Editing Lou Reed (section)

=== 1958–1964: Early recordings and education ===
[[File:Lou Reed HS Yearbook (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|upright|Reed as a high school senior, 1959]]
He began using drugs at the age of 16.<ref name=medium/>
Reed's first recording was as a member of a [[doo-wop]] three-piece group called the Jades, with Reed providing guitar accompaniment and backing vocals.{{sfnp|DeCurtis|2017|p=53}} After participating at a talent show at Freeport Junior High School in early 1958, and receiving an enthusiastic response from the audience,<ref name=landemaine>{{cite web|first=Olivier |last=Landemaine |date=October 26, 2008 |title=So Blue: An interview with Phil Harris |url=http://olivier.landemaine.free.fr/loureed/thejades/jades.html}}</ref> the group was given the chance to record an original single "So Blue" with the B-side "Leave Her for Me" later that year.{{sfnp|DeCurtis|2017|p=53}} While the single did not reach any music hit parade, notable saxophonist [[King Curtis]] was brought in as a session musician by the producer [[Bob Shad]] to play on both songs,{{sfnp|DeCurtis|2017|p=53}}<ref name=landemaine/> and the single was played by a substitute DJ during the [[Murray the K]] radio show,{{sfnp|DeCurtis|2017|p=54}} which gave Reed his first-ever airplay.{{sfnp|DeCurtis|2017|p=53}}<ref name=landemaine/> Reed's love for playing music and his desire to play gigs brought him into confrontation with his anxious and unaccommodating parents.<ref name=medium/>

His sister recalled that during his first year in college, at [[New York University]], he was brought home one day, having had a [[mental breakdown]], after which he remained "depressed, anxious, and socially unresponsive" for a time, and that his parents were having difficulty coping.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hermes |first=Will |title=Lou Reed: the King of New York |date=2023 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-0-374-19339-3 |edition=1st |location=New York |publication-date=2023 |pages=24–31}}</ref> Visiting a psychologist, Reed's parents were made to feel guilty as inadequate parents, and they consented to giving him [[electroconvulsive therapy]] (ECT).<ref name=medium/> Reed appeared to blame his father for the treatment to which he had been subjected.<ref name=medium/> He wrote about the experience in his song "Kill Your Sons" from the album ''[[Sally Can't Dance]]'' (1974).<ref name="Salon.com_LouReed_Syracuse_BA">{{cite web|url=http://dir.salon.com/people/bc/2000/05/16/reed|title=Lou Reed|last=Colin|first=Chris|work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]]|access-date=June 23, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101107125917/http://dir.salon.com/people/bc/2000/05/16/reed|archive-date=November 7, 2010}}</ref> Reed later recalled the experience as having been traumatic and leading to memory loss. He believed that he was treated to dispel his homosexual feelings.{{sfnp|McNeil|McCain|2006|p=4}} After Reed's death, his sister denied the ECT treatments were intended to suppress his "homosexual urges", asserting that their parents were not [[homophobic]] but had been told by his doctors that ECT was necessary to treat Reed's mental and behavioral issues.<ref name=medium/>

Upon his recovery from his illness and associated treatment, Reed resumed his education at [[Syracuse University]] in 1960,<ref name=medium/> studying journalism, film directing, and creative writing. He was a [[platoon leader]] in [[ROTC]]; he said he was later expelled from the program for holding an unloaded gun to his superior's head.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916140,00.html|title=Music: Lou Reed's Nightshade Carnival|date=April 24, 1978|first=Jay|last=Cocks|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=October 28, 2013}}</ref>

Reed played music on campus under numerous band names (one being L.A. and the Eldorados) and played throughout Central New York.<ref name="lasting legacy at Syracuse">{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Chris |title=Lou Reed's lasting legacy at Syracuse University: A criminal, a dissident and a poet |url=https://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/2013/10/lou_reed_syracuse_university.html |access-date=May 9, 2022 |work=[[The Post-Standard]] |date=October 31, 2013 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Lieberman |first1=Michael |title='The Velvet Underground' brilliantly recalls one of music's most innovative bands |url=https://dailyorange.com/2021/11/velvet-underground-brilliantly-recalls-music-innovative-bands-documentary-lou-reed-screentime/ |access-date=May 9, 2022 |work=[[The Daily Orange]] |date=November 2, 2021}}</ref> Per his bandmates, they were routinely kicked out of fraternity parties for their brash personalities and insistence on performing their own material.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Segelbaum |first1=Dylan |last2=van Rheenan |first2=Erik |title='I'll be your mirror': Lou Reed's time at SU shapes career as music legend |url=https://dailyorange.com/2013/11/ill-be-your-mirror-lou-reeds-time-at-su-shapes-career-as-music-legend/ |access-date=May 9, 2022 |work=[[The Daily Orange]] |date=November 4, 2013}}</ref> In 1961, he began hosting a late-night radio program on [[WAER]] called ''Excursions on a Wobbly Rail''.<ref name="Costello interview"/><ref name="Wobbly rail at WAER">{{cite news |last1=Segelbaum |first1=Dylan |last2=van Rheenan |first2=Erik |title='Excursions on a Wobbly Rail': Alumna remembers Lou Reed's time at WAER |url=https://dailyorange.com/2013/11/excursions-on-a-wobbly-rail-alumna-remembers-lou-reeds-time-at-waer/ |access-date=May 9, 2022 |work=[[The Daily Orange]] |date=November 4, 2013}}</ref> Named after a song by pianist [[Cecil Taylor]], the program typically featured doo wop, rhythm and blues, and [[jazz]], particularly the [[free jazz]] developed in the mid-1950s.<ref>{{Cite AV media notes|first=David|last=Fricke|type=liner notes|title=Peel Slowly and See|publisher=Polydor|year=1995}}</ref> Reed said that when he started out he was inspired by such musicians as [[Ornette Coleman]], who had "always been a great influence" on him; he said that his guitar on "[[European Son]]" was his way of trying to imitate the jazz saxophonist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.furious.com/perfect/jazzpunk.html|title=The Jazz-Punk Connection|work=furious.com|access-date=January 18, 2017}}</ref>

