'How to be a rock 'n roll critic- by Lester Bangs
- Thread starter Cheesypoof
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invisibleplanet
porter des cornes
invisibleplanet said:
will have a look - cheers invisible
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Dubversion said:
Given that Coon was getting published while Lester was still sucking oxygen, like.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Nah, he crystalised a particular approach, he didn't invent it. He happily admitted his influences.Cheesypoof said:
There are plenty of old guys in New Orleans (to name but one locale) who'd laugh in your face and spit in your eye for that particular delusion. Mr. Brown didn't even invent funk, let alone sould, he was just good at 'em and popular.
No he doesn't. He seems to, because his approach wasn't the usual "I'm a journo" approach, but that's like saying that Hunter S. Thompson "towers over" any other diarist/columnist. They both stand out, but neither "tower over".
Yes, once.
It wanders around the whole CBGBs thing.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
g force said:What is this "Astral Weeks" of which you speak
An over-rated album by some Irish fella who thinks he was born in the Mississippi delta.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Boris Sprinkler said:
There'd have only been a very short window for him to have contributed, 'cos Kerrang!! started in late 1980 (IIRC) and Lester snuffed it in mid 1982.
Boris Sprinkler
Dont be scared
ViolentPanda said:
nerd.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Boris Sprinkler said:nerd.
I know!
ViolentPanda said:
The Blondie book is going on ebay for around 40 quid, i have read that Lester devotes 25 pages to talking about debbie harry's underwear - is this true, and, given that she wasnt happy with it (so there must be something in it, apart from the underwear to make it good) is it worth buying?
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Cheesypoof said:The Blondie book is going on ebay for around 40 quid, i have read that Lester devotes 25 pages to talking about debbie harry's underwear - is this true, and, given that she wasnt happy with it (so there must be something in it, apart from the underwear to make it good) is it worth buying?
Lester is a bit fixated, but not 25 pages worth, and IIRC the whole band were pissed off that a book that's called "Blondie" also goes on about Television, the Voidoids, the Ramones etc, as well as rambling about the Dolls and the whole noo yawk "punk" scene.
It's not worth buying at £40 though, IMO. £20 plus shipping if you're an obsessive fan, unless it's a mint condition hardback that you're never even going to open the pages of. It's likely to be a paperback, though.
There's a copy of the pb version on ebay.co.uk currently at £7-odd with 2 days to go, btw.
ViolentPanda said:
cheers VP, i will try and snap it up tomorrow
Cheesypoof said:i dunno when she started, late 70's i think. i dont know anything about her, apart from some of her work from the old NME archives.
if you know anything about her career apart from the punk stuff for NME, i am interested
She started as a Hippie in the late 60's, founded Release (the weed legal aid group), jumped on the punk bandwaggon and had sex with many of the musicians. The Stranglers song "London Lady" is about her. Interestingly, I myself have had sex with the woman about whom the Stranglers song "Nice in Nice" is.
phildwyer said:
thanks phil. I always liked her 'identification of punk' piece that appeared in an old NME punk archives edition in the late 70's. I have only read it once and cant find it online but its pretty good. And then theres the famous one tony parsons and julie burchill co-wrote, (i'm paraphrasing) where they 'plot the course of the punk stooges and their safety-pin festooned cohorts. Verdict: it goes nowhere.' Julie Burchill's Blondie live review from about 78 is brilliant too, where she describes her as looking like an 'inflatable doll' as is tony parsons lunch with her in a hotel, where he talks of her 'sipping cold pea soup' and 'pining for the junk.'
not a patch on lester though!
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
Dubversion said:except of course in NOBODY's version of the world did James Brown invent soul
what really irks cheesy is that not only do you feel the need to hold forth about stuff like nobody else has ever read Bangs or heard Prince or whatever, but that you frequently get it totally fucking wrong
I think she said that because his nickname was The Godfather of Soul.
She just believed it, is all.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Really?
i was just being passionate about james and farfetched but i know what i meant and definitely dont need any urban correcting me so callously. Apart from all that, i think sometimes, superlfuity is totally allowed where passion is concerned and on a Lester Bangs thread, considering how far out on a limb he went - of all people lester - i am fully excused.
Anyway, relying on the narrowminded testimonies of either dubversion or violent panda would be ludicrous to the extreme - specifically with a situation where the name 'lester bangs' is concerned!
He was one of lifes great optimists. That he has supporters who are such cynics would make him turn in his grave.
Anyway, relying on the narrowminded testimonies of either dubversion or violent panda would be ludicrous to the extreme - specifically with a situation where the name 'lester bangs' is concerned!
He was one of lifes great optimists. That he has supporters who are such cynics would make him turn in his grave.
you really do talk bollocks, don't you?
nino_savatte
No pasaran!
phildwyer said:
Fucking pile of shite that book. Out of print, out of mind.
nino_savatte said:Fucking pile of shite that book. Out of print, out of mind.
i'd like to get hold of it anyway, sounds hilarious - i wonder if there are excerpts on line at all....
nino_savatte
No pasaran!
Cheesypoof said:
Dunno, but you can buy it from Amazon if you want to waste your money.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boy-Looked-Johnny-Obituary-Rock/dp/0861040309
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
So there was no such thing as "funk" before JB's "Papa's got..." and "Cold Sweat" (or even ""Out of Sight")?Jazzz said:
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Rubbish. Passion is not an excuse for talking bollocks. Find me an example of where Lester Bangs purveyed inaccuracies and then excused them as an excess of "passion" and I might give your claim credence, but as it is, we both know that he hasn't left any such examples, don't we?Cheesypoof said:i was just being passionate about james and farfetched but i know what i meant and definitely dont need any urban correcting me so callously. Apart from all that, i think sometimes, superlfuity is totally allowed where passion is concerned and on a Lester Bangs thread, considering how far out on a limb he went - of all people lester - i am fully excused.
Ah, so now you're the arbiter of what would make Lester turn in his grave?
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Dubversion said:you really do talk bollocks, don't you?
I'd say "you couldn't make it up, could you?", but Cheesy clearly does.
ViolentPanda said:Rubbish. Passion is not an excuse for talking bollocks. Find me an example of where Lester Bangs purveyed inaccuracies and then excused them as an excess of "passion" and I might give your claim credence, but as it is, we both know that he hasn't left any such examples, don't we?
Ah, so now you're the arbiter of what would make Lester turn in his grave?
whatever.
youre too pedantic for your own good VP. Cynicism like this doesnt stand up at all. Its painful.
nina - i will have a read of that
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
So drawing someone's attention to the fact that they're obviously talking bollocks that isn't substantiatable in any shape or form is "pedantic", is it?Cheesypoof said:
There's nothing remotely cynical in what I've said, Cheesy. Please stop mangling the English language, there's a dear. If you want to attempt a put-down, at least have the guts to not try hiding it behind a claim that someone is "cynical".
ViolentPanda said:
ah stop it dude, get back in your box Panda!
I get paid for 'mangling the english language' very well apparently, accurately and very passionately - theres a dear.now that Blondie book, are there nice pix in it? and lots of text or how much is there - i think i will buy it.
The thing that saddens me most about Lester is that he never did actually write the novel he intended...he never did get round to writing his magnum opus
theres a wicked bit in his biography (which i highly, highly recommend), where hes at the party that REM sing about in the song 'The end of the world as we know it' and Lester calls Michael stipe and the other dork 'assholes' and they feel like flattered to be called something like that by Lester - what a bunch of assholes!!!
nino_savatte
No pasaran!
Cheesypoof said:nina - i will have a read of that
Please, it's nino. Nina is a female name.
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