Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio (1) (Live in Copenhagen, April 24th, 2010)

[MichaelHansenFUN]

i love it

[LastKissGoodbye]

Step 1: take a crap in public. Step 2: call it 'art'. Step 3: Try not to laugh at people who think it's worth something just because you called it art. If you're happy to be ripped off by this kind of thing, let me know, I'll record an entire album of me smashing my face into a piano and sell you it.

[bleedingtyrant19]

@LastKissGoodbye I would like to hear your definition of "art?" I'm not saying this is good...but I think that to compare it to taking a shit in public doesn't exactly hold up. This isn't a gimmick...and I don't think it's great. But the fact that Lou is breaking some rules here, a lot of rules to be exact, demands my respect as a listener.

[LastKissGoodbye]

@bleedingtyrant19 Calling the shit you took in public 'art' is the perfect metaphor for how the term 'art' can be a term entirely subjective to an individuals opinion. I wouldn't call this art, and I believe anyone who would is in no position to argue that fecal matter can't also be considered art. And the funny thing is, neither of us would be right or wrong.

[bleedingtyrant19]

@LastKissGoodbye I have to disagree with you. I'm a student of literature, so defining what is "beautiful" and what is "art" pertains to my discipline. What I can say is that all art has either the intention or effect of invoking an emotional or intellectual response in its audience. Listeners have seen Metal Music Machine as either a joke or a brilliant attempt at avant garde guitar looping. I think it's art...at least it gets my brain quivering...but it's probably not great

[LastKissGoodbye]

@bleedingtyrant19 You don't exactly disagree. If your definition of art is something meant to provoke an emotional or intellectual response, then it really is as easy as pointing at anything and calling it art (the action of which encourages the audience/viewer to find an emotional or intellectual response of their own). Which is something which can be applied to the act of public defecation just as aptly as Metal Machine Music.

[bleedingtyrant19]

@LastKissGoodbye Not exactly. Side walks don't provoke an intellectual or emotional response in me (and neither does defecation, shoe boxes, dust, or any number of things). An artist could take all of these, reinforce them with an evocative purpose, and turn them into art perhaps. But they are not art in and of themselves. Music is always art unless it lacks purpose and image. My point is that MMM has a purpose and image, and therefore is art. Not good art, but art.

[LastKissGoodbye]

@bleedingtyrant19 ah, but now we're getting to the point. If a shoebox on its own isn't art, yet could be considered art if an artist presented it as such (with the intent of evoking an intellectual or emotional response), then people would be more inclined to consider it in a new light and consider its artistic merits.

[bleedingtyrant19]

@LastKissGoodbye And just another note....art/aesthetics aren't (in my opinion) as subjective as you make them. It's true that we must be general when talking about art because opinions differ drastically on any piece. But that doesn't mean that deciding what is good in music is as subjective as deciding your favorite flavor of ice cream or your favorite color.

[LastKissGoodbye]

@bleedingtyrant19 An artist can be as little as someone who takes a photo and lets machine and nature do the rest. If you feel that that action demands your time and respect, that's where our opinions differ. I'm not debating that Metal Machine Music is or isn't 'art', simply that if the exact same thing had been done by a 15 year old, nobody would have looked twice. It's purely the fact that it's Lou Reed that allowed people to find any value in this whatsoever

[astroboirap]

even derek bailey is better than this

[PrankZabba]

it still sounds better then the new Metallica album

[GH3god100]

Wtf is this?

[eb0nikz]

the guy who recorded this deserves a Purple Heart.

[peters9nine]

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa­aaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww­wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnn­nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn­nnnnnnn

[Lolguy88]

LOL people payed to watch that live

[RacismIsSchism]

@Lolguy88 damn, now that's a hardcore lou reed fan, i wonder if they're actually enjoying this, or they're just trying to make an artistic statement

[terminalharmony]

@dirtydawg62 Even though you were being sarcastic, I'm pretty sure you accidentally happened upon the point. Experimental/improvised/noise music is beautiful in that anyone can create it: Indeed, I think, that may make it the most democratic form of music. It may be misshapen, it may be absurd - hell, it may be pure insanity - but few people are ludicrous enough to do such a thing and then have the audacity to broadcast it to the world.

