Celebrity interview interviews lou reed

This excruciating clip from a 1974 interview with Lou Reed perfectly demonstrates why everyone dreaded interviewing the great man

David Harris. Updated November 21st, 2024

There’s no doubting that The Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed was one of the most influential musicians of the 20th Century. The much repeated quote (often attributed to Brian Eno) has it that – “The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band”.

His solo stuff was also pretty great, especially Transformer (1972), produced by David Bowie.

Despite all his talent and success, however, music journalists used to absolutely dread being assigned an interview with Lou. He was famously irascible, often monosyllabic and frequently downright rude.

Not entirely without reason, though, given the quality of the questions he often had to field.

The following clip is taken from a press conference he gave in Sydney Airport in 1974 and it’s safe to say that he looks like he’d rather be anywhere else but there. Thanks to Bobby’s Heel for sharing on Twitter.

Wonderfully excruciating!

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And if you’d like a bit more Lou, here he is in Sydney again, one year later. A little more eloquent, but just as truculent…

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Source @SalvadorDafti