A savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
April 14, 2014 9:52 AM Subscribe
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson, published in Rolling Stone, November 11, 1971.
It was almost noon, and we still had more than 100 miles to go. They would be tough miles. Very soon, I knew, we would both be completely twisted. But there was no going back, and no time to rest. We would have to ride it out. Press registration for the fabulous Mint 400 was already underway, and we had to get there by four to claim our soundproof suite. A fashionable sporting magazine in New York had taken care of the reservations, along with this huge red Chevy convertible we'd just rented off a lot on the Sunset Strip ... and I was, after all, a professional journalist; so I had an obligation to cover the story, for good or ill. The sporting editors had also given me $300 in cash, most of which was already spent on extremely dangerous drugs. The trunk of the car looked like a mobile police narcotics lab. We had two bags of grass, 75 pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers ... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. All this had been rounded up the night before, in a frenzy of high-speed driving all over Los Angeles County – from Topanga to Watts, we picked up everything we could get our hands on. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.
I think the line everyone remembers is: We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. Anyway, interesting flashback.
My 16 year old son just finished reading this book. I am not sure how to feel about that.
posted by caddis at 10:12 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
My 16 year old son just finished reading this book. I am not sure how to feel about that.
posted by caddis at 10:12 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
My main memory of this book is him talking about electrocuting himself in the bathtub at the very crescendo of "White Rabbit" (the syllable FEED).
Loved it, though. . . .
posted by Danf at 10:15 AM on April 14, 2014
Loved it, though. . . .
posted by Danf at 10:15 AM on April 14, 2014
why now?
posted by xbonesgt at 10:16 AM on April 14, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by xbonesgt at 10:16 AM on April 14, 2014 [7 favorites]
I think the line everyone remembers is: We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.
My brain says there is a piece of music with this spoken as an intro, but I have no idea what it is.
posted by Dr Dracator at 10:18 AM on April 14, 2014
My brain says there is a piece of music with this spoken as an intro, but I have no idea what it is.
posted by Dr Dracator at 10:18 AM on April 14, 2014
Come of think of it, HST reminds me a lot of Mark Twain.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:19 AM on April 14, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by KokuRyu at 10:19 AM on April 14, 2014 [8 favorites]
My favorite quote, from later in the book ...
There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down 101 to Los Altos or La Honda.… You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.…
And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave.…
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.
posted by chbrooks at 10:20 AM on April 14, 2014 [48 favorites]
There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down 101 to Los Altos or La Honda.… You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.…
And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave.…
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.
posted by chbrooks at 10:20 AM on April 14, 2014 [48 favorites]
A great book, which I read almost 30 years ago.
Is there some reason why we are remembering this book today?
posted by Flood at 10:20 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
Is there some reason why we are remembering this book today?
posted by Flood at 10:20 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
"Most of" 300 bucks went a hell of a long way in 1971.
posted by The Bellman at 10:21 AM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by The Bellman at 10:21 AM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
I'm guessing it was posted now because it was recently added to Longform. I read it the other day for the same reason. It was actually my first time reading it, and I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I expected to.
posted by staccato signals of constant information at 10:22 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by staccato signals of constant information at 10:22 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
My brain says there is a piece of music with this spoken as an intro, but I have no idea what it is.
There are several tracks from the Fear and Loathing movie soundtrack with spoken word intros- you might be thinking of that...
posted by stenseng at 10:23 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
There are several tracks from the Fear and Loathing movie soundtrack with spoken word intros- you might be thinking of that...
posted by stenseng at 10:23 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
I was doing a bunch of reading for a grad school class, and one article was a lengthy first-person account of some guy travelling to Peru with an artist supposedly to participate in some religious ceremonies but actually to just get and stay really high. And it really drove home that Hunter Thompson is about the only person (mmmmmmmaybe Burroughs?) who can do that sort of thing and make it awesome rather than mind-numbing.
posted by COBRA! at 10:23 AM on April 14, 2014
posted by COBRA! at 10:23 AM on April 14, 2014
I like the fact he supported Dick Gregory and Jimmy Carter in their respective presidential bids. A warm, humane guy at heart.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:24 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by KokuRyu at 10:24 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
Also, the epigraph at the start of the book version, Johnson's "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man" is pretty much the key to all Hunter Thompson.
posted by COBRA! at 10:25 AM on April 14, 2014 [11 favorites]
posted by COBRA! at 10:25 AM on April 14, 2014 [11 favorites]
published Nov-11-1971.
