[6] In an interview with WLIR in 1972, Reed said he wrote the lyrics while working as a songwriter for Pickwick Records, a budget label that mostly released inexpensive sound-alikes.
"[8]"Heroin" was one of three songs on The Velvet Underground & Nico (along with "I'm Waiting for the Man" and "Venus in Furs") that were re-recorded at TTG Studios in Hollywood following the initial recording sessions in New York.
The tempo increases gradually, until a crescendo, punctuated by bow scratching and feedback from Cale's viola and louder, more regular strumming by Reed and Morrison.
The original take of "Heroin" that was intended for release on The Velvet Underground & Nico was at Scepter Studios in New York City, April 1966.
[11] "Heroin" (along with songs like "I'm Waiting for the Man" which dealt with similar subject matter) tied the Velvet Underground with drug use in the media.
Reed's lyrics, such as they are on the majority of The Velvet Underground & Nico, were more meant to focus on providing an objective description of the topic without taking a moral stance.
[4][13] Critics were not the only ones who misunderstood the song's neutral tone; fans would sometimes approach the band members after a live performance and tell them they "shot up to 'Heroin'",[14] a phenomenon that deeply disturbed Reed.
Idol told Cash Box in 1993, "I was listening to some stripped-down rhythm tracks and started singing the lyrics [to "Heroin"] on top of it.
Larry Flick, writing for Billboard, described Idol's version as a "clench-toothed reading of the Velvet Underground classic" with the use of Smith's "Gloria" adding a "spooky incantation".
He added that while Idol's rock following "may grimace at his rave musings", the artist's "penchant for caustic sounds and frenetic rhythms makes this track ring remarkably true".