Photo de l'auteur

Lester Bangs (1948–1982)

Auteur de Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung

11+ oeuvres 1,570 utilisateurs 17 critiques 12 Favoris

A propos de l'auteur

Crédit image: Courtesy of Serpent's Tail Press

Œuvres de Lester Bangs

Oeuvres associées

Lit Riffs (2004) — Contributeur — 167 exemplaires
The Dylan Companion: A Collection of Essential Writing About Bob Dylan (1990) — Contributeur, quelques éditions95 exemplaires
The Cool School: Writing from America's Hip Underground (2013) — Contributeur — 79 exemplaires

Étiqueté

Partage des connaissances

Nom canonique
Bangs, Lester
Nom légal
Bangs, Leslie Conway
Date de naissance
1948-12-13
Date de décès
1982-04-03
Lieu de sépulture
New York, USA
Sexe
male
Nationalité
USA
Lieux de résidence
Escondido, California, USA
Detroit, Michigan, USA
New York, New York, USA
Professions
music critic

Membres

Critiques

I started listening to this book as a preview but it seems like it was porno based on what I was hearing in the sample therefore I don't have this yet, still considering what to do about it.
 
Signalé
laurelzito | 13 autres critiques | Nov 9, 2022 |
There's a lot to like in this book, though there's plenty to skim too. I especially liked the pieces he wrote about touring with The Clash.
 
Signalé
dllh | 13 autres critiques | Jan 6, 2021 |
Lester Bangs was a prominent rock critic from the late 60s through the early 80s, when he died suddenly. He was one of a trio of rock writers, along with Nick Tosches (see above) and Richard Meltzer who were known as the "Noise Boys" for their irreverent self-referential style of writing. Gonzo journalism, in other words. This book is a collection of Bangs' writing, some pieces relatively well known/notorious and other culled by editor Greil Marcus (a rock writer of high quality himself and a friend of Bangs') from notes and unpublished writing Bangs left behind.

Bangs was a breathtaking writer, and his reviews could start out as relatively standard record or concert reviews but quickly morph into fascinating (if you like Bangs' style) diatribes into the state of music, or American culture or human nature or all three, composed in a runaway train of stream of consciousness and, sometimes, vitriol. You can't take the opinions entirely seriously, though, because he often changed his opinion about individual musicians or genres. ("I double back on myself all the time" was how he put it to an interviewer.)

There is one particularly meaningful and resonant essay about the amount of racism in the punk rock scene (Bangs was an early and longtime admirer of that scene and is even given credit by some of inventing the term) called "The White Noise Supremacists." Here is a quote:

"Whereas you don't have to try at all to be a racist. It's a little coiled clot of venom lurking there in all of us, white, black, goy and Jew, ready to strike out when we feel embattled, belittled, brutalized. Which is why it has to be monitored, made taboo and restrained, by society and the individual."

This essay is a brutal assault on hypocrisy, not least of all his own. You can still find the whole thing on the website of the Village Voice, which is where it was originally published back in 1979. But beware that it is a howling blast, and it is pretty long. Well worth reading.

At any rate, these essays are funny/disturbing/exhilarating. He died in 1982 at age 36, as Marcus says in his introduction, "accidentally due to respiratory and pulmonary complications brought on by flu and ingestion of Darvon." Marcus believes that Bangs' recent regimen of fighting off his alcoholism (he was succeeding) had left his body in a weakened state, "shaken, vulnerable to even the slightest anomaly, be it a commonplace bug or an ordinary dose of anyone else's everyday painkiller; that he had shocked his system toward health and that that was what killed him." Of course the question of where a writer of Bangs' prowess would have taken is art had he lived is part of the equation of any died-young master. But Marcus certainly did us all who care about this sort of writing a great service by creating this collection, which was first published in 1987.
… (plus d'informations)
½
3 voter
Signalé
rocketjk | 13 autres critiques | Mar 30, 2020 |
I had never heard of Lester Bangs prior to having this book recommended to me. By the time I finished it, I found myself mourning the loss of what could have been a great author. His reviews are highly entertaining, although they do require a bit of knowledge on the background of the music scene at the time and the bands he wrote about. The piece that grabbed me however, was his fictional story inspired by the song "Maggie May." It really demonstrates what a talented writer he could have become had he not died. The writing in this piece is like a more vulgar Salinger mixed with Kerouac stream of consciousness and Hunter Thompson drugginess.… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
mel.davidoff | 13 autres critiques | Dec 1, 2016 |

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Statistiques

Œuvres
11
Aussi par
4
Membres
1,570
Popularité
#16,443
Évaluation
3.9
Critiques
17
ISBN
32
Langues
6
Favoris
12

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