He does look like real life Pablo Escobar doesn't he? I think part of it is is that this was kind of happening around the time Pablo was building up that empire, and the clothes are all contemporary to the time. But more than that it's his face as well and the hair
God Bless Lester Bangs! This clip shows why he was so great. No journalists, critics, reviewers or "reporters"(especially on those horrid entertainment/gossip shows) would ever talk about musicians or actors so honestly like that today. No, they're too busy kissing their asses!!!
@@Sangrialol no. Fantano seems like a nice enough guy but he seems barely qualified to do what he does. He also doesn’t have the edge and vision of Bangs; just a lukewarm UA-camr
I always though the clothes were supposed to be just part of the aesthetic I could totally see him not being into most of the rockstar shit at the time. I mean hell, he’s still alive so he surely didn’t get too lost in the sauce
I wish he had made it to see Rap, Hardcore Punk and Grunge take over the 80s. Or Bubblegum Pop. Man, just heartbreaking thst he couldn't make it out. Truly a visionary!
He did review some hardcore punk. He wasn't impressed (surprised?). He did like the Circle Jerks and...the Exploited (!!). He also took Jello Biafra down a notch (who's such a pompous egomaniac, he needs it!) in an article. I think (just based on his writings I've read) he may have been receptive to some rap but would've likely loathed grunge.
@@mariecruze259 Christgau is my least favorite rock writer. Anyone who calls himself "the dean" and grades albums like a teacher is a schmuck in my book. He trashed the Cramps too. So screw him.
@@brandonhendrix7223 trashed the Cramps? Oh hell no lol...I suppose it could be funny though...the rockabilly Era happened when he was young...so trashing rockabilly revivalism would make for a good joke
Early 1970s. Incredible music is pouring out of the UK glam rock scene with T-Rex, David Bowie and many others. More incredible music is pouring out of the Detroit garage rock scene with The MC5, The Stooges and Alice Cooper inventing the blueprint for punk. Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath are shaping the future of heavy metal, Pink Floyd and King Crimson are pushing the boundaries of progressive rock. The Grateful Dead are defying categorisation to evolve rock 'n' roll into something uniquely wonderful. Rock 'n' roll as a whole has never been more diverse, vibrant and exciting. Lester Bangs: "Nothing has happened."
I think that’s utter nonsense. The greatful dead were trash that just put out bootleg after bootleg and record after record of just them jamming to their stoned contention, for their stoned fans who followed them around due to A) being too high to function, and B) being baby boomers with absolute shit taste in music. Iggy tore up that world, and was not given any recognition, as Lou Reed was doing the same thing with the Velvets. Emerson Lake and Palmer were playing music no kid could emulate in their garage band, as was King Crimson and everyone else. Prog was bloated, it was self fellating, and self obsessed, and ultimately and thankful creating the foundation for punk rock in all its reactionary fervor. Led Zeppelin was nothing revolutionary, and T Rex and the same bloated glam scene had overstayed their welcome and produced nothing of note to begin with. Stairway to heaven is one of the worst songs ever made right alongside hotel California. Just boomer platitudes in corporate rock form. Roxy Music and Brian Eno were gods, but the self obsessed vapor and decadent aspect they brought with them made sure their music would be short lived and there ability to produce reflective of that. Punk came into the scene, shone brilliantly and then died in the same fashion. It became a parody of itself in the same way glam and prog and rock music had done. To take away anything Bangs says here is ridiculous, he was spot on and did it in tradition Lester Bangs fashion. It ain’t the summer of love as the imperial dogs said in ‘74, and thank god we’re finally getting far enough away from that time period of liberal hippie drivel that’s dominated our culture for the last half century. Good riddance.
Emerson Lake & Palmer needed to fall on their sword in order for there to ever be a punk scene. Bangs provided them the sword. Next thing you know, we’re all in for The Ramones and Dead Kennedys. The 80s came along and coke was everywhere.
