So the grizzled monster won’t let the mentally challenged queen of reality TV sing his song on "America’s Got Talent".  What’s gotten into this has-been with only one hit?  He can’t say no to the matron who was last year’s Christmas sensation!

But for how much longer will Susan Boyle be able to sell product, does anybody truly care?

Or, as Chicago once so eloquently put it, does anybody really know what time it is?

Conventional wisdom is you say yes.  You take the check.  The more people exposed to your music, the better.  You’ll hear that mantra from labels, managers and agents, all looking to take their cut of the instant revenue.  But what happens when you’re old and gray, when your label is done, when you’re no longer speaking to your original manager and your agent’s long since retired?

If you’re a true Lou Reed fan, you hate Susan Boyle, everything she stands for.  And by refusing to allow her to sing "Perfect Day", you feel that Lou’s on your team, that he’s got integrity, that he won’t do anything for a buck.  Lou’s about the artistry, what’s right, not about the money.

So she sings his song and a lot of casual listeners hear it.  Is this really going to help Lou’s career?  Well maybe he could orchestrate a victory lap, get the press to tell his story and get a Kennedy Center Honor.  But is this what a denizen of Max’s Kansas City is really looking for?  Andy Warhol always stood apart from the mainstream.  And if he was involved in it, he laughed at it.  Wasn’t that the point of the Campbell’s soup cans?  To challenge the audience?  To make people analyze what is and is not art?

Musicians used to challenge the audience.  Before they became whores who would do anything for a buck.

They just cleared the decks at EMI.  Imagine if you were championed by the old regime.  Deadmau5 was championed by Nick Gatfield, now Nick’s gone, will the new players feel the same way about the deejay?

The businessmen don’t care about you.  It’s all a ruse.  Even David Geffen.  He’s nice to you today, but tomorrow he could be your enemy, or extract fealty you don’t want to pay in order to maintain the relationship.

Whereas fans are enthralled.  They’re dedicated.  They’re your real customers.

I don’t think it would have been wrong for Lou Reed to allow Susan Boyle to sing his song on TV, but the fact that he had the right to say no and exercised it makes me feel good about him.  Lou thought about it!  Weighed the options and the consequences.  And came down on the side of not doing anything for a buck.

Wall Streeters don’t care if they bring down entire countries, as long as they get paid.

Network TV is about evanescent reality stars with no talent.

Then there’s Jonathan Franzen.  Who wouldn’t let Oprah hook up with his book.  He didn’t want the mainstream imprimatur.  His "faux pas" was supposed to kill his career.  But now, half a decade later, he’s the industry’s darling.  He’s bigger than ever.  He’s on the cover of "Time". His success is causing its own backlash.  Isn’t it supposed to be the opposite?

No, not really. Not when you’re a true artist.  Not when you write something as good as Franzen’s "Freedom".

I’m barely into it, but "Freedom"’s everything the mainstream best sellers is not.  It’s honest.  It refers to a liaison between teenagers as a "fuckfest".  Franzen played by his own rules and won.

Rock stars used to play by their own rules.

And isn’t it funny that when they started playing by corporate rules, their recorded music sales and live business decreased.

The fan-centric acts are doing quite well.  Their road business has hardly suffered.  They don’t have to cancel tours.  But you don’t hear their stories, because the mainstream press is only interested in Katy Perry-style celebrity train-wrecks.  Mix some boobs in with a movie star, stir in the producers du jour, throw in Snoop for insurance and you’ve got momentary success.

The radio hits of the past ten years are forgotten not long after they leave the airwaves.  But I heard "Walk On The Wild Side" in Ibiza.

But really, I love the first solo album more.  With "Ocean".

Yes, I’m a Lou Reed fan. I’m always interested in what he’s up to. Not that I like it all.  But I know that Lou’s still testing limits, not just home collecting checks in retirement.  So my fandom continues.

I was never a fan of Susan Boyle.

Come on, is anybody really a fan of Susan Boyle?

As for "America’s Got Talent"…  A wispy summer contest with the nutritional value of cotton candy.  You eat and eat, but you get little nutrition, but your head ultimately hurts because of the sugar.

Nothing from that show will last.

But Lou Reed, the guy with the imperfect voice, is in the fifth decade of his career.  And the Velvet Underground inspired countless innovative bands.  He’s going to jeopardize all this for a small check and the chance for millions of people who don’t care about him to experience one of his songs?

I don’t think so.

And neither does Lou.