From: "The Grateful Dead" article on "The Challah Fame: Who's Who in Jewish Rock" website (http://www.jewsrock.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=challah.view&page=R; viewed 23 November 2005):
In the pantheon of Jewish rock visionaries, Lou Reed (his father changed the family name from Rabinowitz) ranks up there with Bob Dylan. As they say at seder, if he'd only founded the most influential band of all time, it would have been enough. But after his run with the Velvet Underground, once he'd made it OK to sing about heroin and S&M and to use feedback and soundscapes in rock songs, Lou Reed went on to release Transformer in 1972. If he had only added New York grit to glam rock with an album produced by David Bowie and featuring the Top 20 hit "Walk on the Wild Side," dayenu. But then Reed put out 1973's dark, elegant Berlin, somehow getting into the British Top 10 despite not coming anywhere near the US. charts. That might have been enough, but in 1975 he released Metal Machine Music, a two-CD album with a very apt title. Had he only invented noise rock while conning his fans into purchasing two discs of unlistenable screeching, dayenu - but Reed kept going. His career highlights since the seventies include 1989's critically acclaimed New York, a tour with the re-formed Velvet Underground in 1993, and some theatrical endeavors. Which would have been enough, but Reed is still going. Read more about Lou Reed in Subterranean Homeland Blues.