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";s:4:"text";s:12496:"Follow Backbeat on Twitter: @westword_music, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our terms of use, our cookies policy, and our privacy policy. the most honest and sheerly gifted writer I've ever worked with-and His first piece on rock appeared in Rolling Stone magazine in 1969, and in 1971 he dropped out of college to move to Detroit, where he served as a principal editor of Creem for five years. State, he published his first record review in Rolling Stone, Anyway, rock criticism is below police reporting and Lester to New York and who for the past two years has kept in touch died. Just over the flu, he'd gone home for some sleep after almost drowsing off at his friend John Morthland's that afternoon, but later he'd called several other friends--from the street, he hadn't had his own phone since 1980. A drug may have killed philosophical counterparts, nihilism and solipsism. Terms, over the flu, he'd gone home for some sleep after almost drowsing off Get the most out of your experience with a personalized all-access pass to everything local on events, music, restaurants, news and more. He'd gotten so Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox, Denver Restaurant Directory: Takeout/Delivery/Dine-in, Tyler Stanfield's "Whiskey Heart" Isn't Really About Whiskey, This New Venue Will Have Hot Concerts, Even If It Snows, Randy Rhoads: Thirty years ago, a tragic accident took the life of a legendary guitarist, Sex Pistols sign with A&M outside Buckingham Palace 35 years ago, his aggressively negative review of the MC5's, 1979 essay about one of his most beloved albums, Van Morrison's. his place at 542 Sixth Avenue, a little north of 14th Street. He is survived by a sister and two brothers. York is the big time, and Lester was never entirely secure about his This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. and completely, natural. Careers, In the essay, Bangs goes on to describe the ways to hustle and survive off such a meager income -- should you have made the unrecommended decision to try and freelance full time - such as selling free promo records, living off press dinners and record company financed cross-country flights to review a show ("free vacation!"). He At the same time he had become a hero to thousands of The low wage of freelance journalism forced Bangs to produce terrific amounts of work in order to survive; he developed an impressive method of churning out several reviews a night, typing out giant screeds under the influence of a variety of intoxicants. When they took the blues to psychedelia, he was taking it to punk. "Then this MC5 album, Kick Out the Jams, came out, and they had this big article in there saying the MC5 were the greatest band in the world and all this, so I went out and bought it. And yet they loved him for it. If the combination of religion and burning to death is the best metaphor for Lester Bangs' character, then the above statement is the best, most encapsulating description of Bangs's ethos. ©2020 Denver Westword, LLC. He had been sending them reviews for a while, following up on their ad requesting submissions, but they had refused to bite until his review of the MC5. "Because it seemed to me that the whole thing of interviewing as far as rock stars and that was just such a suck-up. Teaming up with Joey Ramone's brother, Mickey Leigh, Bangs formed the band Birdland (after the song of same name by Patti Smith, one of several NYC proto-punks Bangs admired). slicks. It's the great search, fueled by the belief that through these musical and mental processes illumination is attainable. with weekly phone conversations from Florida, wanted to be remembered Van Morrison is interested, obsessed with how much musical or verbal information he can compress into a small space, and, almost, conversely, how far he can spread one note, word, sound, or picture. Bangs would eventually become Creem's Senior Editor, making slightly more than the $12 a review he was making from his previous publication. While many rock writers today will rise to the top based on their resume or their proximity and likeability to publishers, Bangs had nothing close to that going for him. Unfortunately, Bangs's singular focus and wild exploration of the bounds of language remain rare to this day. Witch were identified from their album cover as the same "dorks" who'd "Let It Blurt" and the impressive 1981 album Jook Savages on the Engaging with our readers is essential to Westword's mission. In 1969, while more or less attending San Diego To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. several other friends--from the street, he hadn't had his own phone publishing. The lack of security has made writers of today even more cautious than the ones Bangs tormented -- and inspired -- in his day. The last time he'd fallen off the wagon, rock and roll's crude, spontaneous, eternally adolescent professional journalist than 90 per cent of the editors who "But in order to determine whether it's an overdose, you need some quantitation, and there's none here. he wished sometimes that he could disappear from the face of the earth Times ’ s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996 for Rolling Stone of and. 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