Rock and roll has never lacked for singular characters, and amongst that cavalcade of the insanely great and greatly insane, Lewis Allen “Lou” Reed takes second chair to nobody. Lou is an artist who tries you, beguiles you, dares you to dislike him, wins you over, makes you laugh, and expands your imagination. His multitudes contain multitudes. He is baldly transgressive and romantically nostalgic for bygone eras. He is cynical, belligerent, and arrogant, and also capable of articulating stunning empathy toward society’s greatest outcasts. He can seem like the smartest songwriter in the world in one breath and Spinal Tap stupid in the next. He has been imitated and idolized by generations of wonderful musicians ranging from but not limited to Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, The Jesus And Mary Chain, and Jonathan Richman, to name but a very, very few. He is an accountant’s son from Freeport, Long Island. He underwent shock treatment as a young man. His first job in music was writing for Tin Pan Alley, attempting to foster a dance craze out of an original song called “The Ostrich.” They won’t make another one like him anytime soon.