Monday, November 27, 2006
Lester Bangs Birthday Party Cheescake Jellybean BOOM!
It's getting harder and harder to find something to write, even with events such as another Motorhead gig and Gogol Bordello under my belt. I think I started to feel devoid of anything to say or a style in which to say it, but this has changed since discovering a new writing idol in the form of Lester Bangs.
Lester was perhaps the greatest rock critic ever, far more than a passing reference in an REM hit. His writing was that of a gonzoid music snob, he'd write contradicting articles about bands (Dismissing the MC5 is his first article, then later declaring them the best thing since sliced bread). He also wrote about the bands he loved, praising and dismissing them in turn. He could write endlessly about The Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones or Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground, he highlighted that they where a product of their time and environment, that their bleak lyrics captured the soul of a collective half in love with death.
Till reading Lester Bangs I never really got Miles Davies, much as I'd of liked to. He was into Miles in a big way, he understood how to appreciate the sound you had to drive around Detroit, and that his experimentation and electronic dablings captured the feeling of an increasingly technological nation with people becoming more and more isolated from one another. I may never get to drive around Detroit, but knowing something like this makes up for that fact.
He also interviewed Jimi Hendrix from beyond the grave, spoke with Bob Marley in Jamaica before international fame and understood why The Rolling Stones meant more than The Beatles,
Heres some free advice, there are two Lester Bangs anthologies on the market, Psychotic Reactions & Catrburator Dung and Mainlines, Blood Feastes & Bad Taste.
Go take it all in, believe what you want and dismiss the rest, and then go spread the word.
Lester was perhaps the greatest rock critic ever, far more than a passing reference in an REM hit. His writing was that of a gonzoid music snob, he'd write contradicting articles about bands (Dismissing the MC5 is his first article, then later declaring them the best thing since sliced bread). He also wrote about the bands he loved, praising and dismissing them in turn. He could write endlessly about The Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones or Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground, he highlighted that they where a product of their time and environment, that their bleak lyrics captured the soul of a collective half in love with death.
Till reading Lester Bangs I never really got Miles Davies, much as I'd of liked to. He was into Miles in a big way, he understood how to appreciate the sound you had to drive around Detroit, and that his experimentation and electronic dablings captured the feeling of an increasingly technological nation with people becoming more and more isolated from one another. I may never get to drive around Detroit, but knowing something like this makes up for that fact.
He also interviewed Jimi Hendrix from beyond the grave, spoke with Bob Marley in Jamaica before international fame and understood why The Rolling Stones meant more than The Beatles,
Heres some free advice, there are two Lester Bangs anthologies on the market, Psychotic Reactions & Catrburator Dung and Mainlines, Blood Feastes & Bad Taste.
BUY THEM
But I warn you now, once you come to understand what it means to truly love music, to understand it, take it into yourself and to be able to understand the difference between a passing trend, a piece of shit and a stoke of genius, you can't forget it. This means a lot of crap in your collection is instantly out of date, it means no more Green Day and no more Kaiser Chiefs, it means only settling for the best because your celebratying the highest and holiest art form. These works will guide you on your own path where mediocrity simply stops being an option, and it means far few records in your collection. You know how they say that if you where Scouce for one Saturday night you'd never want to be anything else? Well this is the same deal.Go take it all in, believe what you want and dismiss the rest, and then go spread the word.
