A Glimmer Of Light On Metallica and Lou Reed's 'Lulu'

The best joke on the interwebs over the last few weeks has been the Lou Reed and Metallica collaboration called 'Lulu'. Fans and journalists have expressed a lot of disgust with it, while the band has continued to defend it as a great artistic and free piece of work. Last week I began thinking maybe the album was too complex and over my head. So I listened to it again and soon realized that wasn't the case...until I got to the final track, "Junior Dad." The last track on the album shows what the collaboration between Lou Reed and Metallica should have been. It has a beautifully sad poetic story narrated and almost sung by Reed. There is no Hetfield coming in growling he's a table, no thrashing, just an interwoven story amongst the almost visual musical soundscape. This goes on for nearly twenty minutes. Where other songs are awkward and face-palm city, "Junior Dad" hits the mark spot on.

"Say hello to junior dad/The greatest disappointment/Age withered and changed him/Into Junior Dad." This one shining beacon of lyrical prose and music might not be enough to save the album, but it just shows that the collaboration between the two musical giants wasn't a complete loss. "Junior Dad" is what Lulu strived to be and should have been.

You can listen to Junior Dad here

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Tags:  Metallica, review, lulu, lou reed 

Jason Fisher    October 28, 2011