The Velvet Forum

In my unending quest to post the most complete Lou gigography here, I came across this gem of an interview in the November 1977 edition of New Zealand's Rip It Up music mag...

JOURNALIST: "Was Rock And Roll Heart influenced by the Ramones?"

LOU: "What? Was Rock And Roll Heart influenced by the Ramones? It was like...you know, pretty simple. The Ramones came after that, I think..."

JOURNALIST: "The way the songs are though, you know..."

LOU: "It was probably a direct copy of them. I was probably trying to rip off the way they do things. You know, try to kill a new group before they get a chance to get started. Jeeze, I...I was hoping you wouldn't notice..."

That's funny, because I got a Lou Reed book today and there's a Rock N Roll Heart section where Reed says:

"Rock n Roll Heart is very danceable, the kind of thing that if you were sitting in a bar, and either you either wanted to punch somebody or f***, you'd probably play it on the jukebox. The single will probably be 'Banging On My Drum'. That's what the Ramones should do. Three chords is three chords, but there is a finesse to it."