Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung
The Work of a Legendary Critic: Rock'N'Roll as Literature and Literature as Rock 'N'Roll
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4.3 • 6 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Vintage presents the paperback edition of the wild and brilliant writings of Lester Bangs--the most outrageous and popular rock critic of the 1970s--edited and with an introduction by the reigning dean of rack critics, Greil Marcus.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Until his death in 1982 at age 34, Bangs wrote freewheeling rock 'n' roll pieces for Creem, Rolling Stone, the Village Voice and London's NME (New Musical Express. As a rock critic, he was adept at distinguishing the commercially packaged product from the real thing. Written in a conversational, wisecracking, erotically charged style, his impudent reviews and essays explore the connections between rock and the body politic, the way rock stars cow their audiences and how the pursuit of success and artistic vision destroys or makes rock performers as human beings. This collection (which includes no Rolling Stone pieces) covers "fake moneybags revolutionary'' Mick Jagger, John Lennon (``I can't mourn him''), David Bowie ``in Afro-Anglican drag,'' Iggy Pop, the Troggs, Lou Reed, Van Morrison, Chicago, the Clash, many more. Marcus, a music critic, is the author of Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music.
Customer Reviews
Excellent
Lester Bangs, the only journalist who could hold his own with Lou Reed.