Let it Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic

"Sometimes Lester (Bangs) was full of s---." writes Jim DeRogatis in the jarring first sentence of "Let It Blurt," his fine biography of the legendary critic. In the book, he tries to explain Bangs' long standing reputation as rock 'n roll's standing critic and poet laureate and for the most part, he succeeds. Raised by a mother who was a Jehovah's Witness (which Bangs did not embrace) he grew up worshiping the Beats, most notably of course, Kerouac, who later heavily influenced his manic writing sytle. Bangs' passion for music began as a love for jazz which later morphed into rock and roll. He answered an ad posted in Rolling Stone and submitted numerous album reviews. Bangs only wrote for them a short time before accepting an offer to write for Creem Magazine, which necessitated a move to Michigan where Creem was headquartered. Bangs was the magazine's leading critic and would eventually become a contributing editor there. It was also at Creem where he would become a legend. DeRogatis wisely takes the reader on a brief discourse on the rise of rock journalism and the growth of rock criticism and it's spreading influence under Bangs and his contemporaries like Greil Marcus, Robert Christgau and Dave Marsh. This is invaluable as we get an understanding and context of the world Bangs would hold sway. The Creem years would see Bangs' writing style flourish. Never impressed by the celebrity status of rock musicians, he despised pomposity and spoke to them in tones of irreverence and sometimes, outright sarcasm. His prose was overrun with mayhem, as if Punk Rock was put into prose form. His confrontations with his idol Lou Reed were the stuff of legend. DeRogatis covers this period masterfully. Bangs' articles ran from the hilarious to the touching, but it was album reviews that saw him at his peak. He could artfully rip an album to shreds or become as obsessive as any hormonally driven male teen when he liked something. One of Bangs' strengths as a critic was that he may have disliked a certain album as first (such as the Stones' masterpiece, Exile on Main Street), but he was known every now and then to reverse his opinion and be honest enough to let his readers to know why. DeRogatis chronicles the highs and lows of Bangs' life and work. His prodigious writing, his copious drug and alcohol intake. His failed love life, his love/hate relationships with acts he liked or hated (such as the aforementioned Lou Reed). He also documents Bangs championing (and eventual alienation from) the rising Punk Rock movement before it even had a name. It should be kept in mind that Bangs wasn't right on every review and that some of his opinions have failed to hold up over the time since his death. His spurious views on Led Zeppelin (as well as those of his contemporaries on the band) were off the mark. Not to mention his support of other acts at the expense of ignoring others could be interpreted as thrusting his own tastes on his audience. Bangs could be petty and he nursed grudges far beyond what was necessary. Still, no one wrote better or infused their writing with rock's raucous spirit than when Bangs was at his best. DeRogatis, music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times met Bangs only once, two weeks before his premature death, is fair towards him and can be seen as a touch on the worshipful side. Still, he fairly points out Bangs' strengths and glaring weaknesses (though admittedly, he goes on more of the strengths). "Let It Blurt" is as good a biography of Rock's late great, and still reigning prince of critics as we're likely to get.

If you want to experience Lester Bangs' writing, buy one of the many rock criticism compendiums that include his reviews. If you want to know what it was like in the 70s and 80s, in the hey day of rock--and the rock criticism Bangs helped invent--buy Let It Blurt. While it may seem that Derogatis' understated book is "just the facts," anyone who has experience writing at book length will recognize that Derogatis not only did an extraordinary job of reporting, he then did a brilliant and subtle job of selecting and arranging the information so that the book is real page-turner. I've purchased quite a few books by big-name journalists only to find them to be full of hyperventilation and name dropping. In contrast, Derogatis sticks with his story, and never gets sidetracked telling anecdotes about the glitterati. As a small-time music critic working in New England in the 70s, I had passing acquaintances with a number of the people mentioned in this book (not Bangs, though) and loved the way that Derogatis portrayed each of them using just a few key details. Absolutely top-notch work on a thought-provoking topic.

I really enjoyed Let It Blurt, which is about the deceased rock critic Lester Bangs. I first read about Lester when Almost Famous came out, and read this book on a beach in Thailand last year, and it has stayed with me since that time. Lester died when I was 10, so I certainly didn't follow him, and other than a passion for music, Lester's taste in music was very different from mine, but I really enjoyed reading about him in this book. That is a good comment on DeRogatis as a writer, as I bore easily. Lester was a true individualist and someone with real passions, faults and weaknesses. He struggled and was human, and had this passion for music that many people have, so it is easy to relate in many ways if you have ever felt like you don't quite fit in, or are hyperopinionated, or just dislike the corporate machine. Highly recommended book.

While DeRogatis is clear on Bangs' many personal failings, his love and respect for Lester is quite clear.

It must have been tough to add something new to the story of Lester Bangs, America's greatest rock critic, almost all of whose writing was mostly about himself. But DeRogatis pulled it off, covering the days of Bangs's early splash in the pages of Rolling Stone, his later years of working like a dog for Creem magazine, and his later move to New York, where Bangs might have gone on to become a kind of cultural critic. Bangs died young, but his story isn't a sad one. Here's a guy who was always searching, and who always got his deeply personal writing out there, a guy who believed that communication was all -- that everything else that was good in life came from it. The only problem with this book is that Bangs wrote so much about himself, most of his life story was already out there. But it's a heckuva story, and it's DeRogatis's best book.

Its about Lester, dude.

The first thing I realised after reading this amazing biography is how much passion Lester had for what he did. Writing about music and culture became an artform because of him and he always stayed true to himself and the way he expressed himself. Would he survive today if he expressed himself the way he did? It's an interesting question. A funny, thoughtful, tragic, hyperactive artist brought to life by Jim's very enjoyable and readable biography.

I sincerely believe that the problem with this bio is not with the writer. I think he did a very good research about Lester, but for me the main problem was Lester itself. I was expecting a more dense character than he was. Just didn't find that interesting the story of his life (the inclusion of the article how to be a rock critic was phenomenal, great piece of work).

Thanks Great Read

Great book 📖