If memory serves (and it often doesn't these days), that's almost to the day the first time I got drunk. I was twelve at the time and killing time before hockey practice. Nicholas Fisher showed up with a bottle of his dad's homemade wine and ... little did I realize I'd begun a lifelong journey to the weird heart of of something or other that could never be fully grasped because it could only even be seen when the senses were somewhat blurred ... with Dr. Thompson's reportage an ongoing piece of the strange puzzle.
Indeed, it so happens that 54 year old me is reading Fear In Loathing In Las Vegas right now (for about the eleventh time), having stumbled across a more or less destroyed copy buried deep in a box full of books that I was picking through while trying to find a thesaurus.
I read the first paragraph just for fun and now it's ...
HEAVY DUTY
AT THE AIRPORT ...
UGLY PERUVIAN FLASHBACK ...
'NO! IT'S TOO LATE!
DON'T TRY IT!'
posted by philip-random at 10:26 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
If memory serves (and it often doesn't these days), that's almost to the day the first time I got drunk. I was twelve at the time and killing time before hockey practice. Nicholas Fisher showed up with a bottle of his dad's homemade wine and ... little did I realize I'd begun a lifelong journey to the weird heart of of something or other that could never be fully grasped because it could only even be seen when the senses were somewhat blurred ... with Dr. Thompson's reportage an ongoing piece of the strange puzzle.
Indeed, it so happens that 54 year old me is reading Fear In Loathing In Las Vegas right now (for about the eleventh time), having stumbled across a more or less destroyed copy buried deep in a box full of books that I was picking through while trying to find a thesaurus.
I read the first paragraph just for fun and now it's ...
HEAVY DUTY
AT THE AIRPORT ...
UGLY PERUVIAN FLASHBACK ...
'NO! IT'S TOO LATE!
DON'T TRY IT!'
posted by philip-random at 10:26 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
For some reason, this is the bitI remember the most vividly:
He will not be reasonable at first ... but no matter. Let him calm down. He will want the first word. Let him have it. His brain will be in a turmoil: he may begin jabbering, or even pull his gun. Let him unwind; keep smiling. The idea is to show him that you were always in total control of yourself and your vehicle – while he lost control of everything.
It helps to have a police/press badge in your wallet when he calms down enough to ask for your license. I had one of these – but I also had a can of Budweiser in my hand. Until that moment, I was unaware that I was holding it. I had felt totally on top of the situation ... but when I looked down and saw that little red/silver evidence-bomb in my hand, I knew I was fucked. ....
posted by chavenet at 10:32 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
He will not be reasonable at first ... but no matter. Let him calm down. He will want the first word. Let him have it. His brain will be in a turmoil: he may begin jabbering, or even pull his gun. Let him unwind; keep smiling. The idea is to show him that you were always in total control of yourself and your vehicle – while he lost control of everything.
It helps to have a police/press badge in your wallet when he calms down enough to ask for your license. I had one of these – but I also had a can of Budweiser in my hand. Until that moment, I was unaware that I was holding it. I had felt totally on top of the situation ... but when I looked down and saw that little red/silver evidence-bomb in my hand, I knew I was fucked. ....
posted by chavenet at 10:32 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
And because its spring, and I'm working on my bikes, I'll just leave this here for anyone who hasn't read it.
posted by sfts2 at 10:38 AM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by sfts2 at 10:38 AM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
Dr Dracator: "My brain says there is a piece of music with this spoken as an intro, but I have no idea what it is."
Dead Kennedys - Viva Las Vegas from the Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas OST, probly.
It's actually a paraphrase from the book, as follows:
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 10:48 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
Dead Kennedys - Viva Las Vegas from the Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas OST, probly.
