David Bowie thinks Lou Reedโ€˜s 2011 collaboration with Metallica, Lulu, is his โ€œgreatest workโ€.

The claim was made by Reedโ€™s widow Laurie Anderson during her speech at Reedโ€™s induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on Saturday, April 18.

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โ€œOne of his last projects was his album with Metallica,โ€ she said. โ€œAnd this was really challenging, and I have a hard time with it. There are many struggles and so much radiance. And after Louโ€™s death, David Bowie made a big point of saying to me, โ€˜Listen, this is Louโ€™s greatest work. This is his masterpiece. Just wait, it will be like Berlin. It will take everyone a while to catch up.โ€™โ€

Anderson added: โ€œIโ€™ve been reading the lyrics and it is so fierce. Itโ€™s written by a man who understood fear and rage and venom and terror and revenge and love. And it is raging.โ€

Click here to find out more about Uncutโ€™s Lou Reed: The Ultimate Music Guide

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Lou Reed: The Ultimate Music Guide
Lou Reed: The Ultimate Music Guide

Reed was inducted by Patti Smith, who said, โ€œI made my first eye contact with Lou, dancing to the Velvet Underground when they were playing upstairs at Maxโ€™s Kansas City in the summer of 1970. And then somewhere along the line, Lou and I became friends. It was a complex friendship, sometimes antagonistic and sometimes sweet. Lou was sometimes emerge from the shadows at CBGBs. If I did something good, he would praise me. If I made a false move, he would break it down.โ€

She continued: โ€œOne night, when we were touring, separately, we wound up in the same hotel, and I got a call from him, and he asked me to come to his room. He sounded a little dark, so I was a little nervous. But I went up, and the door was open, and I found him in the bathtub dressed in black. So I sat on the toilet and listened to him talk. It seemed like he talked for hours, and he talked about, well, all kinds of things.โ€

โ€œHe spoke compassionately about the struggles of those who fall between genders. He spoke of pre-CBS fender amplifiers and political corruption. But most of all, he talked about poetry. He recited the great poets โ€” Rupert Brooke, Hart Crane, Frank Oโ€™Hara. He spoke of the poetsโ€™ loneliness and of the poetsโ€™ dedication to the highest muses. When he fell into silence, I said, โ€œPlease, take care of yourself, so the world can have you as long as it can.โ€ And Lou actually smiled.โ€

You can read the full transcript of her speech at Rolling Stone.