[citation needed] The title is a play on Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, the book by James Agee.
The full interview was reprinted in the New Musical Express in November 2013, as a tribute to Lou Reed, who died the previous month.
In this Gonzo-style interview, Lester Bangs attempts to demythologize rock-n-roll and its stars by giving the arrogant behavior of rock superstars a more vulnerable, human context.
After fortifying himself with research and drugs, Bangs meets Reed in a hotel room, where they trade barbed personal insults and argue about the current music scene, amphetamine formulae, and the Herbie Hancock music that Lou selected to play in the background.
His eyes were rusty, two copper coins lying in desert sands under the sun all day with telephone wires humming overhead, but he looked straight at me.