Since today is the 25th anniversary of Lester Bangs gobbling enough Darvon to kill a walrus, we thought it would be a good day to remind you why we're all still talking about him: his rock and roll writing.
Reviving a tradition that we started back in the very early days of Glorious Noise after we got a hold of a collection of old Rolling Stones, here are a bunch of classic record reviews by Lester Bangs from the Stone.
Elsewhere today, Jim DeRogatis, author of the bio Let It Blurt, appreciates the fact that his Bangs' writing remains inspirational.
If you like these, be sure to pick up Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, the original Bangs anthology (which doesn't include any of his Rolling Stone reviews), and Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste (which does).
And just for fun: here's an MP3 of Bangs reading "What I'm Listening To Now, by Lester Bangs" (excerpted from a 90-minute 1980 interview that you can purchase on CDR for $15).
We'd post both sides of the "Let It Blurt" / "Live" 7-inch, but we're saving those for our "Why rock critics should never make their own music" feature...
Comments
Too bad there aren't more like him today. His piece on Van Morrison's Astral Weeks (which points out a recurring pedophilic theme in Van's early work) as well as his ongoing jousts with Lou Reed are highlights.
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