Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Photos: 21 Ridiculously Great Pics Of Lou Reed For His 71st Birthday
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 2, 2013
Modified Mar 2, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Getty Images
View all 21
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 2, 2013
Modified Mar 2, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Everyone's favorite grumpy rocker Lou Reed turns 71 years young today! Reed has had a long and storied career, starting out as an in-house songwriter for Pickwick Records before forming (arguably) the greatest NYC band, the Velvet Underground, in the mid-60s. We particularly love it when Reed is posing for ridiculous photos with the likes of Moby, Bono and his dog—above, you can see 21 such examples of that.
We love Reed as much when he was skronking on "Sister Ray" as when he was embracing noise on Metal Machine Music; we love Reed as much when he was terrifying reporters as when he was reading NSFW porn descriptions.
We love Rock And Roll Animal, which we listened to in high school on long drives to the beach. We love the intricate guitar work on The Blue Mask. We love his most underrated album, the romantic Coney Island Baby, which has long been our favorite album to wash the dishes to.
We love his epics like "Street Hassle" and lesser-known modern classics like Ecstasy. We love the absolutely devastating Magic and Loss record, which gave us one of our favorite quotes of all time: "There's a bit of magic in everything/ and then some loss to even things out."
Besides his collaboration with Metallica, we really have a place in our hearts for almost everything Reed has produced throughout his long, sometimes uncomfortable, always uncompromising career—who else could write an album called New York in the dreaded '80s and come out with one of his masterpieces, as pure a distillation of the city as "Take The 'A' Train" or "New York Groove"?
Oh yeah, it's also Jon Bon Jovi's birthday today, but, um...yeah!
Tagged
birthdays
lou reed
Music
rock
velvet underground
original
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Ever wish you could get paid to walk through a stranger’s house? ‘The Scout’ is for you.
A new film focuses on the strange career of a location scout in New York City.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Sep 26, 2026
There are 100s of places to visit during Open House New York. Here's 5 of our favorites.
See the entire lineup for the weekend when the city opens its doors.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Arts & Entertainment
There are 100s of places to visit during Open House New York. Here's 5 of our favorites.
See the entire lineup for the weekend when the city opens its doors.
By
Hannah Frishberg
A massive MTA archive ended up in a Virginia warehouse. A Brooklyn man brought it home.
By
Hannah Frishberg
How a Harry Styles pop-up in the East Village led to a nearby bookstore owner's arrest
By
Sonia Rao
NYC’s creative workers are increasingly self-employed, report says
By
Hannah Frishberg
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .