Lester Bangs no more.
December 4, 2009 11:25 AM Subscribe
King of the rock critics Lester Bangs has been written up in here before, but TheHoundBlog provides us a rare, detailed look at the man behind the myth, both the good and the bad.
Be sure and see the comments for more rock critic gossip from a golden age...
Be sure and see the comments for more rock critic gossip from a golden age...
TheHoundBlog is fantastic. I've posted here before about the Hound archive, IIRC. Miriam Linna's Kicksville 66 and Kogar's Jungle Juice are essential companions to the Hound reading experience.
posted by mwhybark at 11:51 AM on December 4, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by mwhybark at 11:51 AM on December 4, 2009 [2 favorites]
Glorious post, a million thanks. Any unearthed Lester lore is quite welcome here at my house. For more tales of Lester's drugging and drinking, check out Richard Meltzer's A Whore Just Like the Rest anthology.
And while I love Philip Seymour Hoffman every bit as much as I love Lester Bangs, this bit hits the bullseye:
Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of Lester in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous was so ridiculous I'm at a loss for words. It's much like the concert scenes in said flick, can you imagine a 70's rock concert without a cloud of pot smoke hovering over the audience? Hoffman's Lester was like the concert hall without the pot smoke. Sanitized and smoke free, for the good little 21st century consumer fascists. Lester as the conscience of the record industry?
posted by porn in the woods at 11:54 AM on December 4, 2009
And while I love Philip Seymour Hoffman every bit as much as I love Lester Bangs, this bit hits the bullseye:
Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of Lester in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous was so ridiculous I'm at a loss for words. It's much like the concert scenes in said flick, can you imagine a 70's rock concert without a cloud of pot smoke hovering over the audience? Hoffman's Lester was like the concert hall without the pot smoke. Sanitized and smoke free, for the good little 21st century consumer fascists. Lester as the conscience of the record industry?
posted by porn in the woods at 11:54 AM on December 4, 2009
Ugh. All the worst traits of rock criticism start here: nonsensical assertions made with inversely proportional conviction; the solipsism; the hostility toward anything that smacks of scholarship, or even factual information; the supremely annoying self-regard, leading one to suspect that the critic actually believes that their work is relevant to the process of making the sort of music they review (of course Bangs actually was, sometimes, for better or worse, but it's still irritating). All these years later we're still stuck with the detrimental effects of the Bangs style in the person of King of Rock Critic Douchebags Sasha Frere-Jones, decoding for his readers the finer points of second-rate G-rap. On the plus side he (Bangs) did properly revere the Clash.
Hey, I'm not a big Bangs fan, did I mention that? To salvage something positive, I'd just like to recommend you to anything Nick Tosches ever wrote, especially this.
posted by $0up at 12:00 PM on December 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
Hey, I'm not a big Bangs fan, did I mention that? To salvage something positive, I'd just like to recommend you to anything Nick Tosches ever wrote, especially this.
posted by $0up at 12:00 PM on December 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
I'm all right with Bangs, but I want to nut punch every single rock critic he inspired.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:06 PM on December 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:06 PM on December 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
Lester Bangs can be a fun read, and he's legendary as a rock and roll character, but he is hardly king of the rock critics. He's more of monkey wrench of the rock critics. But I do wish more critics shared his passion for rock and roll and were willing to take more chances.
I'm with Astro Zombie, his biggest crime was the people that were inspired by his style but didn't have the writing skills to back it up. I have the same issue with the people that thing they can do the Hunter S Thompson thing.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 12:18 PM on December 4, 2009
I'm with Astro Zombie, his biggest crime was the people that were inspired by his style but didn't have the writing skills to back it up. I have the same issue with the people that thing they can do the Hunter S Thompson thing.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 12:18 PM on December 4, 2009
FWIW I completely agree that Bangs inspired legions of crappy imitators, each seemingly worse than the last.* In that regard, I guess he has a lot to answer for, but that doesn't change the calibre of his own writing or the effect it can have on the reader.
I almost went with 'rock critic par excellence' -- but, really, the point is that he was not just another rock critic, but someone widely viewed as the top of the pile, the one to beat, the Jimi Hendrix of rock critics, if you will.
* I've always thought of that as the Pearl Jam Effect. Not to imply that I like Pearl Jam.
posted by stinkycheese at 12:35 PM on December 4, 2009
I almost went with 'rock critic par excellence' -- but, really, the point is that he was not just another rock critic, but someone widely viewed as the top of the pile, the one to beat, the Jimi Hendrix of rock critics, if you will.
* I've always thought of that as the Pearl Jam Effect. Not to imply that I like Pearl Jam.
posted by stinkycheese at 12:35 PM on December 4, 2009
@Slack-a-gogo: Word. But, if we had to nut punch every crappy writer that thinks they are The Next Hunter Thompson, we'd be at it until we're both on Social Security.
It's enough to make a man drink.
And shoot at things.
In copious amounts.
posted by willmize at 12:41 PM on December 4, 2009
It's enough to make a man drink.
