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Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71
- cprncus 13y agoI don't see how general celebrity deaths are hacker news. I would like to read about tech and computer news and ideas; if I wanted this, I would read general news sites.
- vezzy-fnord 13y agoI'd say Lou Reed is a hacker. A hacker of music. His Metal Machine Music was one of the first and perhaps most famous examples of noise music (after Merzbow) which completely challenged all conventions of what music truly is. There were plenty of others before him, but he had his place, as well. Even though his later years were not up to par.
- philwelch 13y agoCome on, you have to admit Lulu was a brilliant practical joke.
- acjohnson55 13y agoThere was a long tradition of noise and electronic music before Metal Machine Music going back to the turn of the 20th century, with figures like Luigi Russolo, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Iannis Xenakis, Jean-Claude Risset, Max Matthews, Morton Subotnick, and many others. Not much of it was made by famous pop musicians (as opposed to people thought of more so as composers), so Reed definitely deserves credit for introducing a lot of people to sounds and styles they'd never heard before, and perhaps paving the way for groups like Sonic Youth.
- guiambros 13y agoThis has been discussed many times, but as you've just joined, here's a PSA: On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. [1] Lou Reed was an amazing musician, and someone that promoted intellectual curiosity [2], hence the 20+ points. (too bad one of the mods seems to disagree, hence it was flagged to now show up at the front page anymore). [1] http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFy4kRLCJBU&t=20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFy4kRLCJBU&t=20
- guiambros 13y ago> (too bad one of the mods seems to disagree...) This is back on the front page - and at the #1 - so my last mention doesn't make sense anymore.
- rcfox 13y agoIf you're going to quote something, make sure that it doesn't directly contradict your position: "If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic."
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoSo we probably shouldn’t discuss NSA surveillance ever again here on HN, right? Lou Reed spoke on technology at SXSW. He was an audio purist. He made a video mocking the GOP. I think he qualified as an influential geek and deserves a black band on the title bar of HN.
- DanBC 13y ago> So we probably shouldn’t discuss NSA surveillance ever again here on HN, right? I CAN ONLY DREAM.
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoSure, keep working on point 4 of your S:N Improvement Program.
- DanBC 13y agohttp://imgur.com/ab50rmB http://imgur.com/ab50rmB
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoUpvoted. (As if you needed more of those.)
- kyro 13y agoI agree. This submission has taken up about an entire half an inch of screen real estate, and seeing as how Apple hasn't yet offered a Macbook Air with a larger display, I can't really give up that much space. What's worse is the js script HN seems to be running that forces your mouse cursor to gravitate towards links of celebrity news.
- cprncus 13y agoIt's not that my time and reading effort is so valuable (it isn't). It's that news forums are as valuable as they are curated to be on topic. With your argument, everyone could just post anything, such as what Justin B had for lunch, and I could just scroll down, right?
- kyro 13y agoAbsolutely. People can post news about what the Biebster had for lunch, and if stories of Lunchables pizza with a glass of chocolate milk resonated with the hackers here to the point where it ended up on the front page, I'd have no problem with it. Loosen up. People here are human with shared interests that go beyond interpreters and cloud computing. To have one story about a celebrity death hit the front page every so often isn't a big deal. And saying that, the entire front page was covered in stories about Job's death for a couple of days, but we survived. We're here, stronger, more alive than ever.
- elliottcarlson 13y agoOr you can understand that a community will vote as they see fit, and some news items that are not to your liking may make it to the front page. If you disagree with the community, then I am sure you can find a more appropriate one elsewhere that might be able to meet every need you have, as opposed to one that might occasionally have something that does not interest you. With your 48 days on the site, I am sure it won't be hard to make the decision on where you want to get your news from.
- snorkel 13y agoLou Reed fits the hacker zeitgeist. Sad loss.
- lignuist 13y agoIt's hacker news because hackers upvoted it.
- Sandman 13y agoWrong. The guidelines aren't that clear on what hacker news is, but they're quite clear on what hacker news isn't. Just because people upvote something, that doesn't automatically make it hacker news. Having said that, rest in peace Lou Reed. Your music was a big part of my life.