@@DiamorphineDeath Nothing good came out of punk, zip, nada. VU and The Stooges are the two undisputed worst bands of all time and were objectively the worst thing to ever happen to music, that is a fact, anyone who doesn't accept it is a fool.
"...and that was two years ago..." Maybe it was Peter Frampton, who fizzled out due to a bad artistic choice but who looked like the next hero for awhile.
Why Lester Bangs was so important as a rock critic is that he did not write to be agreeable, he wrote what he found entertaining to him, and his writing, while occasionally a mixed bag, was frequently brilliant and incisive. Even if I didn't agree with him, I always wanted to know what he had to say, then formed my own opinion. Lester would make you _think_ about his subjects.
I like Lester as an icon but disagree with virtually everything he says. If he were here today he’d look back and see how enormous the 70s were. It’s difficult to see from within the boundaries but retrospect shows the giant that it truly was.
I agree. However, you could see the enormity of rock at the time it was happening. What has been so shocking is that it died in a manner we never saw coming and is now a carcass that the occasional band tries on, usually with limited success. The 70s were fantastic and entertaining and a high-water mark for rock.
I think you couldn't possibly be anything but nearsighted while it's actually happening. Every decade had its detractors, yet no one has really managed to capture the essence of a decade while it's still ongoing. The final analysis comes years, perhaps even decades later, and it's never done by a single person. Lester strikes me as a guy disappointed in where things seemed to be headed. But a decade is never one thing, one trend, one genre. As bashed as the 80s has been, it still gave us the college radio revolution that set the stage for the ultimate triumph of punk rock in 1991. Were there also a lot of dreck? Of course. There always is. But why focus on that?
No, this guy is ripped off speed and it's easy to judge everything when you've not accomplished a third of what the bands that this guy judges has lol. Just because PSH played him in a movie doesn't mean this guy has any reverence. His opinion is outdated and drug fueled chatter. But people who feel that their opinions matter and that everything is stupid like him.
@@joesmith2124 Except Bangs actually made good points. Like with Beatlemania resurfacing in 1981 after John Lennon was killed. He pointed out that nothing great was happening at that point and people were desperate for a group to look up to, especially with living in the past for bands that seem the most familiar to us. Nostalgia can be a very toxic thing, and people have found out that you can make billions off of it.
This is because music of all forms saw a splintering going into the 70's. The -isms that gave such stars a position started fading out in favor of a more individualized approach. Instead of one catch-all aspiration we have a collective of groups that grew more varied as time went on. The search for individual sounds in the late 60's was certainly a key factor in this. Parallel to this, almost anyone who could be considered a star since didn't carry that same sense of purpose.
Bangs cared enough about music to hate those who were destroying it. He assailed people who were nothing more than actors with guitars, jestering. They often were nothing more than cliche sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll acts. Talent without passion and authenticity would get you nowhere with him.
He died of accidental overdose not too long after this, no shit he didn't go on reviewing music. That's the dumbest point I've ever seen anyone try to make.
All music journalists are frustrated rock stars . Lester Bangs was no different . He did get one thing right though : Astral Weeks is indeed faultless .
Cue endless stream of butthurt comments because people confuse what they enjoyed in their youth with quality as opposed to "fun"! It's perfectly OK to enjoy shlock, but never pretend it's not shlock. Bangs was important in spreading awareness of good and great bands before the internet. The internet has been around so long few remember how musical awareness spread before it.
When I heard Tommy by the who with a candle I saw my future and I want to be a journalist and interview rock bands like William in “Almost Famous” and it gave me an opportunity to watch the movie every day for the rest of my life. #AlmostFamousMovie #Movies2000s
When you think about rock in general what comes to mind? A music of teen rebellion or a music that can be melded with other influences? The answer is both. Rock is quite multifaceted than what most can expect from it.
I'd pay good money to hear lester's thoughts on music right now...... all you ever hear is how great music is, I dont think its ever been worse. vacuous , heard it before crap.