It's actually a paraphrase from the book, as follows:
There was only one road back to L.A., U.S. interstate 15. Just a flat-out high speed burn through Baker, and Barstow, and Berdoo. Then on to the Hollywood freeway straight into frantic oblivion. Safety... obscurity... just another freak in the freak kingdom. We'd gone in search of the American dream, it had been a lame fuck around. A waste of time. There was no point in looking back. Fuck no, not today, thank you kindly. My heart was filled with joy. I felt like a monster reincarnation of Horatio Algier, a man on the move, and just sick enough to be totally confident.My love of downloading cover song mp3s in the dinosaur days led me to this song, which led me to both the DKs and Fear and Loathing, although neither of those led me into the kind of trouble they really should have, looking back at things.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 10:48 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
Nope, not the soundtrack - I have only seen bits and pieces of the film, no idea what the sountrack is like.
posted by Dr Dracator at 10:52 AM on April 14, 2014
posted by Dr Dracator at 10:52 AM on April 14, 2014
You are right, actually, its a different quote. Maybe my version is from the soundtrack album...bummed, I was so excited to answer a question here on the blue.
posted by sfts2 at 10:54 AM on April 14, 2014
posted by sfts2 at 10:54 AM on April 14, 2014
sfts2, thanks for posting that bit (from Hells Angels) - one of my favorite gorgeous pieces of writing..
posted by bird internet at 10:55 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by bird internet at 10:55 AM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
The official soundtrack version of "Combination of the Two" by Big Brother and the Holding Company uses exactly this quote in exactly this way; you may have heard it out of context.
Anyway, I love this book, probably for the same quote that chbrooks pasted above ("So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back...."). This is how I've long thought of the outcome of "The Sixties," as someone born long after it all wrapped up; there were such incredible forces unleashed, such radical changes from the straightlaced 50s, and then it all sort of... petered out. Even looking back at the end of 1971, when it was arguably still going on, HST could see, as he put it, the "high water mark" and understood that the dream was not really going to be fulfilled. While I definitely understand reading Fear & Loathing for the drug-fueled debauchery, I actually mostly view it as an elegy for a time and place that were already being turned under the soil.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 11:08 AM on April 14, 2014 [11 favorites]
Anyway, I love this book, probably for the same quote that chbrooks pasted above ("So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back...."). This is how I've long thought of the outcome of "The Sixties," as someone born long after it all wrapped up; there were such incredible forces unleashed, such radical changes from the straightlaced 50s, and then it all sort of... petered out. Even looking back at the end of 1971, when it was arguably still going on, HST could see, as he put it, the "high water mark" and understood that the dream was not really going to be fulfilled. While I definitely understand reading Fear & Loathing for the drug-fueled debauchery, I actually mostly view it as an elegy for a time and place that were already being turned under the soil.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 11:08 AM on April 14, 2014 [11 favorites]
the 60s dream did indeed die, but only on the level that there wasn't by 1976 some kind of hippie king (or queen, or round table of free associating poets and philosophers) reigning over an American republic which had fully embraced the dictates of the Beatles All You Need Is Love.
But something else did survive which hadn't really been there before -- some kind of eternal (and not entirely malignant) weirdness that forever feeds on the fear and loathing that western culture (America in particular) can't help but churn up, and continually reminds us that very many of those in positions of power are misfits, looney-tunes and/or squalid criminals who really are far too uptight (and pink) to be trusted with milk money, let alone an empire.
And thus the eternal struggle must continue.
And yeah, sometimes the right drugs do help in this regard. For a while anyway.
posted by philip-random at 11:25 AM on April 14, 2014 [11 favorites]
But something else did survive which hadn't really been there before -- some kind of eternal (and not entirely malignant) weirdness that forever feeds on the fear and loathing that western culture (America in particular) can't help but churn up, and continually reminds us that very many of those in positions of power are misfits, looney-tunes and/or squalid criminals who really are far too uptight (and pink) to be trusted with milk money, let alone an empire.
And thus the eternal struggle must continue.
And yeah, sometimes the right drugs do help in this regard. For a while anyway.
posted by philip-random at 11:25 AM on April 14, 2014 [11 favorites]
I've been picking away at a storage room in the library and found a stack of issues of The Modern Utopian, an alternative magazine from the 60s/70s that was all about the High Water Mark that HST wrote about in that quote. I wonder if I should save those issues from the roundfile - they certainly are interesting to flip through thirty years later and view through a lens of internet hopes and world changiness.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:30 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:30 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
We went mob-handed on our first press trip to Vegas, and at Heathrow before the flight out, our editor insisted that we all read Fear and Loathing before landing. The company, and our little outpost in particular, had a number of senior staff who to a greater or lesser extent were intent on continuing the gonzo tradition as far as could be maintained within the body corporate.
