Lester Bangs
| Lester Bangs | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Leslie Conway Bangs December 13, 1948 Escondido, California United States |
| Died | April 30, 1982 (aged 33) New York City, New York United States |
| Occupation | Music critic, musician, author |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1969–1982 |
| Subjects | Rock music, jazz |
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs (December 13, 1948 – April 30, 1982) was an American music journalist, author, and musician. He wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines and was known for his leading influence in rock music criticism.[1][2]
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[edit] Early life
Bangs was born in Escondido, California. His mother was a devout Jehovah's Witness; his father died in a fire when Bangs was young. In 1969, Bangs began writing freelance after reading an ad in Rolling Stone soliciting readers' reviews. His first piece was a negative review of the MC5 album, Kick Out The Jams, which he sent to Rolling Stone with a note requesting that if the magazine were to pass on publishing the review, that he receive a reason for their decision; however, no reply was forthcoming as the magazine did indeed publish the review.
[edit] Career
Bangs wrote about Janis Joplin's death by drug overdose, "It's not just that this kind of early death has become a fact of life that has become disturbing, but that it's been accepted as a given so quickly".[3] In 1973, Jann Wenner fired Bangs from Rolling Stone, a negative review of Canned Heat being the final event.[4] He moved to Detroit to edit and write for Creem. After leaving Creem, he wrote for The Village Voice, Penthouse, Playboy, New Musical Express, and many other publications.
Bangs idolized the noise music of Lou Reed.[5] Bangs wrote the essay/interview "Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves" about Reed in 1975.[6]
At one point he climbed onto the stage whilst the J. Geils Band were playing in concert, and typed a supposed review of the event whilst in full view of the audience.[7]
[edit] Style
Bangs adopted a radical and critical style of working, apparent in this quote
| “ | Well basically I just started out to lead [an interview] with the most insulting question I could think of. Because it seemed to me that the whole thing of interviewing as far as rock stars and that was just such a suck-up. It was groveling obeisance to people who weren't that special, really. It's just a guy, just another person, so what?"[8] | ” |
[edit] Music
Bangs was also a musician in his own right. He teamed up with Joey Ramone's brother, Mickey Leigh, to put together a New York City group named Birdland. In 1980, he traveled to Austin, Texas, and met a punk rock group named the Delinquents. During his stay in Austin, he recorded an album as Lester Bangs and the Delinquents entitled Jook Savages on the Brazos.
[edit] In media
Excerpts from an interview with Lester Bangs appeared in the last two episodes of Tony Palmer's seventeen-episode television documentary entitled All You Need Is Love: The Story of Popular Music.
He was portrayed in the 2000 movie, Almost Famous, by Philip Seymour Hoffman.
[edit] Death
Bangs died in New York City on April 30, 1982, of an accidental overdose of Darvon, Valium, and Nyquil.[9] He is reported to have been listening to The Human League's album, Dare, at the time of his death.[9]
[edit] Selected works
[edit] By Lester Bangs
- "Where Were You When Elvis Died?" Elvis Presley obituary. The Village Voice, 29 August 1977
- "Thinking the Unthinkable About John Lennon." John Lennon obituary. L.A. Times, 11 December 1980
- "The Greatest Album Ever Made", on 1975 Lou Reed album Metal Machine Music[10]
- Stranded (1979) on Astral Weeks, album by Van Morrison, released in 1968.[11]
- Blondie (Fireside Book, 1980)
- Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung: The Work of a Legendary Critic, collected writings, Greil Marcus, ed. Anchor Press, 1988. (ISBN 0-679-72045-6)
- Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader, collected writings, John Morthland, ed. Anchor Press, 2003. (ISBN 0-375-71367-0)
- The first piece for Rolling Stone[12]-A Review of The MC5's debut album Kick Out The Jams.
[edit] About Lester Bangs
- Let it Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic, biography, Jim Derogatis. Broadway Books, 2000. (ISBN 0-7679-0509-1).
[edit] Works citing Lester Bangs
- Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, biography, Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. Penguin Books, 1997. (ISBN 0-14-026690-9).
- Bangs is mentioned in the R.E.M. song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", along with Lenny Bruce, Leonid Brezhnev, and Leonard Bernstein, all of whom share the initials 'LB'.
- Bangs is mentioned ("Hangin' out with Lester Bangs you all") in the Ramones song "It's Not My Place (In the 9 to 5 World)" on the album Pleasant Dreams.
[edit] References
- ^ Lester Bangs. Random House. Retrieved on November 4, 2007.
- ^ Rock criticism from the beginning: amusers, bruisers, and cool-headed cruisers Ulf Lindberg, Gestur Guomundsson, Morten Michelsen, Hans Weisethaunet. Ed. Ulf Lindberg. Publisher Peter Lang, 2005. ISBN 0820474908, 9780820474908 p. 176.
- ^ A bad woman feeling good: blues and the women who sing them By Buzzy Jackson. WWNorton p. 234.
- ^ Let it blurt: the life and times of Lester Bangs, America's greatest rock critic By Jim DeRogatis p. 95.
- ^ Charlie Gere, Art, Time and Technology: Histories of the Disappearing Body (2005) Berg, p. 110
- ^ Milk it!: collected musings on the alternative music explosion of the 90s By Jim DeRogatis P. 188
- ^ Maconie, Stuart (2004). Cider With Roadies (1st ed.). London: Random House. p. 227. ISBN 0-091-89115-9.
- ^ DeRogatis, Jim (1999 November). "A Final Chat with Lester Bangs". Perfect Sound Forever. http://www.furious.com/Perfect/lesterbangs.html. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
- ^ a b The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists By Amy Wallace, Handsome Dick Manitoba. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 56.
- ^ Matt Carmichael
- ^ Lester Bangs. "Astral Weeks". personal.cis.strath.ac.uk. http://personal.cis.strath.ac.uk/%7Emurray/astral.html. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
- ^ MC5: Kick Out The Jams : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lester Bangs |
- MENTOR. EDITOR. LESTER: A Personal Appreciation by Jeffrey Morgan of Creem.
- 1980 interview with Bangs posted at rockcritics.com
- Bangs reviews (1979) Van Morrison's Astral Weeks.
- 13 May 1980 Interview with Lester Bangs by Sue Mathews of ABC Radio (Australia) Complete transcript plus MP3 stream of the interview.
- Richard Hell remembers Lester Bangs in the Village Voice, August 7, 2003
- Lester Bangs at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
