Metal Machine Music

For the 2015 album by Die Krupps, see V - Metal Machine Music.

Metal Machine Music
Studio album by
Lou Reed
ReleasedJuly 1975
GenreNoise
Length64:11
LabelRCA Victor
ProducerLou Reed
Lou Reed chronology
Lou Reed Live
(1975) 		Metal Machine Music
(1975) 		Coney Island Baby
(1975)
Audio on YouTube

Metal Machine Music (subtitled *The Amine β Ring) is the fifth studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed. It was recorded on a three-speed Uher machine and was mastered/engineered by Bob Ludwig.[1] It was released as a double album in July 1975 by RCA Records, but taken off the market three weeks later.[2] A radical departure from the rest of his catalog, the Metal Machine Music album features no songs or recognizably structured compositions, eschewing melody and rhythm for modulated feedback and noise music guitar effects, mixed at varying speeds by Reed. Also in 1975, RCA released a Quadrophonic version of the Metal Machine Music recording that was produced by playing it back both forward and backward, and by flipping the tape over.[3]

The album cost Reed his reputation in the music industry while simultaneously opening the door for some of his later, more experimental material and has generally been panned by critics since its release. In 2008, Reed, Ulrich Krieger, and Sarth Calhoun collaborated to tour playing free improvisation inspired by the album as Metal Machine Trio. In 2011, Reed released a remastered version of Metal Machine Music.[4][5]

  1. ^ Alan Licht, Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995-2020, Blank Forms Edition, Interview with Lou Reed, p. 163
  2. ^ Alan Licht, Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995-2020, Blank Forms Edition, Interview with Lou Reed, p. 163
  3. ^ Alan Licht, Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995-2020, Blank Forms Edition, Interview with Lou Reed, p. 164
  4. ^ "Lou Reed is back with experimental music of 1970s". Reuters. April 20, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  5. ^ Rowe, Matt (June 8, 2011). "Lou Reed Reissues Newly Remastered Metal Machine Music". The Morton Report. Retrieved November 30, 2019.