It was quite surprising how great that extent could be... and probably not wise, even under the Mefi cloak, to go into too many details.
Unless you are HST, and unless you are in America during the death of the 60s, you cannot be HST. No matter how many drugs you take, no matter how crystalline your prose.
But we were, after all, professional journalists.
(oh GOD. The memories...)
posted by Devonian at 11:43 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
It was quite surprising how great that extent could be... and probably not wise, even under the Mefi cloak, to go into too many details.
Unless you are HST, and unless you are in America during the death of the 60s, you cannot be HST. No matter how many drugs you take, no matter how crystalline your prose.
But we were, after all, professional journalists.
(oh GOD. The memories...)
posted by Devonian at 11:43 AM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
I've been a big HST fan since finding Fear and Loathing back in high school, circa 1980. If Rolling Stone is going to start putting some of his older stuff online, I want to remind them that I am still waiting for "Jimmy Carter and the Great Leap of Faith."
posted by TedW at 11:48 AM on April 14, 2014
posted by TedW at 11:48 AM on April 14, 2014
Man, I don't mean to be all grumpy here, but why is this an FPP again?
(didn't seem right to take it to Meta)
posted by Thistledown at 12:03 PM on April 14, 2014
(didn't seem right to take it to Meta)
posted by Thistledown at 12:03 PM on April 14, 2014
why not?
posted by philip-random at 12:07 PM on April 14, 2014
posted by philip-random at 12:07 PM on April 14, 2014
How can Rolling Stone re-run this without the illustrations?
posted by Marky at 12:09 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by Marky at 12:09 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
Dr Dracator: could you be thinking of Fear and Loathing on the Wheels of Steel (vol 1) by the Soulsavers Soundsystem?
posted by Mocata at 12:16 PM on April 14, 2014
posted by Mocata at 12:16 PM on April 14, 2014
I have a cut of One Toke Over the Line which I'm pretty sure I got from YouTube which has the OP quote from "We had two bags of grass..." through ""...as far as you can" looped in over the intro.
posted by localroger at 12:18 PM on April 14, 2014
posted by localroger at 12:18 PM on April 14, 2014
Man, I don't mean to be all grumpy here, but why is this an FPP again?
His smile disappeared. Did he understand? I couldn't be sure. But that hardly mattered now. I was going back to Metafilter. I had no choice.
posted by Smedleyman at 12:24 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
His smile disappeared. Did he understand? I couldn't be sure. But that hardly mattered now. I was going back to Metafilter. I had no choice.
posted by Smedleyman at 12:24 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
Those of you asking "why this fpp now" - does anyone ever really NEED a reason to revisit this book?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:25 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:25 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
My brain says there is a piece of music with this spoken as an intro, but I have no idea what it is.
Doesn't he get into a discussion about "Sympathy for the Devil" which was playing on the radio during the drive?
posted by mach at 12:29 PM on April 14, 2014
Doesn't he get into a discussion about "Sympathy for the Devil" which was playing on the radio during the drive?
posted by mach at 12:29 PM on April 14, 2014
This is the first time I've actually read the article.
The writing was far better than I was expecting - I understand now why it's so well known - but all the people were so damn dull and annoying. I do not understand the hero worship at all. These guys are the smart drunk guy at any given bar on any given night.
posted by kanewai at 12:32 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
The writing was far better than I was expecting - I understand now why it's so well known - but all the people were so damn dull and annoying. I do not understand the hero worship at all. These guys are the smart drunk guy at any given bar on any given night.
posted by kanewai at 12:32 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Around here (Louisville, KY), our minds turn to Hunter this time of year:
The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved is classic HST in that peak period.
posted by pt68 at 12:44 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved is classic HST in that peak period.
posted by pt68 at 12:44 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
I don't think I've ever read a better description than the 'breaking wave' bit about that feeling of looking back and seeing how everything changed.
posted by rmd1023 at 12:55 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by rmd1023 at 12:55 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
I get so tired of the parade of dismal hacks imitating Thompson, that it's almost a shock to re-read him and recall how well he wrote, how much vitality and energy his prose has.
posted by thelonius at 1:00 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 1:00 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
My 16 year old son just finished reading this book. I am not sure how to feel about that.