Everyone’s crazy except me. I have much more serious issues to contend with. I wish he had lived. It’s like he felt obligated because the alternative sucked. Great writer.
"Happened?!" Punk "happened" to precisely the extent that any other loser clown bullshit "happens." The punks spent all their time demanding the rest of us notice their "shocking" hair styles (already done), anti-corporate attitude (ooh, fresh!), and preparedness to burn their draft cards under the circumstances of no one actually they go out and die for your countries. If there was anything more original about "punk" than farting in one's own oatmeal it has yet to be discovered.
If this is 70's his finger is spectacularly off the pulse isn't it. Bangs showed everyone that being able to write well, is very different from having an opinion worth listening to
@yinoveryang Bravo, Thank You for that. Lester Bangs was a stupid contrarian just for the sake of being so, he was a dimwit loser who had very little judgement when it came to valid criticism.
Lester didnt live long enough to have any true objectivity. Critics right in the thick of their industry, be it music or movies, are just a cog in that industry. The ones with past & future vision, removed objective context, those are the most genuine. Some of Lester's opinions dont hold up at all this far out.
God, all the people with the bland 'critics are parasites' comments here. It's such an anodyne observation from people who don't have the personality or critical thinking to construct an original comment. Say what you like about the guy, at least try to be original about it (if you can that is). He was a writer and he was good at writing. That was his thing. What thing do people have round here, apart from writing half-assed generically illiterate comments under UA-cam videos?
The 70's. Nothing's happened? So there was this band from down under. Sydney, Australia. AC/DC. You might have heard of them. In my opinion they are the epitome of a rock band. No pretentious bullshit, no ballads, just down and dirty, ball busting, testosterone fueled rock music.
The 1970s were probably the best decade for music although the more I look into that period, the more disappointed I get and can see eye to eye with Bangs. The youth movement of the late 60s was probably the last ground up movement that pushed it's way into the mainstream, some of its residue leaking into the 70s. However, the 70s were increasingly being plagued with the main problem people have with modern music, the music industry. If it wasn't vapid disco or baroque pop clogging the top charts, it was vapid "rockstars, carrying the torch" from the original groups in the 60s, it's just that most of them were missing an identity or a point. Note that I say top charts, as in, not encompassing everything at the time. In modern times we tend to filter out the best from the past, often stuff that was ahead of its time and did not make the charts, but that's normal. Of course there was the punk movement which was ground up but that wasn't nearly as influential as the 60s youth movement, nor did it carry the numbers to make it's way into the mainstream. Two different realms of music are traditional music and popular. Traditional is ground up and dances around/ projects to a certain idea, popular has the only point of making money. It's not 100% scrupulous but as we head further and further through time, you will have to sell out to the popular route, not the traditional. You have to be someone who wants to be a "star" and have a strong identity whilst not actually saying anything and make a lot of money. The 70s just seems like the decade that sealed the deal for that cancer.
Well....everything you just wrote can be applied to how Hip Hop music was basically destroyed by the mid 2000s. It is finally unrecognizable and completely cut off from its artistic/spiritual roots. Its fascinating to see an artform from your era of youth disappear. Inevitably you are looking back on your life. In a radio podcast last year, De La Soul was asked by some (Gen X) fans why hip hop sucks so much now, and they said "Look....you guys grew up, finished college, got jobs, brought home, started raising families and STOPPED buying music as much. You left!"
This was filmed in 1972, and yet Lester does mention Led Zeppelin, or seem to consider them an important band, when they were easily the biggest band in the world.
People like Lester Bangs are needed now more than ever, because if all we’re surrounding an artist with is yes-people, we’re gonna get pretty shit art.
I was a huge emerson ,lake and palmer fan back then and in looking back he wasn't wrong, as he said of keith emerson, trained fingers might as well be trained seals if there's not a mind behind it.
How in the world is ELP sterile? I understand bangs didn't like progressive rock because it did not fit his idea of how rock should be, but it was anything but sterile. To me on the other hand I really like because it's different.
