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Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71

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Re: Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71

#11

Post by philwelch »

vezzy-fnord wrote: post #4
cprncus wrote: post #2

I 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.

I'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.

Come on, you have to admit Lulu was a brilliant practical joke.

Re: Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71

#13

Post by wavesounds »

One 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.

Re: Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71

#14

Post by rcfox »

guiambros wrote: post #8
cprncus wrote: post #2

I 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.

This 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…

If 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."

Re: Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71

#15

Post by anaphor »

wavesounds wrote: post #13

One 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 Mu…

John 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.

Re: Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71

#16

Post by bbx »

The 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

It's interesting to read a legend's opinion on a modern pop-star.

Re: Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71

#20

Post by srean »

cabbeer wrote: post #12

"Only about 3000 people bought Velvet Underground albums, but all of them started a band."

This 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.
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