#8 New York- Lou Reed
One of the great contributions of popular music in America has been its ability to raise social awareness. Carrying on the mantle of literary authors and poets like Carl Sandburg, who’s dogeared volume of “Chicago Poems” still finds it’s way into my hands about once a month, folk artists like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot joined a host of blues artists to give us insight into the plight of the common man struggling through the American experience in the 30’s 40’s and 50’s. Bob Dylan brought this flavor from folk to rock in the 60’s and the tradition carries on today into hip hop and rap through albums like Dr.Dre’s “The Chronic 2001” which was the competition for my final #8 selection.
My favorite example of this artistry is Lou Reed’s 1989 discourse on the underbelly of New York where we meet the outcasts, the extreme, the marginalized citizens of the last pre-Social Media influencer of the world. As NYC follows its inevitable path to having the modern-day influence of Sears Roebuck in this new digital world, Reed gives us a glimpse of what it was at its apex through stories of those at the bottom in the classic “Dirty Blvd.” and a dozen other musically alive and thought-provoking stories. He then takes shots at those at the top, including himself, in the search for common ground in “Good Evening Mr. Waldheim” and the judgmental “Strawman” where the popular and material people responsible for this mess are proclaimed as “going straight to hell”. I’ve always found Reed’s music fun to listen to, and at the times I felt like listening deeply, substantial food for thought. “New York” is a great example of the power music possesses to simultaneously entertain and educate.