It was required reading at my Catholic high school (early 70s). My parents had no idea.
posted by tommasz at 1:01 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
It was required reading at my Catholic high school (early 70s). My parents had no idea.
posted by tommasz at 1:01 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
For those who still jog I do believe the audio book of this classic is on YouTube.
posted by Freedomboy at 1:21 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Freedomboy at 1:21 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.My favorite passage as well. There's that combination of wide-eyed wonder and melancholy that characterizes Thompson at his best and which is evidence of just how much he learned from his idol Scott Fitzgerald. Compare that passage to, say, the end of Gatsby. It even sounds like Fitzgerald's prose without being, in any way, pastiche.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:25 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
This is such a dumb question, but is the magazine article the same as the book or is the book an expanded version of the article?
posted by Old Man Wilson at 1:43 PM on April 14, 2014
posted by Old Man Wilson at 1:43 PM on April 14, 2014
Back, way back....I devoured every HST I could lay my hands on. I think I have read everything he ever published. I have always thought and still think is true that unless you have personally experienced some of the "substances" that played a major role in his prose/ reporting, you will NEVER fully grasp HST. I don't suggest a high school or college kid go run out and buy some LSD (is that even possible?) to try and understand HST, I think that element is key. To those who know what I am talking about, you will no doubt agree. To the rest...well....you have to stomp on the terra ya know?
posted by shockingbluamp at 1:45 PM on April 14, 2014
posted by shockingbluamp at 1:45 PM on April 14, 2014
Man, I don't mean to be all grumpy here, but why is this an FPP again?
To my understanding, there is no general prohibition on posting anything, any time, that follows the guidelines. Often a user will post something for some occasion, or perhaps be prompted by some event or special day, but that's an extra thing, not required. If this has been on Rolling Stone's website for years, then there's never been a reason not to post it. "Best of the Web" is not usually a transitory state.
Unless you are HST, and unless you are in America during the death of the 60s, you cannot be HST. No matter how many drugs you take, no matter how crystalline your prose.
I've been going through Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 lately, on the Nixon/McGovern race, which is wonderfully entertaining, but also gives one an excellent sense of politics as it was at the time, which was quite similar to how it is now. You can have the drugs and wit, but if they're not backed up with keen understanding it's just showboating.
Wikipedia defines gonzo journalism:
posted by JHarris at 1:54 PM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
To my understanding, there is no general prohibition on posting anything, any time, that follows the guidelines. Often a user will post something for some occasion, or perhaps be prompted by some event or special day, but that's an extra thing, not required. If this has been on Rolling Stone's website for years, then there's never been a reason not to post it. "Best of the Web" is not usually a transitory state.
Unless you are HST, and unless you are in America during the death of the 60s, you cannot be HST. No matter how many drugs you take, no matter how crystalline your prose.
I've been going through Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 lately, on the Nixon/McGovern race, which is wonderfully entertaining, but also gives one an excellent sense of politics as it was at the time, which was quite similar to how it is now. You can have the drugs and wit, but if they're not backed up with keen understanding it's just showboating.
Wikipedia defines gonzo journalism:
Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative.No drugs required, although those do help the story to be memorable, and if you're writing ultimately about the 60s they help keep the writer in the perspective. That perspective, that's what I think gonzo journalism is about, not about writing about something from a fakey stance of "normality," which we've all seen lately inherently advocates for the status quo, and is even manipulable by Overton window shifting. About picking a stance, one the reader can inherently identify with, and writing from there.
posted by JHarris at 1:54 PM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
To those who know what I am talking about, you will no doubt agree.
