Lester Bangs

Lester BangsBefore his death aged 33 in 1982, Lester Bangs wrote wired, passionate pieces on Barry White, Iggy Pop, The Clash, John Lennon, Lou Reed: 'I always wanted to emulate the most self-destructive bastard I could see, as long as he moved with some sense of style. Thus Lou Reed'. To his journalism, he brought the talent of a great fiction writer. As Greil Marcus writes in his introduction: 'What this book demands from a reader is a willingness to accept that the best writer in America could write almost nothing but record reviews'.

Lester BangsThis companion to Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung compiles fifty-four of Bangs' pieces, including several that are previously unpublished. Lester Bangs was for many the most intelligent and influential critic of rock and roll. Twenty years after his death, interest in him continues, as shown by the recent critically acclaimed biography Let it Blurt , and his work still resonates with breathtaking insight and audacity. This marvellous book, edited by John Morthland, Lester Bangs' friend, literary executor, and fellow rock critic, contains exerpts from an autobiographical work Bangs wrote as a teenager, as well as cultural rants and obsessive rages, and incisive reviews from throughout his career - from Black Sabbath as a Christian band, to Anne Murray as sex object, to Bob Dylan as a fraud, and, of course, the Stones, Lester Bangs' favourite band and bete noir. Endlessly entertaining, this book is a must for anyone with any interest in the history of rock and roll.

Esta desternillante antología de ensayos, reseñas, autopsias y semblanzas rescata del más inmisericorde de los olvidos algunas de las piezas más delirantes del impenitente grafómano y crítico por antonomasia del rock. Textos escogidos, entre mediados de los sesenta y los primeros albores de los ochenta, que vertebran la crónica de su quijotesca entrega a la causa que abrazaría sin remisión posible; pues creía apasionadamente en la fuerza redentora y transformadora de la música rock, reivindicándola como la más vital e innovadora de las artes populares, sin dejar por ello de denunciar sus más absurdos excesos, ni de vilipendiar tampoco a quienes fueron objeto de tan efímera idolatría: John Lennon, Lou Reed, John Coltrane, The Clash, David Bowie, James Taylor, Kraftwerk…

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 de

Desde su inefable irrupción a finales de los sesenta hasta su temprana muerte en 1982, Lester Bangs fue uno de los críticos más prolíficos —de rock, jazz, pop y demás hibridaciones y sucedáneos— en l