2023-10-27 23:14:00
The American Lester Bangs has long been the god of “rock critics”, the model of Philippe Maneuver and the one idealized by all the freelancers of Rock & Folk and Best. It’s time to rediscover the craziest of the editors of Creem and Rolling Stone (from which he was fired) for what he really is, a great author, at the crossroads of the Beat Generation and the Gonzo. Died of his excesses at the age of 33 in 1982, he did not have time to deploy his literary talent beyond his passion for rock. Nearly fifty years later, the strength and madness of his punk style remain intact. It doesn’t matter if we don’t care today to read articles on Jethro Tull or Sham 69, in any case, these groups were never the real subject of Lester Bangs’ articles. It is thanks to Tristram editions and Jean-Paul Mourlon, who took up the challenge of a translation (which even Philippe Garnier thought impossible), that we were finally able to read it in French at the end of the 90s. With the time, the two volumes of these texts had become unavailable. This is the first, fortunately reissued in a nice “flexible” and yet “deluxe” format. We imagine that the second should follow.
Lester Bangs Psychotic Reactions & other gunshot carburetors (Editions Tristram)
#Lester #Bangs #art #rock #criticism #Libération