Go Back   Sonic Youth Gossip > Non-Sonics
Reload this Page The Lester Bangs Appreciation Thread
Register FAQ Members List Mark Forums Read

 
Thread Tools
Old 07.27.2008, 04:23 PM   #1
MellySingsDoom
invito al cielo
 
MellySingsDoom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,662
MellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's asses
I've spent the past month re-reading his writings, and love his style and criticism - a sane voice in the void of 70's rock criticism (where EVERYONE loved the Eagles and fucking Emerson, Lake and Palmer ). Anyone else here a fan of his?
__________________
Snow on Easter Sunday - Jesus Christ in reverse.
MellySingsDoom is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 04:27 PM   #2
demonrail666
invito al cielo
 
demonrail666's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 18,510
demonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's asses
Obviously a big fan of his writing. But sometimes wonder if his influence on Rock 'thinking' has been entirely for the best. His overtly self promoting style does grate on me a bit now too.

I tend to prefer Greil Marcus's more sober style. Still haven't read anything in the field equal to the brilliance of his Mystery Train book.
demonrail666 is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 04:29 PM   #3
batreleaser
invito al cielo
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 5,155
batreleaser kicks all y'all's assesbatreleaser kicks all y'all's assesbatreleaser kicks all y'all's assesbatreleaser kicks all y'all's assesbatreleaser kicks all y'all's assesbatreleaser kicks all y'all's assesbatreleaser kicks all y'all's assesbatreleaser kicks all y'all's assesbatreleaser kicks all y'all's assesbatreleaser kicks all y'all's assesbatreleaser kicks all y'all's asses
there is no way you can compare any critic to lester. everything about him was ahead of his time, he was backing the godz when others were still stuck on the beatles. favorite lester article is 'coltrane lives'.
__________________
 


listen to pink reason
batreleaser is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 04:29 PM   #4
MellySingsDoom
invito al cielo
 
MellySingsDoom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,662
MellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's asses
demonrail - I know what you mean - he kinda propagated the "journalist as story" style of writing. I have to admit I tend to overlook that side of him, and concentrate on the meat of his writings. My faves? His review of Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks", the Lou Reed "fight" interviews, and his journals of being in Jamaica.
__________________
Snow on Easter Sunday - Jesus Christ in reverse.
MellySingsDoom is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 04:44 PM   #5
demonrail666
invito al cielo
 
demonrail666's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 18,510
demonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's asses
'Of Pop and Pies and Fun' is probably the one i go back to most.

I won't knock LB for his contribution to music writing, and the impact that an essay like 'Of Pop and Pies ...' has had on me personally - in ways beyond just looking at music. However, I do feel that his hipster escapades have gone a long way to help solidify his legend over, for me, far better writers like Marcus and Stanley Booth.

LB is great at nailing a sensation he gets while listening to a certain record (as with his 'Astral Weeks' review). Marcus seems far better at placing that record into some kind of epic historical context and is easily the best writer on early rockabilly and RnR that I've read. Mystery Train is among the best books i've read about America full-stop, let alone its music.
demonrail666 is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 04:46 PM   #6
MellySingsDoom
invito al cielo
 
MellySingsDoom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,662
MellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's asses
Didn't Stanley Booth write a Stones book - on the tour up to Altamont??
__________________
Snow on Easter Sunday - Jesus Christ in reverse.
MellySingsDoom is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 05:00 PM   #7
demonrail666
invito al cielo
 
demonrail666's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 18,510
demonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's asses
Yes. The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones. It has some of the best accounts of Keith ever written.

The other good one by him is Rhythm Oil - a kind of musical travelogue around the American South. Features some amazing interviews.
demonrail666 is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 05:02 PM   #8
MellySingsDoom
invito al cielo
 
MellySingsDoom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,662
MellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's asses
"Rhythm Oil"? Fuck yeah, I got that out of Battersea library years ago. That's a good 'un, for sure. The whole scene of the Stones in the Booth book is great - indirectly a total hatchet job on Mick Jagger, but a great write up on Keith - in spite of all his drug and women issues, Booth could see that Richards was the driving force behind the Stones.
__________________
Snow on Easter Sunday - Jesus Christ in reverse.
MellySingsDoom is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 05:10 PM   #9
demonrail666
invito al cielo
 
demonrail666's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 18,510
demonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's asses
Nick Kent's The Dark Stuff, although massively overblown and derivative of Lester, has some great stuff in it too. The essay about Guns N Roses gives an incredibly vivid insight into the LA Rock scene of the 80s.

Personally though, I still think Ian MacDonald is the best of the British writers. His book The People's Music has some brilliant stuff about a whole range of artists. And, of course, his book about the Beatles, Revolution in Your Head, is just ridiculously brilliant.
demonrail666 is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 05:14 PM   #10
MellySingsDoom
invito al cielo
 
MellySingsDoom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,662
MellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's asses
I've only read a bit of "Revolution..." - I must buy the damn thing. Kent's "obituary" of Sid Vicious is particulary cold...why does he keep pushing the thing of getting clobbered by SV, when more reliable accounts say that it was Jah Wobble who actually smacked Kent around in the 100 Club? I suspect Kent liked the idea of Vicious, but not the reality...
__________________
Snow on Easter Sunday - Jesus Christ in reverse.
MellySingsDoom is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 05:43 PM   #11
demonrail666
invito al cielo
 
demonrail666's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 18,510
demonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's asses
Yeah, clearly SV made it a better 'story'.