Reed's sister said that during her brother's time at [[Syracuse University|Syracuse]], the university authorities had tried unsuccessfully to expel him because they did not approve of his extracurricular activities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.loureed.com/inmemoriam|title=Lou Reed, 1942-2013|work=loureed.com|access-date=January 18, 2017|quote=[He] started a band, he had his own radio show. He reportedly libeled some student on his radio show; the kid's family tried to sue my father. And there were other extracurricular possibly illegal activities of which the university didn't approve. I believe they tried to kick him out. But he was a genius; what could they do? He stayed and he graduated.}}</ref> At Syracuse University, he studied under poet [[Delmore Schwartz]], who he said was "the first great person I ever met", and they became friends.<ref name="lasting legacy at Syracuse"/> He credited Schwartz with showing him how "with the simplest language imaginable, and very short, you can accomplish the most astonishing heights."<ref name=documentary>"Rock and Roll Heart", documentary on the life of Lou Reed, ''American Masters''</ref> One of Reed's fellow students at Syracuse in the early 1960s (who also studied under Schwartz) was the musician [[Garland Jeffreys]]; they remained close friends until the end of Reed's life.<ref name="syracuse.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/01/garland_jeffreys_le_moyne_lou_reed.html|title=Garland Jeffreys remembers his friend, Lou Reed|work=syracuse.com|date=January 24, 2014|access-date=January 18, 2017}}</ref>

Jeffreys recalled Reed's time at Syracuse: "At four in the afternoon we'd all meet at [the bar] The Orange Grove. Me, Delmore and Lou. That would often be the center of the crew. And Delmore was the leader – our quiet leader."<ref name="syracuse.com"/> While at Syracuse, Reed was also introduced to intravenous drug use for the first time, and quickly contracted [[hepatitis]].{{sfnp|Clapton|2012|p=}} Reed later dedicated the song "European Son", from the first Velvet Underground album, to Schwartz.<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=The Velvet Underground & Nico |year=1967 |type=album cover notes and record label}}</ref> In 1982, Reed recorded "My House" from his album ''[[The Blue Mask]]'' as a tribute to his late mentor.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Segelbaum |first1=Dylan |last2=van Rheenan |first2=Erik |title='He had novel-sized ideas': SU professor, classmate reflect on Lou Reed's admiration for poet |url=https://dailyorange.com/2013/11/he-had-novel-sized-ideas-su-professor-classmate-reflect-on-lou-reeds-admiration-for-poet/ |access-date=May 9, 2022 |work=[[The Daily Orange]] |date=November 4, 2013}}</ref> He later said that his goals as a writer were "to bring the sensitivities of the novel to rock music" or to write the [[Great American Novel]] in a record album.<ref>Interview in ''Rolling Stone'' Nov/Dec 1987: Twentieth Anniversary Issue.</ref> Reed met [[Sterling Morrison]], a student at [[City University of New York]], while the latter was visiting mutual friend, and fellow Syracuse student, Jim Tucker. Reed graduated from Syracuse University's [[Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences|College of Arts and Sciences]] with a BA ''[[cum laude]]'' in English in June 1964.<ref name="Salon.com_LouReed_Syracuse_BA"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.syr.edu/statement-from-syracuse-university-regarding-the-passing-of-lou-reed-59708|title=Statement from Syracuse University Regarding the Passing of Lou Reed|date=October 28, 2013|access-date=October 28, 2013|archive-date=November 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108234847/http://news.syr.edu/statement-from-syracuse-university-regarding-the-passing-of-lou-reed-59708/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Levy |first1=Renée Gearhart |title=On Our Short List: From the Wild Side |journal=Syracuse University Magazine |date=December 1989 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=5–6 |url=https://surface.syr.edu/sumagazine/vol6/iss2/3/ |access-date=May 9, 2022 |publisher=[[Syracuse University]]}}</ref>