(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Tue 19 August 2025 3:00, UK
Lou Reed made an album with Metallica. A strange combo, but it worked… on some level. So, what’s to stop him from working with a band like Kiss?
Lou Reed was more than aware of what it was like to not have a project fully come together when he met up with Kiss. In 1972, Reed wrote the song ‘Berlin’ and included it on his self titled album. The song perfectly represented how good of a lyricist Reed was, as he was able to depict a romantic night in a Berlin café wonderfully, taking the listener on their very own trip to Germany through the magic of his lyricism.
While the song was a masterpiece, it came at the wrong time in Reed’s solo career, as there weren’t many people dotted around that decided to listen to the record. As such, the track slipped unfairly through the cracks and many a year lay unblessed by it. The track was given new life; however, following the success of the album Transformer, as more people were now interested in what Reed had to offer, and he decided to take advantage of the situation by re-releasing ‘Berlin’.
When it came to working on the track once again, Reed opted not to simply re-record the track, but he instead decided to create a new album which surrounded the record. The story he told of the night in a café was stretched out over multiple songs, creating a dynamic concept album that brilliantly showcased the creativity of Reed.
The album allowed Reed to revisit an idea that he didn’t feel like got enough attention, and it also led to him meeting the producer Bob Ezrin. Ezrin worked with Reed on the album, and then shortly afterwords went to spend time with Kiss in a bid to help them put together their album Destroyer. Working with Kiss was borderline the exact opposite of what it was like working with Reed, as while Reed had a singular idea that Ezrin helped him realise, Kiss had four separate ideas going in four separate directions.
The band were in a pretty tough spot when making their album Destroyer as there was tension throughout the group which led to each member wanting to go in their own creative direction. Even though Destroyer is widely considered one of their best records, you can hear the disjointed nature of the band throughout. There is no specific sound or style that ties the record together, and you could be convinced it was a compilation record.
In a bid to help the band out during this period of disagreements, Ezrin opted to bring in Lou Reed to try and assist with some lyrics. Despite being on a creative high and respected as one of the greatest lyricists in music, Reed couldn’t come up with anything that Kiss were happy with, and the band politely turned down all the ideas he put forward.
“Bob Ezrin started rehearsing with us for the Destroyer record in 1975 and he had just come off working with Lou Reed on Berlin. We rehearsed in a place called Carol’s on 42nd Street and 6th Avenue in New York City,” recalled Gene Simmons, “Lou walked in and I’d been aware of, and had been a big fan of, Walk On The Wild Side, which was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson. Reed walks in, we’re rehearsing, trying to work out songs, and Bob says that he would like Lou to work on lyrics with us and maybe get another angle. But it didn’t work out, actually, and we went off and did Destroyer.”
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