Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader

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.

Author: Lester Bangs
Publisher: Anchor Books
Published: 08/12/2003
Pages: 432
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.71lbs
Size: 8.22h x 5.09w x 0.92d
ISBN: 9780375713675

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 06/01/2003 pg. 785
Library Journal 07/01/2003 pg. 84
Vanity Fair 08/01/2003 pg. 68
Entertainment Weekly 08/22/2003 pg. 136
School Library Journal 12/01/2003 pg. 178
Publishers Weekly 06/01/2003

About the Author
Lester Bangs wrote for Creem, the Village Voice, and Rolling Stone.

John Morthland, co-executor of the Bangs literary estate, was a colleague of Bangs from 1969 until the author's death. He was editor of Creem in 1974-75. He is a writer at large for Texas Monthly.