[misanthropicagenda1]

merzbow eat yr heart out

[Stophocles]

This is just embarrassing.

[GizmoLico]

i'm not sure if this is the worst or best thing ever

[101vagabond]

@GizmoLico - Metal Machine Music is the greatest album ever. And also the worst. The biggest joke and the most serious artistic statement. The most clinical, impersonal music imaginable and the most deeply personal. This is something similar.

[dragmio]

@101vagabond Metal Machine Music is much better than this

[fiddelerselbow]

Does anybody have video's of Lou and that new moog guitar? I got a 15 minute record of one gig somewhere and It sounds absolutely face melting.

[BobTheRecordGuy]

Well, yes, it IS 'garbage', of a sort. But if it was a couple minutes, that would be one thing. But 75 minutes... that's epic. That's what made the original so 'great' (of a sort') ... 60 minutes of torture. 75 minutes is even funnier.

[frankdialogue]

75 minutes of THIS?...You would have to be out of your mind to listen.

[frankdialogue]

I worked in a big Philadelphia record store when this originally came out...Reed was shooting a lot of speed at that time..I thought it was garbage then, but I had a certain interest...But now, 40 years later?...Put this shit to bed...The 'avant garde' is dead anyway, and there have been a thousand noise bands that were more interesting...But somebody is still paying Reed for this crap...Lou is mistakenly described as a 'genius' by the gullible.

[FacialHat]

@frankdialogue It's true that Lou Reed did drugs and thought of Metal Machine Music as a funny prank, but he was also serious about it. He even applied classical music concepts to the music itself, as quoted by him. You see all of these people dismissing it as 'noise'? That's because it is. That's the genre of music it is. Metal Machine Music didn't create noise, but it certainly inspired many other artists, including Merzbow, to delve into the genre.

[frankdialogue]

Complete and total garbage.

[pumpedup1971]

can you say BORBETOMAGUS? don dietrich, jim sauter ( saxes ) and don miller ( guitar ) are world famous for this ...don and jim have done a solo album with thuston moore of sonic youth, and are headliners the world over at festivals for this style of music you can find some live videos of them on you tube borbetomagus were all influenced by metal machine music, but by this point lou reed has clearly been influenced by borbetomagus i might be wrong, but i don't think so

[noni675]

@pumpedup1971 Kaoru Abe and Masayuki Takayanagi were doing this in "Mass Projection" from 1970 - /watch?v=l3NuKt5sW_I

Still, I don't think it holds a candle to your average Masonna recording -- /watch?v=eVz44AR-hb4

[pumpedup1971]

@noni675 well, shiver me timbers!! haha i know Don Dietrich personally, and i will play this for him today....Masonna is less my cup of tea, I have never cared for noise vocals, but Masonna is clearly a force to be reckoned with....thanks for the info, and may the noise be with you!

[noni675]

@pumpedup1971 I imagine that the Borbetomagus crew are aware of this Abe/Takayanagi date by now. If not, I can't imagine that they would have loved to have been among the few clapping at the end of the performance, though they might have been cheering -- /watch?v=3K5wa4fLtCo&t=7m40s

Now, if only Kaoru Abe had incorporated the same mic setup as Jim and Don normally use way back then, though a 2001 Opprobrium review (available with a search) compares it favorably with Borbetomagus.

[pumpedup1971]

@noni675 yup, don knew who they were, but he thinks they sound quite different, but to my ears it is fairly similar. but what do i know? p.s. the link you supplied didn't work peace

[FlyingDoctor1988]

THIS IS SON OF METAL MACHINE MUSIC.

[taariqtaariq]

some of late period Coltrane sounds like this and Lou Loves 60's free jazz such as Ornette Coleman  and Don Cherry etc.

[frozen956]

LOL

[astroboirap]

hahaha whats lou doing with his face, looks like he just came in his pants