When I was a kid growing up I listened to black music mainly with a few exceptions,Bowie,some Kraftwerk,some Roxy,Rod Stewart's first album.There was one constant from 1972 onwards and that was Lou Reed.
I bought Transformer then and through that I discovered VU.For me Reed was the only white artist whose music excited me the way reggae,r&b,soul music did,and it stayed that way until I first heard punk..which to my ear's sounded like an extension of what the VU and then Reed had been doing.
The first time I heard Tom Verlaine sing Marquee Moon I was so excited that I bought 2 copies of the album from George in Backtracks,they sounded to me to be a new version of the VU.
Even later on I'd still hear VU and Reed in those post punk bands,That's probably the reason I love the Bunnymen the most of all the bands to have come out of the city.
In later years when he did the New York and then the Drella album with Cale he showed he was still an important artist.
I've never felt the loss of someone I didn't know..Marley died,Lennon died...they were just distant figures to me.
Tonight I actually feel like I've lost something or someone close to me.I can't explain it,I feel emotional about his death.
