Lou Reed got his groove back on 1989's New York; the album saw him return to a raw guitar, bass and drums approach, and he was rewarded with his best reviews in years, not to mention a pretty big radio hit ("Dirty Blvd.")..

And then there was "Dime Story Mystery." In this 1989 interview Reed reveals that the beginning of the song was inspired by the hot-button film of the era, Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, but also by the death of Andy Warhol, the original manager-producer of Reed's former band, the Velvet Underground.

The beloved New York poet passed away last year, and surely fans wouldn't agree with his sentiment about "throwing away" his time. From 1967's The Velvet Underground and Nico to his final album, 2011's Lulu (a surprising collaboration with Metallica), Reed's uncompromising artistry paved a path for generations of left-field and outsider artists for decades to come.