WATCH: An Animated Interview with Lou Reed, Talking Trash, Reigning Supreme

The day that Lou Reed died was a sad day for me, not only because of my admiration for his music, but because he represented a certain kind of toughness and irascibility in rock musicians that is not necessarily reproduced in the ill-conceived brashness of today’s younger stars. This interview, animated gorgeously by Patrick Smith for PBS, in a style which is appropriate for the restless intellect of its subject, shows us Reed in 1987. The Velvet Underground hero is in a state of high dudgeon, or perhaps what amounts to standard dudgeon for him. The piece is full of quotable quotes, of which my favorite, for its directness and not for its sentiments, is: "I never liked the Beatles, I thought they were garbage."