Metal Machine Music
- Scores: Noise 5, Unease 4, Complexity 2 (each 1 to 5)
- Genre: Rock, Noise rock, Drone
- Mood: abrasive, confrontational, hypnotic
- Sound: guitar feedback loops, no vocals, no drums, extreme volume, double album
Metal Machine Music is Lou Reed's double LP of guitar feedback, released by RCA Victor in July 1975 with no songs, melody or rhythm. Reed tuned all the guitar strings to the same note and layered feedback and distortion at different speeds, with one piece filling each of the four sides. The original LP listed the fourth side as "16:01 or ∞" because it ends in a locked groove. Reed was influenced by La Monte Young's Theatre of Eternal Music, and said he had been listening to Iannis Xenakis. He revisited the idea in 2008 with the Metal Machine Trio.
Track list
- Metal Machine Music A-1 (16:10)
- Metal Machine Music A-2 (15:53)
- Metal Machine Music A-3 (16:13)
- Metal Machine Music A-4 (15:55)