- lignuist 13y ago> Wrong. The guidelines aren't that clear on what hacker news is, but they're quite clear on what hacker news isn't. The guidelines are not defining "hacker news" (or "not hacker news") at all. There is only a section which is called "What to submit" and both definitions (On-topic and off-topic) leave a lot space for interpretation. At the end it is really determined by the votes what is interesting to hackers (or the readers of HN) and what not. If something is breaking the rules, the mods would jump in - especially when an article is on top of the frontpage. Actually I find those pointless "why is this on HN" comments a lot more off-topic than upvoted links (= interesting to more readers than the other options) that are not strictly computer- or startup-related. People who want to dictate others what to post or upvote on HN and what not, should probably become mod or pg.
- auxbuss 13y agoThis isn't a celebrity death. It's Lou Reed. Music Hacker.
- Permit 13y agoThis is absolutely ridiculous. It doesn't take much effort to make anyone sound like a hacker. Eg. Paris Hilton is a "Media Hacker" because she's managed to create a successful brand for herself despite not having traits commonly seen in successful celebrities (a talent in acting or a talent in music). This might be an accurate description, but I don't want to see Paris Hilton news on Hacker News.
- j2d3 13y agoI dunno, Paris h. as media hacker could actually be an interesting discussion.
- tomasien 13y agoI came to this comment thread just to find this comment and downvote it, because I KNEW it would be here.
- cprncus 13y agoHappy to oblige. I look forward to the Perez Hiltification of the forum...
- zorpner 13y agoYou dismissed an entirely relevant link because you are allowing your biases to blind you, and are actively missing an opportunity to learn about someone who actually embodied the hacker mindset, because you do not have it.
- tomasien 13y agoThe absolute best thing about HN is that if you're a Hacker, it's a semi-complete resource of what's relevant. Not every celebrity death belongs on HN, but this one absolutely does. It's hard to explain why it does, which is why HN's rules are vague, but there's no doubt that it does. It may mean nothing to you, as many of the things mean nothing to you on the site (do you read every link on the front page? No way) but to a lot of the community, as hackers this was important to us.
- kolbe 13y agoMusic appreciation and hacking go hand-in-hand. When I have a ten hour project to do, I put on my Quiet Comforts, queue up some good tunes, and get to coding.
- mkr-hn 13y agoThe endless bickering over whether or not it's HN material is a lot more annoying than a single entry on the front page. And much harder to scroll past. It took three whacks of Page Down to reach the bottom.
- bjourne 13y agoAgreed. It's not just celebrity deaths it's more and more obviously not technology-related topics. It's a shame because the interesting technology topics are buried in an increasing amount of noise.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- crapshoot101 13y agoDamn it - amazing musician. Hope he's taking the proverbial walk on the wild side.
- lignuist 13y agohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkwD261MHsc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkwD261MHsc
- ssully 13y agoDamn you Sony and your Perfect Day commercials... I think now's a good time to go listen to Transformer again.
- aidos 13y agoTransformer is every kind of pop wonderful (and I mean that in the best possible way). No idea how familiar you are with The Velvet Underground but have a listen to The Velvet Underground (self titled - 1969) if you haven't heard it before. Just amazing. Sad to hear the news that Lou Reed is gone - though, he sure did make sure he experienced everything he could from life along the way.
- mcphilip 13y agoRIP Lou Reed, one of my favorite musicians. The song Heroin has so much dissonance and noise throughout that it's almost revolting to listen to. Over time it grew into one of my favorite songs in that I learned to find beauty in the clash of consonance and dissonance. At the risk of hyperbole, that mindset of finding something new from the conflict of opposing forces is something that now applies in far more areas of my life than just music, and the VU was the vehicle that introduced me to that philosophy.
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoI agree wholeheartedly, The Velvet Underground has always been one of my favorite bands and has shaped my musical taste. It was the band that made me look into punk, glam rock, new wave, and psychobilly. My favorite song is ‘Beginning to see the light’.
