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Lou Reed Received Death Threats From Metallica Fans Over Loutallica
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 2, 2011
Modified Nov 2, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 2, 2011
Modified Nov 2, 2011
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Oh sure, you've read about the cranky metal Lou Reed/Metallica collaboration Lulu—maybe you've even seen the Muppets covering Loutallica. But have you actually tried listening to the album? It seems some Metallica fans haven't, but they're still not too happy about it: "[Metallica's fans] are threatening to shoot me, and that's only because I showed up. They haven't even heard the record yet, and they're recommending various forms of torture and death," Reed told USA Today in an interview about the team-up.
The album, a perverse mixture of finger-tapping dirge-y riffs with Reed's froggy spoken word lyrics, has finally been released to less-than-enthusiastic responses: Pitchfork gave the "exhaustingly tedious" album a 1.0, the commenters have nominated it for worst album of all time, and Chuck Klosterman said it "might be a successful simulation of how it feels to develop schizophrenia while suffering from a migraine, although slightly less melodic."
And while Metallica might be carefully creating some distance between their brand and Lulu ("This is a one-off project. It's a new collective."), Reed gives a giant bearhug to the whole bizarre thing in the USA Today interview, utilizing as much Lou Reedian-wit as he can muster: he compliments Metallica for playing off his edge ("They are my metal blood brothers. They're very brave, and they can play. I'm not easy to play with."), slags off producers and new recording technologies ("If I had my way, they'd all be shot and dumped in the Hudson. They put everyone in isolation booths."), and declares that he hasn't had any fans since 1975's Metal Machine Music: "They all fled. Who cares? I'm essentially in this for the fun of it."
But most ominously, despite all the negative reviews and criticism, Reed could imagine going forward with the collaboration: "No one wants Lulu Part 2, but on Radio Lou, in my head where I hear these songs, I want more of it." This cat took the words right out of our mouths:
Tagged
cranky metal
death threats
lou reed
loutallica
lulu
metallica
Music
rock
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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