Lofty Talk About Lou Reed

There is a paper called "Position Lou Reed from a Profeminist Perspective" here. A sample:

"I would like to put forward the argument that both the maleness of his visual style and his rock music are connected to this political and moral awareness and to the increasingly "artistic" (poetic) content of Lou Reed's lyrics the last 20 or so years. I will also argue that alongside with this Lou Reed has used the historical and marginal "Lou Reed" to legitimise his speech and to overcome the problematic position of a white male commentary on social and political issues."

Here's another:

"Lou Reed wants to create pure rock that carries within it an authentic honesty, a raw throat grabbing energy but at the same time this appears to be something that clearly needs to be sought for. Capturing this energy in recording demands time and careful deliberation and is nothing to be half-hearted about. This is a good example of the contradictory relation between rock's authentic male "energy" and the technology of music production and recording. By trying to "capture as much as possible of the magic" and by trying to get "as close as possible to that perfect moment" rock's ideology of realness becomes very clear. The recording itself can only possibly reflect something true and real; the raw energy of the live gig. This is a way of thinking of realness that clearly distinguishes rock from, for example, Techno or other dance genres where the difference between recording and live playing is not as clearly delineated."

So there.