Lester Bangs

Until his death aged thirty-three in 1982, Lester Bangs wrote wired, rock 'n' roll pieces on Iggy Pop, The Clash, John Lennon, Kraftwerk, Lou Reed. As a rock critic, he had an eagle-eye for distinguishing the pre-packaged imitation from the real thing; written in a conversational, wisecracking, erotically charged style, his hallucinatory hagiographies and excoriating take-downs reveal an iconoclast unafraid to tell it like it is. To his journalism he brought the talent of a great a renegade Beat poet, and his essays, reviews and scattered notes convey the electric thrill of a music junky indulging the habit of a lifetime. As Greil Marcus writes in his introduction, 'What this book demands from a reader is a willingness to accept that the best writer in America could write almost nothing but record reviews.'

Some of today's leading young authors contribute a vast array of short stories all inspired by popular songs, in an anthology featuring selections by Julianna Baggot, David Ebershoff, Amanda Davis, Neal Pollack, Tom Perrotta, Rebecca Wells, Nelson George, Greil Marcus, Ernesto Quinonez, J. T. Leroy, and others. Original.

A compilation of fifty-four essays, cultural rants, reviews, and more from the late rock critic includes excerpts from Bangs's autobiographical writings, a discussion of the Hell's Angels and the shooting of Andy Warhol, and incisive reviews of Black Sabbath, Anne Murray, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones, among others. Original. 10,000 first printing.

Vintage presents the paperback edition of the wild and brilliant writings of Lester Bangs--the most outrageous and popular rock critic of the 1970s--edited and with an introduction by the reigning dean of rack critics, Greil Marcus.