The Alternative Number Ones: Lou Reed’s “What’s Good”

In The Alternative Number Ones, I'm reviewing every #1 single in the history of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks/Alternative Songs, starting with the moment that the chart launched in 1988. This column is a companion piece to The Number Ones, and it's for members only. Thank you to everyone who's helping to keep Stereogum afloat.

In 1989, Lou Reed had a hit on his hands. In Reed's case, "hit" was always going to be a relative term, give or take a "Walk On The Wild Side." For most of his career, Reed stayed on the periphery of the music industry. The Velvet Underground, his important but commercially unsuccessful band, inspired generation upon generation of important but commercially unsuccessful bands, as well as a few commercially successful ones. But the Velvets didn't last. In his solo career, Reed had the clout of coolness around him, and he kept making esoteric major-label albums as long as he was able, but he wasn't making anyone rich, least of all himself. Still, things lined up just right in 1989.

Through the '80s, the Velvet Underground's reputation grew, thanks to a long-overdue reissue campaign and to the younger bands, like R.E.M. and the Bangles, who proudly told the world how much they'd taken from the Velvets. Lou Reed's solo career was always spotty and indulgent, but he caught a wave when he made 1989's New York, the record where he found a revived sense of swagger and purpose, obliquely addressing certain societal ills. New York got the strongest reviews of any Lou Reed album in years, and it sold enough to go gold -- Reed's second and final gold record, after the 1974 live album Rock 'N' Roll Animal randomly achieved that distinction.