Last week, the EHS On Tap podcast featured a conversation with Dr. I. David Daniels about the impact of psychosocial hazards on workers. These include stressors on the job that can have a negative effect on a person’s behavior. For the Song of the Week, we’ve got a deep cut about job stress from legendary rocker Lou Reed: “Don’t Talk to Me About Work.”
Included on Reed’s 1983 album Legendary Hearts, the song wasn’t released as a single in the U.S. (although it was in Europe). Reed made a video for “Don’t Talk to Me About Work,” which features him singing about how stressed out his job is making him.
The album wasn’t a big hit, reaching #159 on the Billboard 200 chart. It got more notoriety for its final mix, in which Reed essentially removed or mixed down all of Robert Quine’s guitar parts after the two didn’t get along during the recording sessions. Despite that, Legendary Hearts received good reviews and placed #7 on The Village Voice’s annual Pazz & Jop critics’ poll.