I know what you're talking about, but I don't really agree. I mean, yeah, having had those experiences is useful, but Thompson can move a reader who's never had a psychedelic drug experience, too. At his best, he's that good. And the emphasis on Thompson the drug taker tends to obscure Thompson the working writer who read widely, wrote like a demon, and who really wanted to be "great," at least for some part of his life.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:58 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
I know what you're talking about, but I don't really agree. I mean, yeah, having had those experiences is useful, but Thompson can move a reader who's never had a psychedelic drug experience, too. At his best, he's that good. And the emphasis on Thompson the drug taker tends to obscure Thompson the working writer who read widely, wrote like a demon, and who really wanted to be "great," at least for some part of his life.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:58 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
My favorite passage as well. There's that combination of wide-eyed wonder and melancholy that characterizes Thompson at his best and which is evidence of just how much he learned from his idol Scott Fitzgerald. Compare that passage to, say, the end of Gatsby. It even sounds like Fitzgerald's prose without being, in any way, pastiche.
I'm pretty sure it was his favourite piece of his own writing, too, from the number of times he referred to it.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:15 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty sure it was his favourite piece of his own writing, too, from the number of times he referred to it.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:15 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
And because its spring, and I'm working on my bikes, I'll just leave this here for anyone who hasn't read it.
Song of the Sausage Creature
by Hunter S. Thompson, with illustration
Song of the Sausage Creature
by Hunter S. Thompson, with illustration
When the Ducati turned up in my driveway, nobody knew what to do with it. I was in New York, covering a polo tournament, and people had threatened my life. My lawyer said I should give myself up and enroll in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Other people said it had something to do with the polo crowd.Cycle World - Going Gonzo Revisited
The motorcycle business was the last straw. It had to be the work of my enemies, or people who wanted to hurt me. It was the vilest kind of bait, and they knew I would go for it.
Of course. You want to cripple the bastard? Send him a 130-mph cafe-racer. And include some license plates, he'll think it's a streetbike. He's queer for anything fast.
Which is true. I have been a connoisseur of fast motorcycles all my life. I bought a brand-new 650 BSA Lightning when it was billed as "the fastest motorcycle ever tested by Hot Rod magazine." I have ridden a 500-pound Vincent through traffic on the Ventura Freeway with burning oil on my legs and run the Kawa 750 Triple through Beverly Hills at night with a head full of acid... I have ridden with Sonny Barger and smoked weed in biker bars with Jack Nicholson, Grace Slick, Ron Zigler and my infamous old friend, Ken Kesey, a legendary Cafe Racer.
Yes, I admit it.posted by the man of twists and turns at 2:36 PM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
As Feature Editor of Cycle World, I displayed either the idiocy or insight to give Hunter S. Thompson a high-end, high-speed, high-priced Ducati and did so with no guarantee that the Guru of Gonzo would return either the motorcycle or an article.
There should be some kind of "Start-to-HST" measurement for local alt-weeklies. Someone founds a new voice-of-the-people journal committed to real journalism, everything swings along for a couple of issues, and then bam, issue 3's cover story is Fear And Loathing on the North Platte: A Savage Journey to the Heart of Laramie. Or, y'know, Fear And Loathing in Southwest Leicester, Fear And Loathing Standing in Line for the Calgary Stampede, adjust for regional differences.
posted by ormondsacker at 3:00 PM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by ormondsacker at 3:00 PM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
Damn it, this thread has really brought back the awful day I learned of HST's departure from the planet. I cried, loudly and selfishly, because I knew my supply had been cut off; Thompson's prose, so vivid it twitched and bled, would live on but the fount was dry and it hurt. Few authors cut to the heart of things with the same terrible fearlessness and I miss his twisted sensibility. Now I think I'll go re-read Fear and Loathing. I always did love a great roller-coaster ride.
posted by kinnakeet at 3:53 PM on April 14, 2014
posted by kinnakeet at 3:53 PM on April 14, 2014
Man, I don't mean to be all grumpy here, but why is this an FPP again?