Their sound is easily one of the whitest ever recorded and is a jam band that doesn't jam in any real interconnected sense. Just a bunch of different solos.
Well other than progressive rock I do listen tho things like psychedelic rock, hard rock & heavy metal, glam rock, post-punk and a little bit of new wave, folk rock, jazz fusion. Plus I'm always buying albums but not just from the mainstream but also obscure underground groups that might never have gotten the attention they deserved. complex and sophisticated or plain and simple I'll take it just as long it's good.
I didnt care for his ceaseless grinding on bands he didn't like. I did enjoy when he spoke of bands he did like or waaa hen he got in fights with performers.
There was good music then, there is good music now. There was bad music then and there is bad music now, but in the 60s and earlier there was GREAT music. In my opinion,that was his point. I can't say I agree 100%. There is still great music today and there was great music in the 70s, but over time it became easier to find the bad stuff than the good stuff. Now there is plenty of good stuff but it is much lower key than the bad. With a few exceptions...
It's funny to watch this and think about how cynical this man was about music in the 70s, when I'm sure any one of us would have done terrible things to have grown up/experienced that era. In some ways, it was a musical golden age for popular music . . . compared to what's available now. DISCLAIMER: I am aware of the huge abundance of amazing music being produced now a days, but most of it is on the underground and wouldn't be able to make the same heights it might've been able to 30-40 years ago. I am also aware that today is a golden era in the sense that anyone can make and distribute music to the entire world for pretty much free.
I really think he would have like the indie/college rock scene of the 80's and 90's when rock music was deconstructed down by bands like R.E.M., Dinosaur Jr., My Bloody Valentine, and Pavement.
Bangs was a good writer, sometimes overplaying it, but he was no music "expert." He had opinions and comments that jumped out at you. That, and being in the right place at the right time are what launched him -- plus the fact that his essay-style of writing was different to what anyone else was doing. But some of his opinions can only be seen as that. E.g. Jethro Tull were never one of my favorite bands, but their songs were really interesting, sometimes moving, and their playing was exceptional vis-a-vis rock music. I sometimes wonder if he was more interested in being outrageous than accurate. I mean, he must've only liked 50% of what was released, if that. Back in the 70s, it was really a much higher percentage than that. You went to the record store and it killed you that you could only afford one or two albums. There was just gold in all the racks.
That ELP has a great level is a great truth, that they had no heart and soul is only a cuestion of taste very personal is like you believed in God or not....a pure esthetic position. The only function of these creatures (Rock critics) was heard his opinions...in 2020 absolutely ridiculous questions.
Correct, but for me it has made it much more fun and inspiring. I spent my early years with no formal training and sounded somewhat restricted during that time.
I don't always agree with his opinions, but I always found his writing to be both thought-provoking and interesting/entertaining. Also, Bangs played and recorded music in his lifetime. You don't have to go to Berklee to play music. Some of the best and most interesting musicians I've heard were not formally trained.
@alexlancer11 I think you're misunderstanding what he's saying. He loved their music and was really hoping for Roxy Music to tear the lid off of rock'n'roll. But when he met Bryan Ferry he realized that they guy behind it all was about all the wrong things and just didn't have it in him. At least according to Bangs. Ferry gave (and still does imho) the impression of being overly shallow. And so Roxy Music never hit their true potential.
If the lead guitarist or the drummer in every one of Lester bangs favorite bands were to die,,and were replaced with a clerk from Walmart,,, Nobody could tell the difference. That's why there are zero radio stations,,that have a "get the Buzzcocks out" weekend
@Electricshrock Totally agree. Nothing wrong with voicing your opinion in an articulate manner, like Roger Ebert does, but these first-gen rock critics were fucking assholes. I'm glad the internet has made "professional" critics almost irrelevant.
