Who's heard it? I'm on Side 4 right now, which as legend has it, officially makes me dumber than Lou.

I don't find it alienating, but maybe I'm just in the mood for this right now. At times it seems like there's some structure here, but then it gets all nonlinear again quickly. One thing that is jarring are the breaks between tracks. I physically felt them. The music is so disorganized that as much as you hear it, you tend to habituate to it because of the lack of structure. Then all of sudden...silence..for about 5 or 6 seconds. And it's an extremely jarring silence, practically audible.

I'd love to know the real background story on the creation of this opus. I'm familar with some of the history, but I'd really like to know what the hell he was thinking and/or feeling when he came up with all this.

Overall impression: Bizz-RRRaoooozzzzsreeeee goodness.

I've only heard it once and dont own it, but it's really not that unlistenable

I own it and listen to it oh, probably once a month. I picked it up due to being segued into it by other bands who name-dropped it. Buddha put out a fabulous reissue with some great liner notes.

I'm of the John Cage camp that believes everything can defined as music, and well, this album as much as it has its detractors is very interesting. I don't think it was meant to be listened to as a "sit down in my recliner and relax" type of album. Background is good, popping yr ears up for specific parts and enjoying some of the tiny blips here or there. I really respect Reed more than the other members of VU because of his tendancy to continue to play around, and mix musical paint.

I have it, but never listen to it. I would if I had some acid, though.

I'll trade you acid for it

Deal. I'll have Capt. Cook drop me off in a few weeks.

Actually, that's a myth. Lou claimed (during an interview for the Raven) that he loves it and listens to it all the time.

I've heard it, and love it. Noise makes me smile (cf. Controlled Bleeding, Dry Lung series of compilations, etc.). It's seminal.

I believe it's Metal Machine Music, not Metal Music Machine, BTW.