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2 Hawthorne Music- History and Criticism

Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader

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Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader Cover

ISBN13: 9780375713675
ISBN10: 0375713670
Condition: Standard
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Staff Pick

"Simply put, Lester Bangs is the Charles Bukowski of rock criticism. He may have been deranged and obnoxious, but he was honest. Main Lines, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste provides a wealth of previously uncollected material sure to amuse, annoy, and ultimately inspire debate."
Recommended by Gerry, Powells.com

"Simply put, Lester Bangs is the Charles Bukowski of rock criticism. He may have been deranged and obnoxious, but he was honest. Main Lines, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste provides a wealth of previously uncollected material sure to amuse, annoy, and ultimately inspire debate."
Recommended by Gerry, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Before his untimely death in 1982, Lester Bangs was inarguably the most influential critic of rock and roll. Writing in hyper-intelligent Benzedrine prose that calls to mind Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson, he eschewed all conventional thinking as he discussed everything from Black Sabbath being the first truly Catholic band to Anne Murray's smoldering sexuality. In Mainlines, Blood Feasts, Bad Taste fellow rock critic John Morthland has compiled a companion volume to Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, the first, now classic collection of Bangs's work. Here are excerpts from an autobiographical piece Bangs wrote as a teenager, travel essays, and, of course, the music pieces, essays, and criticism covering everything from titans like Miles Davis, Lou Reed, and the Rolling Stones to esoteric musicians like Brian Eno and Captain Beefheart. Singularly entertaining, this book is an absolute must for anyone interested in the history of rock.

Review:

"A cerebrally smoking (dope-fueled?) — but sharp, very smart — collection....A choice cut of Bangs's work, more than enough to understand why he developed so ardent a following, much of it post-mortem." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"For fans of one of the most vocal and irreverent critical voices in rock and roll, this newly issued Bangs reader will be a boon....There's plenty here to entertain music fans and inspire today's critics of rock and roll." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"Truly, this is a time capsule of when pop music still crackled and people held the stuff to an emotional standard. Highly recommended." Library Journal
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About the Author

Lester Bangs wrote for Creem, the Village Voice, and Rolling Stone.

John Morthland, co-executor of the Bangs literary estate, was a colleague of Bangs from 1969 until the author's death. He was editor of Creem in 1974-75. He is a writer at large for Texas Monthly.

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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
lukas, February 9, 2007 (view all comments by lukas)
Bangs is the only rock critic to be immortalized in film (Cameron Crowe's onanistic, nostalgically un-rock and roll Almost Famous) and with a biography (Let it Blurt). He also got a shout out in R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know it." An undeniably important and influential critic, Bangs is also a somewhat polarizing figure. He's writing style was highly intuivitve, and off the cuff, in a the unhinged, hot wired manner of Hunter Thompson, the Beats, and Henry Miller, and you can never avoid his obnoxious and outsized personality in his reviews. Though he's a welcome antidote to the mostly faceless music critics of today, he also has a nasty proclivity for writing about himself instead of the music and we get to hear all about his drug use, drinking, ex-girlfriends, and emotional problems. He seems to use rock writing as a form of therapy. Too often he seemed to act like a rock star (he performed music), so much so that he joined the stupid dead rock stars club by overdosing at 33. This collection is highly uneven (his unpublished autobiographical pieces are virtually unreadable) and not as good an introduction as the earlier "Psychotic Reactions." He is good on iconic figures like the Beatles, the Stones, Iggy Pop, Nico, and Velvet Underground. Though sometimes his glib dismissal of certain bands (Joy Division, Kraftwerk, Throbbing Gristle) seems short sighted. And uou do have to wonder why the editor would include pieces on Canned Heat, ELP, Anne Murray, whom nobody under about 68 will care about.
Well, read it and decide for yourself. Whatever his faults, he gets a reaction.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780375713675
Edited and with an Introduction by:
Morthland, John
Editor:
Morthland, John
Introduction by:
Morthland, John
Introduction:
Morthland, John
Editor:
Morthland, John
Author:
Morthland, John
Author:
Bangs, Lester
Author:
Lester Bangs Edited by John Morthland
Publisher:
Anchor Books
Location:
New York
Subject:
General
Subject:
History and criticism
Subject:
Rock
Subject:
Rock music
Subject:
History & Criticism - General
Subject:
Genres & Styles - Rock
Subject:
Rock music -- History and criticism.
Subject:
History & Criticism *
Subject:
Music -- History and criticism.
Copyright:
2003
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Series Volume:
107-261
Publication Date:
August 12, 2003
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
432
Dimensions:
8.22x5.09x.92 in. .71 lbs.
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Related Subjects

Arts and Entertainment » Music » Genres and Styles » Rock
Arts and Entertainment » Music » Genres and Styles » Rock » History
Arts and Entertainment » Music » Genres and Styles » Rock » Reference and Criticism
Arts and Entertainment » Music » History and Criticism

Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader Used Trade Paper
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$9.95 In Stock
Product details 432 pages Anchor (UK) - English 9780375713675 Reviews:
"Staff Pick" by ,

"Simply put, Lester Bangs is the Charles Bukowski of rock criticism. He may have been deranged and obnoxious, but he was honest. Main Lines, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste provides a wealth of previously uncollected material sure to amuse, annoy, and ultimately inspire debate."

by Gerry
"Staff Pick" by ,

"Simply put, Lester Bangs is the Charles Bukowski of rock criticism. He may have been deranged and obnoxious, but he was honest. Main Lines, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste provides a wealth of previously uncollected material sure to amuse, annoy, and ultimately inspire debate."

by Gerry
"Review" by , "A cerebrally smoking (dope-fueled?) — but sharp, very smart — collection....A choice cut of Bangs's work, more than enough to understand why he developed so ardent a following, much of it post-mortem."
"Review" by , "For fans of one of the most vocal and irreverent critical voices in rock and roll, this newly issued Bangs reader will be a boon....There's plenty here to entertain music fans and inspire today's critics of rock and roll."
"Review" by , "Truly, this is a time capsule of when pop music still crackled and people held the stuff to an emotional standard. Highly recommended."
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