Perhaps the stupidest thing Bangs ever did was when he applied his "corporate rock" label to the band Boston. Bangs even went as far to say that Boston created "corporate rock". He used this term to imply that 70's super-groups like Pink Floyd, Styx, Boston, Fleetwood Mac, Kansas, Foreigner, etc were nothing but pawns of record corporations who cared nothing about the music they made. Granted their success did generate a lot of revenue for these record corporations, but none of these bands can be accused of being partners with their record companies. Anybody familiar with the history of the band Boston, knows how full of shit Bangs was because Boston founder Tom Scholz actually brought CBS Records to its knees with one of the most infamous lawsuits in rock n' roll. Until Scholz made his stand, all rock bands were treated like corporate slaves and expected to produce an album every 6 - 9 months and spend the rest of the time touring. Scholz's legal victory meant that bands could now take up to 2 years between successive albums. In reality, Boston was "anti-corporate" rock. If anything, Bangs' anger was mis-directed. In reality, he was angry at AOR radio stations, who would often play "entire albums" the day they were released. This meant the public could hear the album immediately and make-up their mind if they liked the music instead of having to rely on music critics to screen the albums for them. Thus, Boston's debut album became the fastest selling debut album in history despite the fact that music critics like Lester Bangs and Robert Christgau tried their best to discredit them. The fact that these bands were not indebted to these lame music critics for their huge success further enraged the critics who did their best to counter their success by ushering in the punk rock movement, which wasn't being embraced by AOR radio. Even today, Boston's "More Than A Feeling" and Kansas' "Carry On Wayward Son" are still popular songs that you hear on the radio all the time. I can't remember the last time I heard The Sex Pistols or Patty Smith. This is proof that critics like Bangs and Christgau are good for only one thing--their ability to criticize using derogatory sarcasm that some people thought was funny.
And even today there are people who listen to Boston songs and think that are pure crap. This is the proof that Lester Bands and Christgau opinion was valid.
Imagine what would he thinks about techno music in 90s "Its soulless trash without any emotions. But i like Prodigy. They brought punk attitude and energy and smash this sterile rock scene." Or grunge music - imagine him saying: "Pathetic. Really pathetic music." :)
Imagine what Lester Bangs would say about nowadays´ music... Hahaha... From dubstep to trap, from reggaeton to latin pop... from corporate hip-hop to American Idol... Hahaha... He would need to coin new words or terms to describe it all... Because they´ve all been surpassed with the decadence we suffer everyday...
i like all the music he likes. but i don't understand why you can't also dig a little bit of emerson lake and palmer. for example lucky man and from the beginning are sexy ballads.
Now I fully realize how good Philip Seymour Hoffman is in Almost Famous
The best UA-cam comment EVER!!!!!
I just watched Almost Famous again recently and agree 100%
Phillip Seymour Hoffman played him brilliantly in Almost Famous 🎶❤
but he was smaller than him. Lester Bangs was 6'1, Philip Seymour Hoffman was 5'6.
pinco palla who gives a shit?
@@themrchimpie Regardless, Hoffman became Bangs to the life while in role, feeling every bit as physically imposing and intense as Lester himself.
The voice is very similar.
@@nolanrandall4242 "Ig-gy _Pop!!!_ " Yes, PSH caught Lester in mid-flight like Audubon limning a hawk in a power dive.
ohh the fights he'd get into with Lou Reed! That mag was my bible through my teens and I loved Lester immensely.
Man those two did a lot of drugs
His opinions are timeless. He could be talking about the present in this interview. We need him now as much as we did then.
@DEEZ LIKES what's the deal, do you just copy and paste this lame joke to every comment you see? Cookie cutter.
the most generic comment on fcking youtube....ever
We need a Lester Bangs for everything, especially now...
“I’m always home, I’m uncool.” :)))
Phillip Seymour Hoffman played Lester Bangs in the movie Almost Famous perfectly. Phillip nailed it. My favorite movie!
Never imagined drug lord Pablo Escobar was that knowledgeable about rock music!!!
barrabasi Lol!
Hahahahahshs
Though I can only assume you knew Lester to have been that knowledgeable about coke, right?!
