LISTEN: How heartthrob Joe Dallesandro inspired Lou Reed’s gayest—and most successful—song
Retro Record column are important to the LGBTQ+ community because of rather subtle connections—be they suggestive lyrics or perhaps the fact that the musician has a large queer following.
Lou Reed’s “Walk On The Wild Side” is not one of those songs.It’s so overtly queer that it’s hard to believe it became a hit, let alone the biggest of the celebrated rock musician’s career.
Everything about the tune is queer, from the subject matter to the lyrics to the producer: the one and only king of androgyny, David Bowie.“Walk On The Wild Side” served as the lead single from Reed’s second solo album Transformer, released in 1972.
The tune helped turn him from a cult favorite into a hitmaker, peaking at No. 16 on the Hot 100, which is rather shocking given what it’s about and the era in which it was released.