Oh c'mon, it's the bats of the web.
posted by Elmore at 4:04 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
Oh c'mon, it's the bats of the web.
posted by Elmore at 4:04 PM on April 14, 2014 [5 favorites]
I remember reading Fear and loathing sitting on the sofa with the fire lit, mum was doing crosswords, dad was reading the Sunday papers. I loved that there was no point in mentioning the bats.
posted by Elmore at 4:11 PM on April 14, 2014
posted by Elmore at 4:11 PM on April 14, 2014
NPR's Selected Shorts featured excerpts of Fear and Loathing recently. Alec Baldwin reading the opening chapter was amazing.
posted by humanfont at 4:42 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by humanfont at 4:42 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.
and nearly 50 years later you can visit the stagnant pools where that water has collected, sending forth a miasma of box cd sets, katy perry ripping off kerouac, sons of anarchy t shirts and a myriad of commoditized dollops of "revolution", spoon-fed to the masses so they can believe that they are inheritors of "the dream", and are rebels, too
posted by pyramid termite at 4:43 PM on April 14, 2014 [4 favorites]
and nearly 50 years later you can visit the stagnant pools where that water has collected, sending forth a miasma of box cd sets, katy perry ripping off kerouac, sons of anarchy t shirts and a myriad of commoditized dollops of "revolution", spoon-fed to the masses so they can believe that they are inheritors of "the dream", and are rebels, too
posted by pyramid termite at 4:43 PM on April 14, 2014 [4 favorites]
From the recent post about the daily routines of artists and writers, via wcfields:
Here's someone they forgot: Hunter S. Thompson
3:00 p.m. rise
3:05 Chivas Regal with the morning papers, Dunhills
3:45 cocaine
3:50 another glass of Chivas, Dunhill
4:05 first cup of coffee, Dunhill
4:15 cocaine
4:16 orange juice, Dunhill
4:30 cocaine
4:54 cocaine
5:05 cocaine
5:11 coffee, Dunhills
5:30 more ice in the Chivas
5:45 cocaine, etc., etc.
6:00 grass to take the edge off the day
7:05 Woody Creek Tavern for lunch-Heineken, two margaritas, coleslaw, a taco salad, a double order of fried onion rings, carrot cake, ice cream, a bean fritter, Dunhills, another Heineken, cocaine, and for the ride home, a snow cone (a glass of shredded ice over which is poured three or four jiggers of Chivas)
9:00 starts snorting cocaine seriously
10:00 drops acid
11:00 Chartreuse, cocaine, grass
11:30 cocaine, etc, etc.
12:00 midnight, Hunter S. Thompson is ready to write
12:05-6:00 a.m. Chartreuse, cocaine, grass, Chivas, coffee, Heineken, clove cigarettes, grapefruit, Dunhills, orange juice, gin, continuous pornographic movies.
6:00 the hot tub-champagne, Dove Bars, fettuccine Alfredo
8:00 Halcyon
8:20 sleep
Source: Carroll, E. Jean (2011-10-04). HUNTER: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson (Kindle Locations 196-221).
posted by wcfields at 12:33 AM on March 31 [has favorites +]
posted by Bron at 5:36 PM on April 14, 2014 [4 favorites]
Here's someone they forgot: Hunter S. Thompson
3:00 p.m. rise
3:05 Chivas Regal with the morning papers, Dunhills
3:45 cocaine
3:50 another glass of Chivas, Dunhill
4:05 first cup of coffee, Dunhill
4:15 cocaine
4:16 orange juice, Dunhill
4:30 cocaine
4:54 cocaine
5:05 cocaine
5:11 coffee, Dunhills
5:30 more ice in the Chivas
5:45 cocaine, etc., etc.
6:00 grass to take the edge off the day
7:05 Woody Creek Tavern for lunch-Heineken, two margaritas, coleslaw, a taco salad, a double order of fried onion rings, carrot cake, ice cream, a bean fritter, Dunhills, another Heineken, cocaine, and for the ride home, a snow cone (a glass of shredded ice over which is poured three or four jiggers of Chivas)
9:00 starts snorting cocaine seriously
10:00 drops acid
11:00 Chartreuse, cocaine, grass
11:30 cocaine, etc, etc.
12:00 midnight, Hunter S. Thompson is ready to write
12:05-6:00 a.m. Chartreuse, cocaine, grass, Chivas, coffee, Heineken, clove cigarettes, grapefruit, Dunhills, orange juice, gin, continuous pornographic movies.
