Dion: Buddy Holly or Lou Reed?

Dion DiMucci: I’m a grateful guy. I don’t need anything artificial, any synthetic stuff, to make me feel anything. I tried it, been there, done that. I was a heroin addict for 14 years. It was the most unnecessary thing I’ve ever done. It was insanity. I don’t need that anymore. I haven’t had a drug or a drink in 54 years.

Crispin Kott: Buddy Holly or Lou Reed? 

Dion DiMucci: Oh, my God, I love both those guys. Lou Reed loved me and the feeling was mutual. But Buddy Holly, for the short time I knew him, he was something special, unique. So I really miss him. I could never pick between those two.

CK: What did Buddy Holly turn you onto?

Dion DiMucci: Buddy Holly turned me onto being courageous. He said, “Dion, I don’t know how to succeed, but I know how to fail: If you try to please everybody.” I think if he didn’t tell me that, I probably wouldn’t have done “Runaround Sue” or “The Wanderer”.

CK: What did Lou Reed turn you onto?

Dion DiMucci: Lou Reed. [Laughs] He liked to push people’s buttons, but it wasn’t just to stir them up. He was actually looking for what was real and what would stand up. He was a street poet, the best at that. He was so gifted. Once he said, “Man, I’m not the best-looking guy. I can’t play the guitar the best. I can’t do this the best.” I was thinking, “Man, it’s enough. That’s enough.” -The Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City (Interview with Dion DiMucci, November 2021)