Metal Machine Music

Metal Machine Music is an album by Lou Reed, it had the subtitle The Amine ß ring. The album contains no rhythms, no tunes and no singing - it consists mainly of noise, distortion and feedback. Because of this seemingly cacophonous sounds, which partly sounds like tinnitus, Metal Machine Music was met with record companies, the public and press at first with little understanding. Meanwhile, however, the album is considered influential.

Recording

Lou Reed Metal Machine Music took in his former loft in New York City on, usually in the early morning hours. He used mainly guitars, effects pedals and amplifiers. About his approach to shooting Reed said that he had with several guitars generated feedback, which could then be superimposed on each other, which in turn new sounds were created: "Just guitars, guitars, guitars. I tried to play the ultimate guitar solo. "

Title

Metal Machine Music contains four tracks, each about 16 minutes:

In the first pressing of the last title hangs in an endless groove.

Publications

Metal Machine Music was published in July 1975 by the RCA label as a double album on vinyl. In the following years it was re-released by several labels in various formats, including on CD.

Live

In 2002, Ulrich Krieger Metal Machine Music transcribed for the ensemble Zeitkratzer. Lou Reed was impressed with this project so that he participated in a concert in Berlin. Later warriors and Reed founded the Metal Machine Trio, which played live improvised music in the style of Metal Machine Music.

Reception

The contemporary reactions to Metal Machine Music were extremely hostile. There are several urban legends in circulation, emphasize this rejection: So allegedly several record companies ' Metal Machine Music ' clauses have written into their contracts that prohibited musicians include such albums. In addition, Metal Machine Music is one of the most frequently exchanged albums in music history, since many buyers are expected because of the disturbing sounds from the fact that their record was not broken. In addition, it was claimed that listening to Metal Machine Music could lead to seizures.

The fact is that most music critics panned the album when it first appeared. An exception was Lester Bangs, who wrote for the music magazine Creem in March 1976 under the title "The Greatest Album Ever Made" an ode to Metal Machine Music. However, the article also contains elements of Gonzo: So Bangs claimed that he had the album Idi Amin played, which had then decided to declare Metal Machine Music as the national anthem of Uganda. That, Bangs, he had finished speaking to him. His review ends with the conclusion: " Metal Machine Music is the greatest album in the history of the human eardrum. Number Two: Kiss - Alive! "

In retrospect, the special qualities of Metal Machine Music have also been recognized in more serious reviews and the album was a huge influence certifies to the development of various genres - including the the Noise and Industrial.