10 Best Solo Albums From Former Rock Band Members
3. Transformer - Lou Reed
What was said earlier about Iggy Pop not being appreciated in his own time can also be applied to Velvet Underground maestro and all-round crazy dude, Lou Reed.
Whilst in Andy Warhol's favourite band, Reed wrote and performed songs like Sweet Jane, Sunday Morning, and White Light/White Heat, all of which flew under the radar at the time. This frustrated him, so he packed his bags and left in 1970, without telling a majority of the band.
Classic Lou.
Two years later, Reed's second solo record, Transformer came out, also produced by David Bowie. Tackling subjects ranging from drugs to sexuality to gender identity, Transformer put the former Underground man on the map as one of the defining voices of his generation, as Bowie used his fame to push Reed into the mainstream.
Transformer routinely comes up in lists of the greatest albums of all time, with the track Walk on the Wild Side standing out as a firm favourite. Reed would rarely achieve this sort of success again in his career, but remained a firm fixture of the music business until his death in 2013.