---
title: Junior Dad
description: The origin of Junior Dad: Rob Wasserman bowing electric upright at Lou Reed's apartment while Sarth Calhoun processed it through Kyma.
url: https://www.sarth.net/conspiracies/junior-dad/
facet: dream
credit: Sarth Calhoun processed Rob Wasserman’s bowed electric upright through Kyma at Lou Reed’s apartment in the session that became the basis of “Junior Dad,” and plays electronics on *Lulu*, 2011.
author: Sarth Calhoun
---
[Conspiracies](/conspiracies/) / [Lulu](/conspiracies/lulu/) / Junior Dad

Transmission · Dream

# “Junior Dad”

“Junior Dad” is the closing track of *[Lulu](/conspiracies/lulu/)*, the album [Lou Reed](/conspirators/lou-reed/) and [Metallica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallica) released on October 31, 2011. It runs about nineteen and a half minutes, the longest piece on the record, and the last six or seven minutes are an instrumental drift of sustained strings after the singing has stopped. Reed wrote the words; the music grew out of a recording made at his apartment before the album existed.

*Lulu* came out of the score Lou Reed and I wrote for [Robert Wilson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wilson_(director))’s staging of [Frank Wedekind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Wedekind)’s Lulu plays at the [Berliner Ensemble](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Ensemble), which premiered in April 2011.

[Embedded player](https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/2zg2zQsXs0o6hCH9MTkZzw)

Listen: Nineteen and a half minutes. Signed in to Spotify you get the whole thing; otherwise a thirty second preview. Also on [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/junior-dad/467890760?i=467890784).

## A stage test

I remember so clearly the first time I played with Rob. Lou had invited me over to his apartment to show him what live processing would be like on stage. The source material turned out to be [Rob Wasserman](/conspirators/rob-wasserman/) bowing the electric upright, which I processed through [Kyma](/devices/). We recorded that first session, and it ended up being the basis for “Junior Dad,” the 19 minute outro to *Lulu*.

My first instrument was the bass, and Rob was always one of my heroes. I became aware of him when his records, *Solo*, *Duo*, and *Trio*, redefined upright bass for me. I knew he was one of the people [Ned Steinberger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Steinberger) worked with in creating those amazing electric uprights, which was Rob’s signature instrument.

> You should have seen grown men cry out in the studio when we were recording it. I’ve been with [James Hetfield](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hetfield) and [Kirk Hammett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Hammett) for close to 20 years and I’ve never seen them cry before.
> 
> [Lars Ulrich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Ulrich) of Metallica, on [The Howard Stern Show, 10 Apr 2012](https://www.howardstern.com/show/2012/04/10/lars-ulrich-says-metallica-cries-rundowngallerymodel-870/)

## The guitar part

When they dropped that guitar part just right on top of the piece, everything worked. It was like the first edit, just drop the guitar part right in. It was that Metallica guitar part. Pretty much everybody was crying in that room.

The credit: Sarth Calhoun processed Rob Wasserman’s bowed electric upright through Kyma at Lou Reed’s apartment in the session that became the basis of “Junior Dad,” and plays electronics on *Lulu*, 2011.

## What happened next

The broadcaster [Howard Stern](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Stern) had dismissed *Lulu* when it came out, then changed his mind because of this track. On air in January 2012: I listened to it at least ten times over. It is fantastic. The whole thing is just very moving, [I was moved] to tears. And the music is as good as any symphony. I think if you sit and listen to it for 19 minutes it will just wash over you. I’m telling you this is a great song. He came back to it in April: I started crying. It got me. I loved it, no bullshit!

[Ultimate Classic Rock, Feb 1, 2012](https://ultimateclassicrock.com/howard-stern-junior-dad-defense/) · [howardstern.com, Apr 10, 2012](https://www.howardstern.com/show/2012/04/10/lars-ulrich-says-metallica-cries-rundowngallerymodel-870/)

My account of the apartment session is verbatim from a letter I wrote on June 30, 2016, the day after Rob Wasserman died. The guitar part is from an interview on August 25, 2026.