Birdland With Lester Bangs -Textbook Case (1986) Birdland contained material Lester had recorded with a New York band (also known as the Rattlers) that featured Joey Ramones extremely talented brother Mickey Leigh. In 1969 Bangs became a freelance writer after reading an ad in Rolling Stone soliciting readers reviews. His first piece was a negative review of the MC5 album Kick Out The Jams, which he sent to Rolling Stone with a note requesting that if the magazine were to pass on publishing the review, that he receive a reason for their decision; however, no reply was forthcoming as the magazine did indeed publish the review. Bangs wrote about Janis Joplins death by drug overdose, Its not just that this kind of early death has become a fact of life that has become disturbing, but that its been accepted as a given so quickly. In 1973, Jann Wenner fired Bangs from Rolling Stone, a negative review of Canned Heat being the final event. He moved to Detroit to edit and write for Creem. After leaving Creem, he wrote for The Village Voice, Penthouse, Playboy, New Musical Express, and many other publications. Bangs was enamored of the noise music of Lou Reed. Bangs wrote the essay/interview Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves about Reed in 1975. At one point he climbed onto the stage while the J. Geils Band were playing in concert, and typed a supposed review of the event, in full view of the audience. His review of Black Sabbaths first album in Rolling Stone was scathing, rating them as Cream wannabes: Cream clichés that sound like the musicians learned them out of a book, grinding on and on with dogged persistence. Vocals are sparse, most of the album being filled with plodding bass lines over which the lead guitar dribbles wooden Claptonisms from the masters tiredest Cream days. They even have discordant jams with bass and guitar reeling like velocitized speedfreaks all over each others musical perimeters yet never quite finding synch—just like Cream! But worse. Rolling Stone later rated the same album to be on their 500 Greatest Albums of all time at number 243. Style Bangs adopted a radical and critical style of working, apparent in this quote: Well basically I just started out to lead [an interview] with the most insulting question I could think of. Because it seemed to me that the whole thing of interviewing as far as rock stars and that was just such a suck-up. It was groveling obeisance to people who werent that special, really. Its just a guy, just another person, so what? (Music) Bangs was also a musician in his own right. In 1976, he and Peter Laughner recorded an acoustic improvisation in the Creem office. In 1979, he released, as a solo artist, a 7 vinyl single named Let It Blurt/Live, mixed by John Cale. The following year, he traveled to Austin, Texas, and met a punk rock group named the Delinquents. During his stay in Austin, he recorded an album as Lester Bangs and the Delinquents, entitled Jook Savages on the Brazos. In 1981, he teamed up with Joey Ramones brother Mickey Leigh, to put together a New York City group named Birdland. Their only album, mixed by Ed Stasium, was released in 1986. In 1990 The Mekons released the EP F.U.N. 90 with Bangs on vocals in the song One Horse Town. In popular culture Excerpts from an interview with Lester Bangs appeared in the last two episodes of Tony Palmers seventeen-episode television documentary entitled All You Need Is Love: The Story of Popular Music. He was portrayed in the 2000 movie Almost Famous by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Lesters formative years are the subject of a documentary, A Box Full of Rocks: The El Cajon Years of Lester Bangs (director: Raul Sandelin) released in 2013. Bangs is mentioned in the lyrics to the R.E.M. hit Its the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine). Bangs is mentioned in the lyrics to the Ramones song Its not my place (in this 9 to 5 world) on the album Pleasant Dreams Death Bangs died in New York City on April 30, 1982, of an accidental overdose of Darvon, Valium, and NyQuil.
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 04:58:36 +0000
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