- chimeracoder 13y agoI came here specifically hoping that someone had already mentioned the song "Heroin". I got chills the first time I heard it, and I still do. I think my favorite Velvet Underground song would have to be "Here She Comes Now", because I get the same feeling from Kurt Cobain's cover of it[0]. > Over time it grew into one of my favorite songs in that I learned to find beauty in the clash of consonance and dissonance. Do you listen to the Jesus and Mary Chain, by any chance? [0] Perhaps blasphemous to mention a cover on a thread about Lou Reed's death, but hey, if it were't for VU, the cover would never have existed.
- jeanlucdiscard 13y agoIt took me a while until "Heroin" got under my skin, but when it did, it got all the way under. You have to listen to it as loud as you can possibly stand, and not repeat it too often or it will give you an immaculate headache.
- batbomb 13y agoJust Like Honey reminds me of VU. Heroin is great, but other songs like Pale Blue Eyes make me tingle more
- cabbeer 13y ago"Only about 3000 people bought Velvet Underground albums, but all of them started a band."
- srean 13y agoThis is so true and this quote would always remind me of the programming language Scheme. Scheme never quite made it big commercially but almost everyone who tried it implemented a programming language just to see it for real.
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago“That's a quote that (in various different wordings) has been attributed to Brian Eno countless times, though even the author of the most comprehensive Eno biography couldn't track down the original source. Of more importance, The Velvet Underground & Nico [the debut album], though not exactly a hit the first time around, sold a lot more than just a few thousand copies — and more, even, than the "30,000 copies in the first five years" that Lou Reed himself told Eno the LP sold. An MGM royalty statement shows sales of 58,476 copies through February 14, 1969 (about two years after its initial release)—not at all bad for a late-'60s LP, if far less than Andy Warhol and the Velvets hoped for.”
- auxbuss 13y agoMyth or Eno legend? Who knows? Here's an interesting backgrounder, though: http://www.richieunterberger.com/vumyth.html http://www.richieunterberger.com/vumyth.html
- mtts 13y agoNot true. My mom (otherwise heavily into classical music and, through the influence of her older brothers, somewhat interested in singer songwriters like Bob Dylan and - gasp - Donovan) bought a copy - and went to a concert. She didn't start a band - but did instill a love of very noisy, very nasty rock'n'roll in her children.
- jamesbritt 13y agoENO: VOYAGES IN TIME & PERCEPTION from Musician Magazine, Oct 1982, by Kristine McKenna http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/musn82.htm http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/musn... I was talking to Lou Reed the other day and he said that the first Velvet Underground record sold 30,000 copies in the first five years. The sales have picked up in the past few years, but I mean, that record was such an important record for so many people. I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band!
- wavesounds 13y agoOne of the most important musicians of all time. The Velvet Underground inspired countless musicians and greatly influenced whole genres of music, it's hard to see how Punk would have existed without the Velvet Underground. Lou Reed's greatest contribution though was his ability to mix great song writing with artful experimentation. From ST with Nico to Loaded to White Light White Heat to Vicious and Metal Machine Music, Lou consistently wrote great songs and expanded the worlds musical pallet. He will be missed.
- anaphor 13y agoJohn Cale was an equally large part of what made the VU great, and he's still touring and making great music. I'd be interested to hear his thoughts.
- mturmon 13y agoSpeaking of Cale and Reed, I still enjoy listening to their 1990 album Songs for Drella about their time with Andy Warhol. It's a very personal record, rather quiet, and gives a lot of insight in to who Warhol was from both Reed and Cale. Here's a sample, with Cale singing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FBvP8o35CA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FBvP8o35CA
- vangale 13y agoI had Metal Machine Music on 8-track tape. This made it even better because of the infinite loop playback and, as the tape inevitably started distorting it didn't really make any difference!
- bbx 13y agoThe Velvet Underground's career can be summed up as: "Commercially unsuccessful, but enormously influential". On a side note, if you have a few minutes to spare, read Lou Reed's review of Kanye's Yeezus: http://thetalkhouse.com/reviews/view/lou-reed http://thetalkhouse.com/reviews/view/lou-reed It's interesting to read a legend's opinion on a modern pop-star.
