“before he turned 40, Reed had established himself as one of the saddest burnouts of all time. In the absence of artistic and commercial success, his mercurial persona and self-destructive habits made him look less like a rock star and more like an ordinary asshole: someone who had gotten what a generation of musicians dreamed of and traded it for what millions of dumb, violent addicts couldn’t escape.

“And then he dropped The Blue Mask. [...] Whatever Reed had lost over that last decade, artistically, he got it back.”

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lou-reed-the-blue-mask/

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