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.

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. ( )

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and other culled by editor Greil Marcus (a rock writer of high quality himself and a friend of Bangs') from notes and unpublished writing Bangs left behind.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. ( )

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. ( )

A collection of essays, both published and unpublished, from one of the greatest rock critics of all time. Not only is Lester Bangs one the of greatest music critics to ever live, but I believe he may be one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. If you are a fan of music I highly suggest you check this book out as well as all the works of Bangs. Also, in my opinion, two of the greatest music articles ever written appear in this book; his 1979 review of Van Morrison's classic album Astral Weeks and a phenomenal piece on The Clash written in 1977. Those are just two highlights from a book that is filled with the words of a true music genius. ( )