- selmnoo 13y agoIt is strange reading that about Yeezus, Kanye made Yeezus with a number of other musicians (the full list, according to Wiki: 88-Keys, Ackee Juice Rockers, Arca, Benji B, Carlos Broady, Brodinski, Ben Bronfman, Evian Christ, Eric Danchild, Daft Punk, Mike Dean, Dom Solo, Jack Donoghue, Gesaffelstein, Noah Goldstein, Lunice, Lupe Fiasco, Hudson Mohawke, No ID, Che Pope, Rick Rubin, S1, Travis Scott, and Sham Joseph). So, when he's praising the horns line, the piano line, or the complex electronic effects, it's not Kanye who's responsible for all of that, it's Daft Punk, it's Mike Dean, or Mohawke. Anyway, I'm getting unnecessarily off-topic here. So to get back: Lou Reed was undeniably an innovator like no other, a true hacker. He knew how to play a mean guitar (jazz, blues, rock'n'roll and a whole lot else), he wrote great poetry. The greatest thing that's said about him is, indeed, as another commenter already has said: "Only about 3000 people bought Velvet Underground albums, but all of them started a band." My two favorite songs of his: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffr0opfm6I4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffr0opfm6I4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wNknGIKkoA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wNknGIKkoA
- k-mcgrady 13y ago>> "So, when he's praising the horns line, the piano line, or the complex electronic effects, it's not Kanye who's responsible for all of that, it's Daft Punk, it's Mike Dean, or Mohawke." To bring this round to tech I guess it's similar to Steve Jobs getting credit for the iPhone when a lot of the work was done by the engineers. In other words Kanye had to bring those people together and guide the creation of the music or it wouldn't have happened.
- aneisf 13y agoI think you're too readily writing off the role of the producer in the case of 'Yeezus.' Classics like Steely Dan's 'Aja', Quincy Jones' 'The Dude', and, in hip-hop, Dr. Dre's 'The Chronic' were crafted in much the same way, a collaboration between producers with a grand vision and a cast of musicians who could see it to realization.
- balbaugh 13y agoLou Reed reviewing the new Kanye West Album Yeezus. http://thetalkhouse.com/reviews/view/lou-reed http://thetalkhouse.com/reviews/view/lou-reed
- digitalboss 13y agoWhile you code/hack, here's the Full Album of Lou Reed's Transformer....Today is NOT a perfect day. Be sure to select HD for playback quality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwDZT8XXkFw#t=378&hd=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwDZT8XXkFw#t=378&hd=1
- lcasela 13y agoRIP. The Velvet Underground/Lou Reed's music really helped me during a hard part of my life.
- saturdaysaint 13y agoSame here. Especially the s/t third album and Loaded. It's hard to imagine in our era of blog/Reddit culture, where pathos is kind of freely available if you know where to look, how brave it was to talk about the dark corners of everyday life. Reed proclaimed these things - depression, uncertain relationships, body image issues, sexual kinks (along with flashes of happiness) - in often gorgeous pop songs. Their portraits of characters dealing with these were still almost unrivaled in their vulnerability and believability when I listened as a teenager in the 90's.
- gngeal 13y agoFirst thought: 1998, Lou Reed, Plastic People of the Universe, and Václav Havel in the White House: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.16834349884.22255.15867989884&type=3 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.16834349884.22255....
- danieldk 13y agoAfter Zappa and Beefheart, one of the last great musical rebels of the 60ies has died. It's a sad day. Since everyone else does sweet songs, let me add this :): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYu0sk9D_pk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYu0sk9D_pk Thank you Lou Reed for all the great music!
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoWe can discuss Lou Reed’s contribution to the Velvet Underground, I sure could fill hours and hours. He made some great albums later on as well. When I was studying English lit, Edgar Allen Poe’s works were covered. About 6 months later, Reed came out with his album ‘The Raven’. That was magical to me, deepening the experience I already had reading EAP’s work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven_(Lou_Reed_album) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven_(Lou_Reed_album)
- draegtun 13y agoIndeed The Raven is a very good album. Who am I? (Tripitena's Song) from the album is an extremely beautiful & touching song about life & death which strikes a poignant note right now.