LB is great when read by fans, a disaster when read by musicians:

 

"Quickly Bobby, shout "Well C'mon", like it says Iggy did, in that wee book"
demonrail666 is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 05:47 PM   #12
MellySingsDoom
invito al cielo
 
MellySingsDoom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,662
MellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's asses
Simon "I am more black than Bobby Gillespie" punted that idea around in the Melody Maker in the late 80's (he called them "aural Ajax"!), but his thang was more psych related...to be fair to him, though, at one point, he was the only "major" journalist who stuck up for Big Black, These Immortal Souls and World Domination Enterprises (he attended a WDM gig in fucking Croydon in 1986,and said "WHERE WERE YOU?" - he still has my respect for that, if nothing else).
__________________
Snow on Easter Sunday - Jesus Christ in reverse.
MellySingsDoom is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 05:57 PM   #13
demonrail666
invito al cielo
 
demonrail666's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 18,510
demonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's asses
Ah, it'll always be the Stud Brothers for me, I'm afraid. No one could pen a finer Stupids review than they.

Are you talking about Simon Reynolds?
demonrail666 is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 06:02 PM   #14
MellySingsDoom
invito al cielo
 
MellySingsDoom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,662
MellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's asses
Yes, I am. The Stud Brothers used to live in Croydon - Dom (?) Stud used used to walk around Surrey Street Market with a "For all the fucked-up children of the world" Spacemen 3 T-Shirt on - I know this cos I saw him in said get up once. Unfortuantely, I was way too shy to say "Respect due!" to him
__________________
Snow on Easter Sunday - Jesus Christ in reverse.
MellySingsDoom is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 06:08 PM   #15
demonrail666
invito al cielo
 
demonrail666's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 18,510
demonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's asses
Wow, cool story.

I remember how excited I used to be if someone walked past in a Loop T shirt. And we're talking the West End of London here. You young uns with your messageboards. Don't know you're born.
demonrail666 is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 06:11 PM   #16
MellySingsDoom
invito al cielo
 
MellySingsDoom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,662
MellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's assesMellySingsDoom kicks all y'all's asses
I used to walk around London in a Throbbing Gristle "Prostitution" T-shirt, and how I didn't get arrested, I'll never know. (dr666 - this predates me knowing you).

You hear that, young 'uns? Listen to Herr Rail and Uncle Smelly - we know what it was really like back in the day.
__________________
Snow on Easter Sunday - Jesus Christ in reverse.
MellySingsDoom is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 06:15 PM   #17
demonrail666
invito al cielo
 
demonrail666's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 18,510
demonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's assesdemonrail666 kicks all y'all's asses
Two Live Skull vinyls and enough change for a copy of Fangoria.
demonrail666 is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 06:22 PM   #18
Glice
invito al cielo
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 12,664
Glice kicks all y'all's assesGlice kicks all y'all's assesGlice kicks all y'all's assesGlice kicks all y'all's assesGlice kicks all y'all's assesGlice kicks all y'all's assesGlice kicks all y'all's assesGlice kicks all y'all's assesGlice kicks all y'all's assesGlice kicks all y'all's assesGlice kicks all y'all's asses
Hacks are scum. That is what your generation made mine realise, for those that were listening. The rest of them are welcome to their idiocy, and the younger 'uns are lucky enough to still be fit.
__________________
Message boards are the last vestige of the spent masturbator, still intent on wasting time in some neg-heroic fashion. Be damned all who sail here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Savage Clone
Last time I was in Chicago I spent an hour in a Nazi submarine with a banjo player.
Glice is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 06:27 PM   #19
viewtiful_alan
invito al cielo
 
viewtiful_alan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Houston Texas
Posts: 2,663
viewtiful_alan kicks all y'all's assesviewtiful_alan kicks all y'all's assesviewtiful_alan kicks all y'all's assesviewtiful_alan kicks all y'all's assesviewtiful_alan kicks all y'all's assesviewtiful_alan kicks all y'all's assesviewtiful_alan kicks all y'all's assesviewtiful_alan kicks all y'all's assesviewtiful_alan kicks all y'all's assesviewtiful_alan kicks all y'all's assesviewtiful_alan kicks all y'all's asses
GOod writer, but he's written some of the most idiotic statements I think I've ever read.
He was something of a frenzied hack in his later days.
But like I said, good, and interetsing writer.
__________________
 
viewtiful_alan is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|
Old 07.27.2008, 06:27 PM   #20
leakyheadboy
bad moon rising
 
leakyheadboy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: new cross
Posts: 174
leakyheadboy kicks all y'all's assesleakyheadboy kicks all y'all's assesleakyheadboy kicks all y'all's assesleakyheadboy kicks all y'all's assesleakyheadboy kicks all y'all's assesleakyheadboy kicks all y'all's assesleakyheadboy kicks all y'all's assesleakyheadboy kicks all y'all's assesleakyheadboy kicks all y'all's assesleakyheadboy kicks all y'all's assesleakyheadboy kicks all y'all's asses
is any one else a member of http://www.rocksbackpages.com/? Its pretty dang good but does lean a bit to far down the middle of the road sometimes...
__________________

 
leakyheadboy is offline   |QUOTE AND REPLY|


Thread Tools

All content ©2006 Sonic Youth