He does look like real life Pablo Escobar doesn't he? I think part of it is is that this was kind of happening around the time Pablo was building up that empire, and the clothes are all contemporary to the time. But more than that it's his face as well and the hair
@@dantean To say nothing, alas, of the off-label uses of Romilar(TM)...
God Bless Lester Bangs! This clip shows why he was so great. No journalists, critics, reviewers or "reporters"(especially on those horrid entertainment/gossip shows) would ever talk about musicians or actors so honestly like that today. No, they're too busy kissing their asses!!!
Lester bangs was a shitbag
NyQuil did to him what the rest of us were thinking
@DEEZ LIKES you're a well known adjective that describes two grown men who love each other very, very much.
@@BigSmoke-bu6ib excellent!
I wonder what Lester Bangs would think about music in 2023, especially 'rock music'?
Lester Bangs nailing the Philip Seymour Hoffman impersonation! Amazing...
We need another Lester Bangs.
We do. Anthony Fantano
@@Sangrialol no. Fantano seems like a nice enough guy but he seems barely qualified to do what he does. He also doesn’t have the edge and vision of Bangs; just a lukewarm UA-camr
@@SangriaNah
I urge everyone to read Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung.
Lester's writing is a huge influence on me.
Lester and Hunter S Thompson two of my favourite writers 🇬🇧.
"'Cause we are uncool."
His comments on Bryan Ferry!
Scathing
I always though the clothes were supposed to be just part of the aesthetic I could totally see him not being into most of the rockstar shit at the time. I mean hell, he’s still alive so he surely didn’t get too lost in the sauce
I wish he had made it to see Rap, Hardcore Punk and Grunge take over the 80s. Or Bubblegum Pop. Man, just heartbreaking thst he couldn't make it out. Truly a visionary!
He did review some hardcore punk. He wasn't impressed (surprised?). He did like the Circle Jerks and...the Exploited (!!). He also took Jello Biafra down a notch (who's such a pompous egomaniac, he needs it!) in an article.
I think (just based on his writings I've read) he may have been receptive to some rap but would've likely loathed grunge.
@@brandonhendrix7223 did he like Damaged? Cristigau knew good enough to praise that album...
@@mariecruze259 I don't know. Bangs didn't have much good to say about Black Flag, so I doubt it.
@@mariecruze259 Christgau is my least favorite rock writer. Anyone who calls himself "the dean" and grades albums like a teacher is a schmuck in my book. He trashed the Cramps too. So screw him.
@@brandonhendrix7223 trashed the Cramps? Oh hell no lol...I suppose it could be funny though...the rockabilly Era happened when he was young...so trashing rockabilly revivalism would make for a good joke
I love Lester. I wish he was here.
Early 1970s. Incredible music is pouring out of the UK glam rock scene with T-Rex, David Bowie and many others. More incredible music is pouring out of the Detroit garage rock scene with The MC5, The Stooges and Alice Cooper inventing the blueprint for punk. Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath are shaping the future of heavy metal, Pink Floyd and King Crimson are pushing the boundaries of progressive rock. The Grateful Dead are defying categorisation to evolve rock 'n' roll into something uniquely wonderful. Rock 'n' roll as a whole has never been more diverse, vibrant and exciting.
Lester Bangs: "Nothing has happened."
