| Contents |
Drug punk. From "Two assassinations and a speedy retreat into pastoral nostalgias" ; A quick trip through my adolescence ; From "The Great El Cajon race riot and two Friday night parties" -- Hypes and heroics. The MC5: "Kick out the jams" ; Charlie Haden: "Liberation music orchestra" ; Canned heat: "The new age" ; Dandelions in still air: The withering away of the Beatles ; Blood feast of reddy kilowatt! Emerson, Lake, and Palmer without insulation! ; C'mon sugar, let's go all-nite jukin' with Wet Willie ; Bob Dylan's dalliance with mafia chic: He ain't no delinquent, he's misunderstood ; Anne Murray: "Danny's song" ; Helen Reddy: "Long hard climb" ; Grace Jones beats off ; Stevie Nicks: Lilith or bimbo? ; Art Ensemble of Chicago: Rated G ; Ian Hunter: The coots are alright ; The grooming of David Johansen ; Patti Smith: "Horses" ; Better than the Beatles (and DNA, too) ; Dead Boys almost count five ; On the merits of sexual repression ; David Byrne says "Boo!" ; A bellyful of Wire ; Jello Biafra is no cretin ; If oi were a carpenter -- Pantheon. I only get my rocks off when I'm dreaming: so you say you missed the Stone too? Cheer up, we're a majority! ; 1973 nervous breakdown: the ol' fey outlaws ain't what they used to be: are you? ; It's only the Rolling Stones -- State of the art: Bland on bland ; Kind of grim: Unraveling the Miles perplex ; Miles Davis: Music for the living dead ; Captain Beefheart's far cry: He's alive, but so is paint, are you? ; Deaf-mute in a telephone booth: A perfect day with Lou Reed ; Monolith or monotone? Lou Reed's "Metal machine music" ; Your shadow is scared of you: An attempt not to be frightened by Nico ; Jim Morrison: Bozo Dionysus a decade later ; Bring your mother to the gas chamber! ; Eno sings with the fishes ; John Lydon across the border -- Travelogues. Killer frogs in transatlantic blitz: A Franco-American chronologue starring Les Variations ; Innocents in Babylon: A search for Jamaica featuring Bob Marley and a cast of thousands ; Death may be your Santa Claus: An exclusive, up-to-date interview with Jimi Hendrix ; From "Notes on Austin" ; California -- Raving, raging, and rebops. Admit it, you like to kick cripples, too (especially if you are one) ; Everybody's search for roots (The roots of Punk, Part I) ; Back door to men and women in bondage ; Liner notes to "It falleth like gentle rains from heaven: the Mekons story" ; Every song a hooker ; Bad taste is timeless ; An instant fan's inspired notes: You gotta listen ; Bye Bye Sidney, be good ; From "All my friends are hermits" ; Trapped by the Mormons. |
| Abstract |
Before his untimely death in 1982, Lester Bangs was arguably the most influential critic of rock and roll. Writing in hyper-intelligent Benzedrine prose that calls to mind Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson, he eschewed all conventional thinking as he discussed everything from Black Sabbath being the first truly Catholic band to Anne Murray's smoldering sexuality. In this book fellow rock critic John Morthland has compiled a companion volume to Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, the first, now classic collection of Bang's work. Here are excerpts from an autobiographical piece Bangs wrote as a teenager, travel essays, and, of course, the music pieces, essays, and criticism covering everything from titans like Miles Davis, Lou Reed, and the Rolling Stones to esoteric musicians like Brian Eno and Captain Beefheart. Singularly entertaining, this book is an absolute must for anyone interested in the history of rock. |
| General note | "An Anchor Books original"--Title page verso. |
| LCCN | 2003040392 |
| ISBN | 0375713670 (pbk.) |
