm sure Lou Reed, of all people, wouldn't want us to feel dispirited. 

Goodbye Lou Reed. Thank you for helping me and many others through the hard times.