"The great virtue of Lou Reed: The King of New York, the new and very fine biography by Will Hermes, is that it’s really two biographies . . . Hermes is masterful, recounting the various unlikely elements that came together [to form The Velvet Underground] . . . To Reed, Hermes brings his same unique blend of rhapsody and scholarly dispassion, of love and skepticism that defines the very best criticism. Plenty has been written about Reed, but only Hermes, to my mind, has gotten Reed’s peculiar balance, of person and poseur, exactly right . . . This biography is as beautifully researched as it is written; thorough, smart, conscientious and an absolute delight to simmer in." —Stephen Metcalf, The Washington Post
"No matter how well you know the man and his music, there’s so much more to him that’s never been revealed until now. This book has the menace and allure of Reed’s finest work—a fascinating, addictive, head-expanding rush into the unknown." —Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone
"A compulsively readable and astonishingly well-researched book that’s not just for Reed’s fans, but for anyone interested in American cultural history. This is a biography with a real rock and roll heart." —Michael Schaub, NPR
"An irresistible plunge into one of the seminal rock figures of the ’60s and ’70s . . . [Readers are] going to inhale it. This is a total no-brainer." —Esquire
"Will Hermes is one of the few Reed biographers to find a full person standing in this blast radius of discomfort . . . The Lou we meet in [his] pages is many things, because Hermes has done his research. As a result, we are greeted by an unresolved Reed, which is a tonic." —Sasha Frere-Jones, The Nation
"[A] meticulous yet vivid new biography, the first to draw on the archive donated to the New York Public Library by Reed’s widow Laurie Anderson . . . Hermes expertly conjures the different scenes Reed inhabited, placing him amid a rich cast of collaborators, friends and lovers." —David Shariatmadari, The Guardian
"Hermes dug deep into Reed’s past — interviewing family members, childhood friends, college classmates and others — but the real value here is in his critical insights on the artist’s work and its influence . . . Some ten years in the making, and citing a dizzying array of other materials, this masterful work is the definitive Reed history." —Variety
"The achievement of Will Hermes’s book King of New York is, first, in how thoughtfully it contains Reed . . . [Hermes] keeps Reed’s elusive pull anchored in a concrete understanding of the geographic container(s) in which he operated . . . Much like Reed in his songwriting, Hermes is exceptional at filling his narrative with a robust population of characters . . . Through Hermes’s lens, Reed is complicated, flawed, and sometimes brutal—and not always forgiven for those flaws and brutalities. It is a work of grand affection, one that allows a person their failings, and one that knows that examining those failings alongside the grandest achievements is how one pays homage to a full life." —Hanif Abdurraqib, Bookforum
" A layered, nuanced biography . . . Like Reed as a songwriter, Hermes is savvy, empathetic, and, crucially, not afraid to deliver occasional indictments . . . Fans will likely devour many of these stories and want to live inside of them . . . A doorstop book that doesn’t feel like homework . . . Reed’s final years, marked by his marriage to Laurie Anderson, are among the most moving parts of the story, a model for how to age gracefully after growing up torrentially." —John Hendrickson, The Atlantic
"By the final page, Hermes has traced rock’s trajectory from teenage talisman to corporate cash cow to something approaching monumentality: the soundtrack of what used to be called the American Century." —Jeremy Lybarger, The New Republic
"Lou Reed, Will Hermes' captivating new biography, fires on all cylinders: It's exhaustively researched and opinionated, with a swagger that evokes its volatile subject . . . Hermes writes with kinetic flair . . . [His] critical insights seam Reed's troubled, herky-jerky life into a lean narrative line . . . A scrupulous chronicle of a rock outlaw who sought an authentic self on stage." —Hamilton Cain, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"Lou Reed: The King of New York follows Reed’s complicated waltz from middle-class Long Island boy to downtown bohemian icon and, finally, worldwide rock star, laying on the concrete details while resisting the urge to present a unified theory . . . More than any previous biographer, Hermes allows a wide berth for the topics of sexuality, mental health, and addiction.” —Nathan King, Air Mail
"Hermes shrewdly probes Reed’s complex personal and professional life . . . Hermes’ strength is in identifying and articulating the transformational brilliance of Reed’s songwriting and performances within the context of the 1960s and ’70s music scene. Reverent about his artistry, he’s also discerningly cognizant of Reed’s temperamental shortcomings . . . An engrossing, fully dimensional portrait of an influential yet elusive performer." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Hermes, a superb writer, does poetic justice to the complicated life of his difficult subject . . . [He] offers a fresh and deep immersion in Reed’s world in all of its weird and wonderful, curmudgeonly glory . . . Powerful . . . [A] biographical magnum opus." —Booklist (starred review)
"There have been many biographies of Lou Reed, but Will Hermes has written the definitive life. He has probed into every corner, talked to people the others overlooked, dug up every last clipping and tape, but above all he has brought to the assignment a sharp eye, a clear head, a lucid prose style, and a determination to let Lou be Lou, without judgment." —Lucy Sante, author of Low Life
"As in his magisterial Love Goes to Buildings on Fire, Will Hermes again tracks the traces of time in New York City, but now focusing in on one pulse, the scorching light that was Lou Reed. He chronicles the past that made this artist and the future he helped call into being our own, especially the expansive senses of gender and sexuality that Reed longed for and sang about, but never got to benefit from fully. Hermes’s empathy for the pain behind his subject’s notoriously difficult personality is worthy of the humanity of Reed’s songs, and I couldn't offer higher praise." —Carl Wilson, music critic at Slate and author of Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste
"Lou Reed: King of New York is a monumental work filled with first person accounts of the master's life and a dizzying array of never-before-heard details. Through his all-encompassing focus on Lou, Will Hermes serves up a big slice of late 20th-century New York art history. This is an extraordinary achievement.” —Michael Imperioli, author of The Perfume Burned His Eyes
"Ezra Pound said that artists are the antennae of the race. Voilà: Lou Reed. Will Hermes gives us Reed in his full charismatic whiplashing complexity—sexy, surly, song-mad, vulnerable, shape-shifting, omnivorous, alert, brilliantly generative, creating and thriving in several musical and artistic ecologies over decades. This riveting, sensitive biography is everywhere underwritten by Hermes’s grasp of late twentieth-century New York, throughlines of American music, and his own antennae for musical and cultural scenes and specificities. Hermes offers a profound reckoning unburdened by hagiography yet unembarrassed to celebrate. This will surely be the definitive biography of Reed for decades—for fans, friends, the curious, the indifferent, and even enemies. As Reed’s beloved teacher Delmore Schwartz wrote, 'Time is the fire in which we burn.' As Hermes shows, Lou Reed was both the fire and the burnt." —Maureen N. McLane, author of My Poets
★ 10/23/2023
In this magisterial account, Rolling Stone senior critic Hermes (Love Goes to Buildings on Fire) delves into the mind and music of the Velvet Underground’s front man. Growing up on Long Island in the 1940s and ’50s, Reed “fell in love with rock ’n’ roll and New York City doo-wop” early on (he recorded his first single in the latter style in high school). After graduating from college, Reed joined with John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Angus MacLise to form the Velvet Underground in 1965. He left five years later to start a solo career. Though the band skirted fame in its brief run, it exerted outsize influence on punk and “alternative/college rock” of the 1980s, according to Hermes, who puts Reed’s legacy as both a rocker and lyricist front and center. Contending that his jubject’s “guiding-light idea” was to “take rock ’n’ roll, the pop format, and make it for adults,” Hermes notes that even Reed’s early songs dealt with “buying and using drugs, the psychology of addiction... intimate-partner violence, BDSM relationships” at a time when discussing such topics in music was rare. Throughout, Hermes weaves in small, resonant details that make achingly plain the fragile, complicated psyche beneath Reed’s too-cool persona. At one point, a friend recalls seeing Reed after he underwent electroconvulsive therapy at 18, possibly as a treatment for depression: “He seemed the same... a little more shaky than usual. And he had a little quiver in his voice sometimes.” This stands as the definitive biography of one of rock’s most enigmatic personalities. (Oct.)
09/29/2023
This lengthy biography of the late Velvet Underground cofounder and musician/poet/provocateur discusses his long association with New York City, collaborations with megastars such as Bowie, Warhol, Robert Wilson, and Delmore Schwartz, and his relationships with men and women, including his marriage to performance artist Laurie Anderson. Relying on NYPL's Reed archives and numerous secondary- and primary-source interviews, Hermes (Love Goes to Buildings on Fire) chronicles Reed's (1942–2013) wild life and times. Hermes admiringly emphasizes Reed's gender-fluid, nonbinary lifestyle and output, parsing song lyrics and quoting friends, enemies, and family. He excels at describing songs and concerts by the Velvets and Reed as a solo artist but occasionally falls into the trap of musing about what Reed might have been thinking, reading, or reacting to. There is a frank discussion of Reed's drug use and reputation as a difficult collaborator and partner, but Hermes also reveals Reed's softer side, especially after he cleaned up and met Anderson. VERDICT With a stupendously long notes section, a more than 22-page index, chapters headed thesis-style, with the subjects covered therein, and street addresses of practically everywhere Reed went, this title is for mega-fans and those wishing they could've lived in New York when it was all going down.—Liz French
★ 2023-05-31
The mercurial life and career of the singularly talented rock artist Lou Reed (1942-2013).
In the decade following his death, Reed’s legacy has generated considerable attention, fueling further interest and debate about this legendary performer’s artistic stature. In addition to Anthony DeCurtis’ recent biography, Todd Haynes’ acclaimed 2021 documentary on the Velvet Underground introduced Reed to younger audiences. Rolling Stone contributor Hermes, author of Love Goes to Buildings on Fire, covers a good amount of familiar territory. He traces Reed’s early writing and musical roots, from his performing in high school bands on Long Island to studying poetry at Syracuse with early mentor Delmore Schwartz to his formation of the Velvet Underground in 1965 with John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Angus MacLise. With Reed serving as the band’s principal songwriter, singer, and guitarist, they caught the attention of Andy Warhol, who for two years would become their manager. Reed quit the band in 1970 and launched a successful solo career, continuing for several decades. Hermes shrewdly probes Reed’s complex personal and professional life and his frequently erratic behavior; his struggles with mental illness and depression; drug and alcohol abuse; intimate relationships with women and men and his self-identifying queer or nonbinary sexuality; partnerships with David Bowie, Warhol, and Laurie Anderson; and his influence on performers including Patti Smith and the Talking Heads. The author interviewed many of Reed’s closest friends and relations and, unlike previous biographers, accessed the New York Public Library’s recently acquired Reed archives. Hermes’ strength is in identifying and articulating the transformational brilliance of Reed’s songwriting and performances within the context of the 1960s and ’70s music scene. Reverent about his artistry, he’s also discerningly cognizant of Reed’s temperamental shortcomings. “Tales of his rudeness were legion,” writes the author, and he had “a privileged celebrity’s sense of entitlement. Reed craved the freedom of anonymity, but still wanted his perks.”
An engrossing, fully dimensional portrait of an influential yet elusive performer.