Lou Reed Lou Reed

Lou Reed

The King of New York

    • 4.2 • 13 Ratings
    • $12.99

Publisher Description

“The only Lou Reed bio you need to read.” The Washington Post

A Rolling Stone best music book of 2023 | One of Pitchfork’s ten best music books of 2023 | A Variety best music book of the year | A Kirkus Reviews best nonfiction book of 2023

“There have been many biographies of Lou Reed, but Will Hermes has written the definitive life . . . He has brought to the assignment a sharp eye, a clear head, a lucid prose style, and a determination to let Lou be Lou, without judgment.” —Lucy Sante, author of Low Life


The most complete and penetrating biography of the rock master, whose stature grows every year.

Since his death in 2013, Lou Reed’s living presence has only grown. The great rock poet presided over the marriage of Brill Building pop and the European avant-garde, and left American culture transfigured. In Lou Reed: The King of New York, Will Hermes offers the definitive narrative of Reed’s life and legacy, dramatizing his long, brilliant, and contentious dialogue with fans, critics, fellow artists, and assorted habitués of the demimonde. We witness Reed’s complex partnerships with David Bowie, Andy Warhol, John Cale, and Laurie Anderson; track the deadpan wit, street-smart edge, and poetic flights that defined his craft as a singer and songwriter with the Velvet Underground and beyond; and explore the artistic ambition and gift for self-sabotage that he took from his mentor the poet Delmore Schwartz.

As Hermes follows Reed from Lower East Side cold-water flats to the eminent status he later achieved, he also tells the story of New York City as a cultural capital. The first biographer to draw on the New York Public Library’s much-publicized Reed archive, Hermes employs the library collections, the release of previously unheard recordings, and a wealth of recent interviews with Reed’s contemporaries to give us a new Lou Reed—a pioneer in writing about nonbinary sexuality and gender identity, a committed artist who pursued beauty and noise with equal fervor, and a turbulent and sometimes truculent man whose emotional imprint endures.

GENRE
Biographies & Memoirs
RELEASED
2023
October 3
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
560
Pages
PUBLISHER
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
SELLER
Macmillan
SIZE
43
MB

Customer Reviews

alan_226 ,

You Really Need to be a Fan!!

Found this to be long and meandering without offering any insight

Lou Reed Lou Reed
2017
Transformer: The Complete Lou Reed Story Transformer: The Complete Lou Reed Story
2014
Twenty Thousand Roads Twenty Thousand Roads
2007
Artie Shaw, King of the Clarinet: His Life and Times Artie Shaw, King of the Clarinet: His Life and Times
2011
Astral Weeks Astral Weeks
2018
Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces of a Man Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces of a Man
2014
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire Love Goes to Buildings on Fire
2011
Lou Reed: O Rei de Nova Iorque Lou Reed: O Rei de Nova Iorque
2024
Lou Reed. Król Nowego Jorku Lou Reed. Król Nowego Jorku
2024
Lou Reed: O Rei de Nova York Lou Reed: O Rei de Nova York
2024
Lou Reed Lou Reed
2023
New York 1973-1977. I cinque anni che hanno rivoluzionato la musica New York 1973-1977. I cinque anni che hanno rivoluzionato la musica
2014
Under a Rock Under a Rock
2024
World Within a Song World Within a Song
2023
A Few Words in Defense of Our Country A Few Words in Defense of Our Country
2024
Under the Big Black Sun Under the Big Black Sun
2016
Pledging My Time: Conversations with Bob Dylan Band Members Pledging My Time: Conversations with Bob Dylan Band Members
2023
Chuck Berry Chuck Berry
2022