Here's the story from Rolling Stone http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/l...-at-71-20131027

I remember listening to "Walk on the Wild Side" on the radio as a young teen, and getting such an intriguing sense that maybe there was something else possible - that a person could just reinvent herself and not be a well behaved good student...hmmmm...

"Berlin" and "Velvet Underground and Nico" gave a lot of the shape to my young adulthood.

All the greats in music are dying off. To me there is nothing to make up for them.

My feelings are nearly the same as yours. The first time I heard 'Walk on the Wild Side' I was stealing a car (true story). Later on, Lou earned more of my respect when Vaclav Havel told him that Velvet Underground-influenced groups (like Plastic People of the Universe) were primary motivations for Eastern Bloc dissent; essentially, Lou's music is a substantial reason behind the fall of totalitarian communism.

When Havel visited the White House, he asked if Lou could perform for a state function, and the musician was happy to oblige. When Lou launched into a certain creatively-named song off of 1996's Set the Twilight Reeling mere feet from Tipper Gore herself, I felt my heart strangely warmed and the passions of my adolescence redeemed.