He was "that guy," that's why. There's always "that guy." :D
I think that’s utter nonsense. The greatful dead were trash that just put out bootleg after bootleg and record after record of just them jamming to their stoned contention, for their stoned fans who followed them around due to A) being too high to function, and B) being baby boomers with absolute shit taste in music. Iggy tore up that world, and was not given any recognition, as Lou Reed was doing the same thing with the Velvets. Emerson Lake and Palmer were playing music no kid could emulate in their garage band, as was King Crimson and everyone else. Prog was bloated, it was self fellating, and self obsessed, and ultimately and thankful creating the foundation for punk rock in all its reactionary fervor. Led Zeppelin was nothing revolutionary, and T Rex and the same bloated glam scene had overstayed their welcome and produced nothing of note to begin with. Stairway to heaven is one of the worst songs ever made right alongside hotel California. Just boomer platitudes in corporate rock form. Roxy Music and Brian Eno were gods, but the self obsessed vapor and decadent aspect they brought with them made sure their music would be short lived and there ability to produce reflective of that. Punk came into the scene, shone brilliantly and then died in the same fashion. It became a parody of itself in the same way glam and prog and rock music had done. To take away anything Bangs says here is ridiculous, he was spot on and did it in tradition Lester Bangs fashion. It ain’t the summer of love as the imperial dogs said in ‘74, and thank god we’re finally getting far enough away from that time period of liberal hippie drivel that’s dominated our culture for the last half century. Good riddance.
Emerson Lake & Palmer needed to fall on their sword in order for there to ever be a punk scene. Bangs provided them the sword. Next thing you know, we’re all in for The Ramones and Dead Kennedys. The 80s came along and coke was everywhere.
@@DiamorphineDeath Sooo, what are you listening to these days ?
@@DiamorphineDeath Nothing good came out of punk, zip, nada.
VU and The Stooges are the two undisputed worst bands of all time and were objectively the worst thing to ever happen to music, that is a fact, anyone who doesn't accept it is a fool.
One can only wonder what Lester would think of today’s music. He probably would say, “modern country is for people who couldn’t make it in rock”.
"...and that was two years ago..." Maybe it was Peter Frampton, who fizzled out due to a bad artistic choice but who looked like the next hero for awhile.
Why Lester Bangs was so important as a rock critic is that he did not write to be agreeable, he wrote what he found entertaining to him, and his writing, while occasionally a mixed bag, was frequently brilliant and incisive. Even if I didn't agree with him, I always wanted to know what he had to say, then formed my own opinion. Lester would make you _think_ about his subjects.
@kenneth cloward we know you are
Dead for 40 years and still pissing off people. Amazing.
C’mon Lester. Stop sugar coating it. 😆
I like Lester as an icon but disagree with virtually everything he says. If he were here today he’d look back and see how enormous the 70s were. It’s difficult to see from within the boundaries but retrospect shows the giant that it truly was.
I agree. However, you could see the enormity of rock at the time it was happening. What has been so shocking is that it died in a manner we never saw coming and is now a carcass that the occasional band tries on, usually with limited success. The 70s were fantastic and entertaining and a high-water mark for rock.
I think you couldn't possibly be anything but nearsighted while it's actually happening. Every decade had its detractors, yet no one has really managed to capture the essence of a decade while it's still ongoing. The final analysis comes years, perhaps even decades later, and it's never done by a single person.
Lester strikes me as a guy disappointed in where things seemed to be headed. But a decade is never one thing, one trend, one genre. As bashed as the 80s has been, it still gave us the college radio revolution that set the stage for the ultimate triumph of punk rock in 1991. Were there also a lot of dreck? Of course. There always is. But why focus on that?
@@hackapump “the ultimate triumph of punk rock in 1991”
You mean when it became commercialized and watered down for a mass audience?
@@katmd03 No.
The best things of the 70s were The Clash, the Ramones, Suicide, the Dolls, The Cars, and Iggy Pop. Some things did happen, but not much.
What I would not give to discuss music with him....I am sure we would agree and argue and it would be most fun.
CREEM = Punk magazine before Punk magazine.
This guy's favorite record is Astral Weeks, so the least I can do is listen to what he has to say.
Frijolero18 great pic for favorite record
@@ceejay1794It took me four decades before I first heard “Madame George” and I was way too late.
Even though I absolutely love the bands he's ripping into here, I still think what he had to say was valid.
No, this guy is ripped off speed and it's easy to judge everything when you've not accomplished a third of what the bands that this guy judges has lol. Just because PSH played him in a movie doesn't mean this guy has any reverence. His opinion is outdated and drug fueled chatter. But people who feel that their opinions matter and that everything is stupid like him.
