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Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed (born March 2, 1942) is an American rock musician best known as the guitarist, vocalist and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground as well as a successful solo artist whose career has spanned several decades. The band gained little mainstream attention during their career, but became one of the most influential of their era.

As the Velvet Underground's main songwriter, Reed analyzed subjects of personal experience that rarely had been examined so openly in rock and roll, including a variety of sexual topics and drug culture and use. As a guitarist, he was a pioneer of many guitar effects including distortion, high volume feedback, and nonstandard tunings. Reed began a long and eclectic solo career in 1971. He had a hit the following year with "Walk on the Wild Side", though for more than a decade he seemed to wilfully evade the mainstream commercial success its chart status offered him. One of rock's most volatile personalities, Reed's work as a solo artist has frustrated critics wishing for a return of The Velvet Underground. The most notable example is 1975's infamous double LP of recorded feedback loops, Metal Machine Music, upon which Reed later commented: "No one is supposed to be able to do a thing like that and survive." By the late 1980s, however, he had garnered recognition as an elder statesman of rock.
Discography
With The Velvet Underground
* The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967) US #171
* White Light/White Heat (1968) US #199
* The Velvet Underground (1969) US #197 (Charted with 1985 re-issue)
* Loaded (1970)
* 1969: The Velvet Underground Live (1974, recorded 1969)
* VU (1985, recorded 1968-1969) US #85, CMJ #10, UK #47
* Another View (1986, recorded 1967-1969)
* Live MCMXCIII (1993) US #180, UK #70
* Peel Slowly and See (1995 box set, recorded 1965-1970)
* Fully Loaded (1997, double disc set, recorded 1969-1970, remastered version of album Loaded released in 1970)
* Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes (2001, recorded live 1969)
Solo
Studio albums
* Lou Reed (1972) US #189
* Transformer (1972) US #29, Gold, UK #13
* Berlin (1973) US #98, UK #7
* Sally Can't Dance (1974) US #10
* Metal Machine Music (1975)
* Coney Island Baby (1976) US #41, UK #52
* Rock and Roll Heart (1976) US #64
* Street Hassle (1978) US #89
* The Bells (1979) US #130
* Growing Up in Public (1980) US #158
* The Blue Mask (1982) US #169
* Legendary Hearts (1983) US #159
* New Sensations (1984) US #56, UK #92
* Mistrial (1986) US #47, UK #69
* New York (1989) US #40, Gold, UK #14
* Magic and Loss (1992) US #80, UK #6
* Set the Twilight Reeling (1996) US #110, UK #26
* Ecstasy (2000) US #183, UK #54
* The Raven (2003) UK #22
* Hudson River Wind Meditations (2007)
Live albums
* Rock n Roll Animal (1974) US #45, Gold, UK #26
* Lou Reed Live (1975) US #62
* Live: Take No Prisoners (1978)
* Live in Italy (1984)
* Beauty And Rust (Live in Leysin) (1992)
* Live in Concert (A re-issue of the album Live in Italy ) (1996)
* Perfect Night: Live in London (1998) UK #102
* American Poet (2001)
* Animal Serenade (2004)
* Berlin: Live At St. Ann's Warehouse (2008)
Compilations
* Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of Lou Reed (1977) US #156, UK #144 [1996 Re-issue]
* Rock and Roll Diary: 1967-1980 (1980) US #178
* City Lights (1985)
* Walk on the Wild Side & Other Hits (1992)
* Between Thought and Expression: The Lou Reed Anthology [BOX SET] (1992)
* The Best of Lou Reed & Velvet Underground (1995) UK #56
* Different Times: Lou Reed in the '70s (1996)
* Perfect Day (1997) UK # - (UK Budget Albums #2)
* Retro (1998) UK #29
* A Retrospective (1998)
* The Definitive Collection (1999)
* The Very Best of Lou Reed (2000) UK #94
* Legendary Lou Reed (2002)
* NYC Man (The Ultimate Collection 1967-2003) (2003) UK #31
* NYC Man: Greatest Hits (2004) UK #43
* Control Soundtrack - "What Goes On" by Velvet Underground (2007)
Singles
* Walk on the Wild Side b/w Perfect Day (1972) US #16, UK #10
* Satellite of Love b/w Vicious (1973)
* I Love You, Suzanne (1984) US # - (Mainstream Rock Tracks #31)
* No Money Down (1986) US # - (Mainstream Rock Tracks #19)
* Dirty Blvd. (1989) US # - (Mainstream Rock Tracks #18, Modern Rock Tracks #1)
* Busload of Faith (1989) US # - (Modern Rock Tracks #11)
* Nobody But You (1990) US # - (Modern Rock Tracks #13)
* What's Good (1992) US # - (Modern Rock Tracks #1)
* Perfect Day (1997) [Children in Need '97] UK #1
* Perfect Day (2000) [Various Artists (including Lou Reed)] UK #69
* Satellite of Love 2004 b/w Satellite of Love (2004) UK #10
* Tranquilize (2007) [The Killers feat Lou Reed] UK #13
Appearances in film
* One Trick Pony (1980) as Steve Kunelian
* Get Crazy (1983) as Auden
* Faraway, So Close! (1993) as himself
* Blue in the Face (1995) as "Man with Strange Glasses".
* Closure (1997) as himself
* Prozac Nation (2001) as himself
* Berlin: Live At St. Ann's Warehouse (2008)
* Palermo Shooting (2008) as himself