And shoot at things.
In copious amounts.
posted by willmize at 12:41 PM on December 4, 2009
FWIW I completely agree that Bangs inspired legions of crappy imitators, each seemingly worse than the last
At a certain point in my evolution as a writer, Mr. Bangs had a big and entirely positive influence on me. Fortunately, I wasn't writing music reviews at the time (or any kind of reviews for that matter).
But, if we had to nut punch every crappy writer that thinks they are The Next Hunter Thompson, we'd be at it until we're both on Social Security.
Well put. What both Thompson and Bangs continue you to do for me (as a writer) is challenge me to be free. Which is beautiful. But also dangerous. Freedom is dangerous because it takes you to the place where there's no longer anyone to blame for your fuckups. Arguably, it killed both of them before their time. On the other hand, their words are still out there (in here), alive and kicking and fucking shit up.
Keep on rocking in the free world.
posted by philip-random at 12:54 PM on December 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
At a certain point in my evolution as a writer, Mr. Bangs had a big and entirely positive influence on me. Fortunately, I wasn't writing music reviews at the time (or any kind of reviews for that matter).
But, if we had to nut punch every crappy writer that thinks they are The Next Hunter Thompson, we'd be at it until we're both on Social Security.
Well put. What both Thompson and Bangs continue you to do for me (as a writer) is challenge me to be free. Which is beautiful. But also dangerous. Freedom is dangerous because it takes you to the place where there's no longer anyone to blame for your fuckups. Arguably, it killed both of them before their time. On the other hand, their words are still out there (in here), alive and kicking and fucking shit up.
Keep on rocking in the free world.
posted by philip-random at 12:54 PM on December 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
> his biggest crime was the people that were inspired by his style but didn't have the writing skills to back it up.
> I have the same issue with the people that thing they can do the Hunter S Thompson thing.
> posted by Slack-a-gogo at 3:18 PM on December 4 [+] [!]
posted by jfuller at 2:23 PM on December 4, 2009
> I have the same issue with the people that thing they can do the Hunter S Thompson thing.
> posted by Slack-a-gogo at 3:18 PM on December 4 [+] [!]
posted by jfuller at 2:23 PM on December 4, 2009
From an interview two weeks before his death, Bangs:
One thing that really fucked me up at Creem was that I got caught up in the whole idea that Lester Bangs was this thing, this idea. I call it like Hunter Thompsonism. It's when you pay more attention to your image than you do to your work. And that destroys your writing. Hunter Thompson's never gonna do anything good again as long as he lives. I don't think anybody really cares about his drug habits.
And then, of course, he goes out and OD's on Darvon. Schmuck! But he was right about Thompson (excepting maybe 10 or 15 paragraphs in the next 20 years) and probably the wrong one of them died young.
I mean, Bangs' heart was *always* in it, he really truly gave a shit about the music, and if he had to get through a lot of personal dreck on the page, on the way to expressing it, that was the price to pay- it was never the point.
I think for both of them, really, the stuff people (badly) imitate was *the part they couldn't help doing*. It wasn't meant to be anything but a sideshow - and with Thompson, tragically, it ended up being the main-and-only attraction. With Bangs, tragically, it seemed like he saw a way around it, and then just never made it there.
posted by hap_hazard at 2:29 PM on December 4, 2009
One thing that really fucked me up at Creem was that I got caught up in the whole idea that Lester Bangs was this thing, this idea. I call it like Hunter Thompsonism. It's when you pay more attention to your image than you do to your work. And that destroys your writing. Hunter Thompson's never gonna do anything good again as long as he lives. I don't think anybody really cares about his drug habits.
And then, of course, he goes out and OD's on Darvon. Schmuck! But he was right about Thompson (excepting maybe 10 or 15 paragraphs in the next 20 years) and probably the wrong one of them died young.
I mean, Bangs' heart was *always* in it, he really truly gave a shit about the music, and if he had to get through a lot of personal dreck on the page, on the way to expressing it, that was the price to pay- it was never the point.
I think for both of them, really, the stuff people (badly) imitate was *the part they couldn't help doing*. It wasn't meant to be anything but a sideshow - and with Thompson, tragically, it ended up being the main-and-only attraction. With Bangs, tragically, it seemed like he saw a way around it, and then just never made it there.
posted by hap_hazard at 2:29 PM on December 4, 2009
Sorry jfuller, a typo: I have the same issue with the people that think they can do the Hunter S Thompson thing.
That's one of the reasons I never pursued professional writing. I'd like to say it's my maverick Bangs/Thompson inspired writing style, but it's just a typo without an editor to check it before going to press. Or is it?
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 4:56 PM on December 4, 2009
That's one of the reasons I never pursued professional writing. I'd like to say it's my maverick Bangs/Thompson inspired writing style, but it's just a typo without an editor to check it before going to press. Or is it?
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 4:56 PM on December 4, 2009
« Older The Future Is Getting Brighter Every Year | Na Your Own Fault Be Dat. Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by tommasz at 11:40 AM on December 4, 2009