6:00 the hot tub-champagne, Dove Bars, fettuccine Alfredo
8:00 Halcyon
8:20 sleep
Source: Carroll, E. Jean (2011-10-04). HUNTER: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson (Kindle Locations 196-221).
posted by wcfields at 12:33 AM on March 31 [has favorites +]
posted by Bron at 5:36 PM on April 14, 2014 [4 favorites]
Wow. The only why I figure he could have survived all that continuously is if at some point he had an insides transplant.
posted by JHarris at 6:25 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 6:25 PM on April 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
...is the magazine article the same as the book or is the book an expanded version of the article?
The book continues well past the end of the article, with HST & his attorney attending the second convention.
posted by Rat Spatula at 6:31 PM on April 14, 2014
The book continues well past the end of the article, with HST & his attorney attending the second convention.
posted by Rat Spatula at 6:31 PM on April 14, 2014
My brain says there is a piece of music with this spoken as an intro, but I have no idea what it is.
Velvet Acid Christ, "Fun With Drugs"
posted by disconnect at 7:31 PM on April 14, 2014
Velvet Acid Christ, "Fun With Drugs"
posted by disconnect at 7:31 PM on April 14, 2014
Hunter S. Thompson hawks Apple’s Macintosh computer in 90s commercial
posted by homunculus at 7:49 PM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by homunculus at 7:49 PM on April 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
I wonder if I should save those issues from the roundfile - they certainly are interesting to flip through thirty years later and view through a lens of internet hopes and world changiness.
Please save them! And if they need a good home, I have a sizable collection of alternative/counterculture publications where they'd fit in nicely!
posted by billyfleetwood at 9:44 PM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
Please save them! And if they need a good home, I have a sizable collection of alternative/counterculture publications where they'd fit in nicely!
posted by billyfleetwood at 9:44 PM on April 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
never throw out old weird literature. If nothing else, use it for insulation, which at least allows for the possibility of future random discovery.
posted by philip-random at 10:52 PM on April 14, 2014
posted by philip-random at 10:52 PM on April 14, 2014
My brain says there is a piece of music with this spoken as an intro, but I have no idea what it is.
The Spoken word version has Sympathy for the Devil playing through most of the scene.
posted by St. Sorryass at 2:54 AM on April 15, 2014
it's almost too faithful to the book, catching almost all of it, but all that fear and loathing can't help but leap off the screen and sort of strangle you.
So I'd say, very good movie if you can handle it. But it gets quite nasty.
posted by philip-random at 12:43 PM on April 15, 2014 [3 favorites]
So I'd say, very good movie if you can handle it. But it gets quite nasty.
posted by philip-random at 12:43 PM on April 15, 2014 [3 favorites]
I came home this weekend from the funeral of a relative, with all the fun family drama that so often surrounds that ceremony, and the gyre of histrionics had actually obscured the object of celebration/mourning to the extent that I felt I needed to actually sit alone, with a cold beer and think. What fell to hand was Hell's Angel's by the esteemed Dr. Thompson, in particular, this passage which I find myself returning to time and again as my immediate circle grows smaller:
posted by 1f2frfbf at 5:41 PM on April 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
"..a funeral is a bleak reminder that the tribe is smaller by one. The circle is one link shorter, the enemy jacks up the odds just a little bit more and the defenders of the faith need something to take off the chill. A funeral is a time for counting the loyal, for seeing how many are left. There is no question about skipping work, going without sleep or riding for hours in a cold wind to be there on time."That the man's persona became to define, and possibly consume and overshadow him, is not in question, but we would do well to note that when he was on, when it was just him and the typewriter and TRUTH, no one could touch him.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 5:41 PM on April 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
I think the line everyone remembers is: We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.
My brain says there is a piece of music with this spoken as an intro, but I have no idea what it is.
Dead Soul Tribe - Powertrip?
posted by ersatz at 6:35 PM on April 15, 2014
My brain says there is a piece of music with this spoken as an intro, but I have no idea what it is.
Dead Soul Tribe - Powertrip?
posted by ersatz at 6:35 PM on April 15, 2014
Question: How good is the Terry Gilliam movie?
Most authentic portrayal of the effects of LSD on a hotel carpet I've ever seen.
posted by rifflesby at 12:14 AM on April 16, 2014 [2 favorites]
Most authentic portrayal of the effects of LSD on a hotel carpet I've ever seen.
posted by rifflesby at 12:14 AM on April 16, 2014 [2 favorites]
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