Uncut's latest Ultimate Music Guide is a 148-page tribute to the genius of Lou Reed. As with all of our Ultimate Music Guides, we've raided the archives of NME and Melody Maker to uncover a rich collection of old Lou Reed interviews: some of them legendary encounters, restored to their original and unexpurgated lengths; others just as debauched and gripping, but unseen for decades.
If you were a fan, you probably watched with horror, incredulity and fretful concern at the things Lou Reed put himself through in the '70s, especially after the critical and commercial rejection of Berlin hardened an already cynical disposition into an unsparing bitterness and what seemed like a headlong pursuit of self-obliteration. Even more than Keith Richards at the time, Lou seemed the rock star most likely to become a casualty of his addictions.
In this archive piece from our March 2003 issue (Take 70), Uncut meets Lou Reed in his favourite Manhattan restaurant to discuss Edgar Allen Poe, Eminem, T’ai Chi, his illustrious career and his hatred of journalists: “I think in an interview what they essentially want to know is how big is your dick…” Words: Gavin Martin / Photo: Julian Schnabel
Metallica's Lars Ulrich has revealed that Lou Reed found the criticism of their 'Lulu' collaboration "difficult" to take.
Veteran rocker Reed teamed up with the metal legends to release the album, which is based around German dramatist Frank Wedekind's 1913 play about the life of an abused dancer, in October last year. He later claimed that Metallica fans had threatened to shoot him because they had been so unhappy about the LP.
