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Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader Paperback – August 12, 2003

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 57 ratings

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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.
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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. Serving as a companion to the 1987 collection Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, this volume is a selection of 54 pieces, some of which have been recently uncovered. In his introduction, Morthland, a writer-at-large for Texas Monthly, offers a paean to Bangs, who died in 1982 of a drug overdose, describing him as the "best-known bull-in-a-china-shop... who was always dangerously loaded, who could be so insulting and malicious as well as self-destructive... who had an expansive lust for life and a sense of humor and (sometimes even, and for no apparent reason) cheerfulness to match it." Within these pages, the acerbic Bangs takes on Dylan ("Dylan merely used Civil Rights and the rest of the Movement to advance himself in the first place") and encourages the Stones in a 1973 Creem article ("I challenge those lazy, sniveling, winded mothermissers to PRODUCE"). There's plenty here to entertain music fans and inspire today's critics of rock and roll.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-A collection of the rock critic's essays from 1968 to 1982. Bangs is as engaging to read today as he was in earlier years as his themes-music and musicians, and how people react to them-are timeless. His writing conveys the many layers of feeling that music can create. Some of the bands and musicians are still popular and some are still active, but even when he writes about those no longer current, he can make readers think anew about any type of music. The other great appeal of this book is the sheer quality of the writing, which connects the audience effortlessly and instantaneously with Bangs's thoughts. Those who truly love music or who enjoy good writing will appreciate this book.
Ted Westervelt, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (August 12, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0375713670
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375713675
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.19 x 0.98 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 57 ratings

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4.3 out of 5 stars
57 global ratings

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Customers find the book readable and enjoyable. They praise the author as one of the best writers of all time, with insightful writings about music.

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Customers find the book readable. They say it's a good read and one of the greatest writers of our lifetime.

"One of the greatest writers of our lifetime, I recommend anything written by Lester!" Read more

"...and Miles Davis were well over the hill, despite their amazing work in past decades...." Read more

"When is a movie going to be done for this guy! One of the best writers in the 20th century." Read more

"Just as good as the Carburator Dung book" Read more

3 customers mention "Writer"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the writer's writing. They find it insightful, humorous, and recommend his work.

"One of the greatest writers of our lifetime, I recommend anything written by Lester!" Read more

"...One of the best writers in the 20th century." Read more

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2020
    One of the greatest writers of our lifetime, I recommend anything written by Lester!
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2015
    When is a movie going to be done for this guy! One of the best writers in the 20th century.
    2 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2014
    This is an interesting slice of life from the good old days of the 1970's. Growing up we took for granted that the Rolling Stones and Miles Davis were well over the hill, despite their amazing work in past decades. Here you can see a man struggling to come to terms with the fading of these great lights. The Bob Marley section really tells the story of Jamaica, reggae, and the Rasta scene in great style and puts it into the perspective of that time. I wonder what Lester would think of the music coming out now?
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2016
    Just as good as the Carburator Dung book
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2004
    Once at an allergist appointment to treat my asthma I had to use a nebulizer, a machine to help my medication get deep into my lungs. There were two end results: I started breathing better and was high on oxygen and I got more medication into me than normal and got high on that. Basically, I was high as a kite for an hour or two and then it wore off. But for that brief period of time, I was happy and did everything at warp speed and was lovin' life.
    Lester Bangs, for those of you not familiar with him, was a rock critic who was lovin' life a lot of the time, but he wasn't being supplied with happy, legal drugs from his allergist. When you read his work, you don't have to be told, though he does tell you, that he often wrote under the influence of a myriad of things. Sometimes his reviews don't make a stitch of sense. Other times they are pure genius.
    The bottom line is, if you consider yourself music savvy, you should know who Lester Bangs is. If you need an introduction to his work, Mainlines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader is a great place to get it. The reader is a collection of Bangs' writing, edited by friend John Morthland. Most of the reviews are written as Bangs must of spoke. In fact, I often found myself reading his work out loud because they sounded better than they read. He would write an accent - not in a Zore Neale Hurtson I-spell-out-dialect sort of way, but in a William Shakespeare rhyme-and-meter-are-everything sort of way. It's magic.
    Some of the reviews in Mainlines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader are tedious and near impossible to get through. He often refers to music that is most likely inaccessible to you, because, let's be frank, the man was a music snob. Snobbery or no, he knew his stuff and his developed completely original creative ways to write reviews.
    Bangs loved life a little too hard and died of an overdose in 1982. He is still remembered in movies like Almost Famous and his mark is left on music / rock criticism everywhere.
    14 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2015
    10/10.
    2 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2004
    The rock writer Joh Morthland has compiled a companion volume to Psychotic Reactions And Carburettor Dung, the first collection of the writings of Lester Bangs, rock `n roll's most influential critic and the one who defined the genre.
    The book is divided into the following sections: DRUG PUNK, including previously unpublished writings on Andy Warhol and autobiographical ruminations on Bangs' adolescence; HYPES & HEROICS includes pieces on the MC5, Beatles, Bob Dylan, Grace Jones, Patti Smith's album Horses, Wire and Jello Biafra.
    PANTHEON contains pieces on The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Captain Beefheart, Nico's Marble Index album, Brian Eno, Jim Morrison and Lester's famous review of Lou Reed's notorious Metal Machine Music album. TRAVELOGUES includes impressions of his trips to Paris, Jamaica, Austin and California.
    The last chapter is titled RAVING, RAGING AND REBOPS and contains writings on the roots of punk, The Mekons (Bad Taste Is Timeless) and an excerpt from the previously unpublished All My Friends Are Hermits from 1980.
    Lester's adrenalin charged writing has lost none of its appeal. He wrote with an enthusiasm that transcends the decades. I highly recommend this book to all rock fans that are passionate about the music. I also recommend the great biography by Jim DeRogatis, titled Let It Blurt: The Life And Times Of Lester Bangs and The Dark Stuff by Nick Kent.
    21 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2019
    ..but as the author explains in the foreword, a lot of the best of Bangs' writing was already used in "Carburetor Dung"...a previous anthology.
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • mandylyn
    5.0 out of 5 stars LB Forever
    Reviewed in Canada on June 26, 2019
    Required reading for any true audiophile.