- rpupkin 13y ago1984, Pittsburgh's Syria Mosque. I saw just about anybody worth seeing back then (including The Who the night before the Cincinnati tragedy) but Sweet Lou was the only show after which I had serious hearing loss. It lasted for days. I recall being quite concerned at the time.
- jskonhovd 13y agoI saw him a couple of years ago in Memphis. Great show. He will be missed.
- mlinksva 13y agoCondolences to spouse Laurie Anderson.
- daveyoon 13y agoHe lived a very full life.
- bart42_0 13y agoso sad
- draegtun 13y agoSurprised but deeply heartened see this at top of HN. I'm a long time fan of Lou Reed and was extremely saddened when I heard of his passing earlier today. Good to know his music and life also had strong effect on other hackers. Between thought and expression lies a lifetime
- deveac 13y agoFrom a young age, no other artists expanded the definition of what it meant to fuse creativity, art, & music more than Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground. There are not too many artists that I can honestly say redefined music for me. He was one of them. Thanks Lou.
- state 13y ago'The Quine Tapes' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootleg_Series_Volume_1:_The_Quine_Tapes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootleg_Series_Volume_1:_The_Qu...) has always been one of my favorite records to put on while programming.
- bjourne 13y agoShould be OT for HN. Thanks for the downvotes guys. Fine if you loved Lou Reed, but how would you feel if Hacker News featured every famous person death you didn't care about? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2013 Would you still visit the site?
- darkchasma 13y agoNo, it shouldn't. Although the death of a celebrity is interesting, it's not deeply interesting. However, some celebrities like Lou Reed, are deeply interesting. And it's not until their death that we generally discuss or think about how deeply interesting they were. Hacker news, as far as I understand it, is not tech news. Other sites have that covered. This is the discussion of ideas.
- leemcalilly 13y agoAgreed on this. Lou Reed had a greater influence on our culture than most people on HN will ever know. This wasn't just a celebrity dying. This is on par with Steve Jobs.
- jmadsen 13y agoDamn! Vinko Coce died. Never would have known if I didn't read HN
- dhughes 13y agoThat's sad he wasn't really all that old, 71 is like the new 61. He had a great adventurous life more than most people but still way too young. Love your liver! I'm not sure what Lou's situation was but this is a good time to stress your liver is important and a lot of people abuse it. You don't have to drink alcohol to have liver problems I'd say there is a huge stigma whenever people hear about people having liver problems. I suddenly developed fatty liver, I'm a non-drinker, no drugs and slim, it was either my diet or the heartburn drug (the only drug) I am taking. Right now my right side and back ache constantly it's not fun.
- wyclif 13y agoHere's my fave obituary so far: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2013/10/27/lou-reed/ http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2013/10/27/l... Jenny said when she was just five years old There was nothin’ happenin’ at all It was the fifties. We were living in cookie cutter houses in the suburbs. Our parents will still recovering from the war, buckling down and making a better life for their children, with barbecues and trips to the beach and… Every time she puts on a radio There was nothin’ goin’ down at all Not at all The radio was primarily for baseball. They played music, but it did not change our lives and then… Then one fine mornin’ she puts on a New York station You know, she don’t believe what she heard at all It happened overnight. Sports became secondary. The music, the politics, suddenly life was full of opportunities and children were the leaders, not their parents. She started shakin’ to that fine fine music You know her life was saved by rock ‘n’ roll Imagine that. Not an iPhone. Not an iPad. The greatest exponent of technology was the transistor radio, almost no one had a color television set, never mind a flat screen. But that rock and roll music coming out of the tiny speaker or earphone…was enough.
- moneypenny 13y agoToday: Put your smartphones down, pick up your guitars, and play along with Perfect Day. http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/l/lou_reed/perfect_day_ver2_crd.htm http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/l/lou_reed/perfect_day_ver2_...
- leemcalilly 13y agoHis literary agent said that "He was as good an artist as one can possibly be". I think that just about sums it up.
- mbubb 13y agoToday, I have had 3 emails from college friends who I haven't heard from in a while. Funny how many vivid memories from that time are music related.