"Self-Portrait" vs. "Metal Machine Music"

$17.00

 

I picked Self Portrait because it's not really a terrible album.

 

I enjoy listening to Self Portrait.

 

I actually like BOTH albums. I don't listen to Metal Machine Music a whole lot, but I *do* listen to it, and I think it's an interesting album. And I actually think "Self Portrait" is, you know, quite good. But I voted "Metal Machine Music" for the audacity of it. It's music because Lou *says* it's damn music.

 

I just listened to Self Portrait a couple times last week after ignoring it for years. It's better than I remembered ... it is just sorta Dylan making a messy record on purpose. Pretty enjoyable.

MMM ... yuck. I guess I understand why it's "IMPORTANT" but I still think it's just mostly Lou messing with everyone. It sure isn't something to listen to as music for me.

 

Self Portrait for me, I couldn't make it through Metal Machine Music

 

I like them both for what they are: The artist's way of confounding any and all preconceived notions about what his work should sound like. Any time someone releases an album that pisses off his biggest fans to this extent, count me in.

Self Portrait has a cool, relaxed vibe, and Metal has a deep, entrancing groove if you take the trouble to hear it. I listen to both fairly regularly.

 

Metal Machine Music all the way. It's innovative, it makes great background music (for me, anyway) when I'm doing something else, and Lou's original snarky liner notes poking fun of audio snobs are a hoot. There's nothing I can say about Self Portrait that hasn't been said already.

 

I'll never forget Lou Reed's own comment on MMM (from a classic Lester Bangs article for Creem Magazine):

"Well, anyone who makes it to Side 4 is dumber than I am."

 

Yep. And it's wonderful. Contains both the quadrophonic and stereo mixes and sounds wonderful. Can't imagine being without it.

 

I took Dylan's album. I've NOT listened to MMM all the way through--I think I sat through about 10 minutes of it once. I would have felt ripped off royally had I bought either one for full price; I would have felt the same way if I'd bought one of John and Yoko's avant garde albums after working on the farm long enough to save up $5.00. I got the Dylan album on the cheap in the mid-90's, played it once and shelved it. It would be the one I'd go back to if I was going to listen to either of these again.

JcS

 

I can't tell if you're picking on his grammar or actually feel, as a TG fan, that Metal Machine Music isn't music.

Have to say that most people in this thread lack the reference point to judge Metal Machine Music. It's really the first work of an entire genre- yes, there is a noise genre. Even the early industrial and noisy stuff that would start happening a few years later was very tame in comparison. How Lou did THAT with guitar feedback and a 4 track is completely beyond me.

It's a tremendous album and unlike anything else in his discography. No, I can't listen to it more than a couple of times a decade. But I'd honestly rather hear it than Coney Island Baby. I'd rather hear it than that album where he's playing a video game on the cover. I'd pretty much rather hear it than any other Lou solo album save for maybe the first one and Transformer (I'm an outlier in feeling that Berlin sucks). I also think Lou had ZERO idea what he was doing, and the album happened basically in spite of him. I'm a huge VU fan but most Lou solo stuff is just dreadful, IMO.

 

Lou --> Merzbow. There's tons of music that wouldn't exist without Metal Machine Music.

 

I have fond memories of finally getting 'Wedding Album' after reading about it for years: the Japanese reissue (EAS series) for about $30 (which took a couple of months of patiently saving up my $4/week allowance). Didn't feel ripped off in the least; the oversized box held a place of honor.

Of course, I'm also the guy who bought MMM on LP and cassette so I could play it out of the house. And then bought three CD editions and the Blu-Ray! Some people just never learn, huh?

 

When I first heard self portrait I wasn't as disappointed as many others were.
My first (and last) encounter with MMM left me so mind f*cked/distraught that I instantly clicked over to "Coney Island Baby" just to calm myself down.
I can only imagine how disappointed his hardcore fans were around the time of it's release.

 

I would never have pegged these two albums as comparable in any way...

 

This thread is like watching an episode of Siskel & Ebert directed by David Lynch while on mushrooms, with added tension because Lynch always hated Ebert after he panned Wild At Heart. It's just weird, I'm not voting because I have not heard the Dylan lp and I have heard MMM.
When I was 15, I picked this up at a flea market in California from a guy who had boxes of them for .50 cents apiece, and I listened to it and even then kind of 'got it'.
At that age and time it took me awhile to understand that the record wasn't broken somehow or that a rip in spacial reality hadn't somehow distorted the music on the vinyl permanently.
I kinda wish I still had it, but like the one poster said about the radio static -in some form it'll always be around if I need to listen again.

 

I like MMM...Haven't heard Self-Portrait.

 

I thought this was a poll about Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.

Self-Portrait, for me.

 

I voted for Self Portrait because I like the 3-plus minutes of "All the Tired Horses"
better than any minutes from MMM.

 

Metal Machine Music