@@joesmith2124 You’re so wrong
@@curly_wyn You're stupid, go out into the world and hate everything thinking that everything you think and feel is truth.
@@joesmith2124 Except Bangs actually made good points. Like with Beatlemania resurfacing in 1981 after John Lennon was killed. He pointed out that nothing great was happening at that point and people were desperate for a group to look up to, especially with living in the past for bands that seem the most familiar to us. Nostalgia can be a very toxic thing, and people have found out that you can make billions off of it.
@@curly_wyn What he says isn't fact, it's merely his opinion. You choose to deify him.
"music sterility at its pinnacle" ahhhh you never lived to see technical death metal
Phillip Seymour Hoffman did an excellent job portraying him. Nailed the voice.
I wanna be a music journalist because of this guy!!! I love talking music 😊
Phillip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of Bangs was SPOT ON.
This is because music of all forms saw a splintering going into the 70's. The -isms that gave such stars a position started fading out in favor of a more individualized approach. Instead of one catch-all aspiration we have a collective of groups that grew more varied as time went on. The search for individual sounds in the late 60's was certainly a key factor in this. Parallel to this, almost anyone who could be considered a star since didn't carry that same sense of purpose.
Bangs cared enough about music to hate those who were destroying it. He assailed people who were nothing more than actors with guitars, jestering. They often were nothing more than cliche sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll acts. Talent without passion and authenticity would get you nowhere with him.
He died of accidental overdose not too long after this, no shit he didn't go on reviewing music. That's the dumbest point I've ever seen anyone try to make.
miss you Lester!
My God he could pass for Pablo Escobar's double. FN uncanny.
All music journalists are frustrated rock stars . Lester Bangs was no different . He did get one thing right though : Astral Weeks is indeed faultless .
He's correct. I dig this guy he knows what he is talking about.
Cue endless stream of butthurt comments because people confuse what they enjoyed in their youth with quality as opposed to "fun"! It's perfectly OK to enjoy shlock, but never pretend it's not shlock. Bangs was important in spreading awareness of good and great bands before the internet. The internet has been around so long few remember how musical awareness spread before it.
When I heard Tommy by the who with a candle I saw my future and I want to be a journalist and interview rock bands like William in “Almost Famous” and it gave me an opportunity to watch the movie every day for the rest of my life. #AlmostFamousMovie #Movies2000s
My man hated prog rock, which is eternally to his credit
1:14. Perfectly sums up ELP and other bands like em
When you think about rock in general what comes to mind? A music of teen rebellion or a music that can be melded with other influences?
The answer is both. Rock is quite multifaceted than what most can expect from it.
Damn good writer.
I'd pay good money to hear lester's thoughts on music right now...... all you ever hear is how great music is, I dont think its ever been worse. vacuous , heard it before crap.
Lester was a great writer. RIP.
He was amazing.
What he says about ELP, I think the same thing about Rush.
Gerald O'Brien me too, and I’ve seen both. Soulless, good word
so true....FM dogshit
Funny that's what I think about The Beatles, objectively the worst band of all time.
@deadvoguestar He held whatever opinion he thought was edgy at the time. He was a tryhard edgelord.
@@kingboobs20 I agree with you about the Beatles, very overrated
All critics love The Stooges and The Ramones,its compulsory apparently.
Listen to Bryan Ferry, " Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" . You will see what Ferry is really about, Supremely Talented.
I miss Lester Bangs. He told it how he saw it, and I mostly agreed with him. Oh for the days when Creem and Circus were the two solid rock magazines.
Everyone’s crazy except me. I have much more serious issues to contend with. I wish he had lived. It’s like he felt obligated because the alternative sucked. Great writer.
And then punk rock happened.
another shit scam
Lester Bangs loved The Exploited.
"Happened?!" Punk "happened" to precisely the extent that any other loser clown bullshit "happens." The punks spent all their time demanding the rest of us notice their "shocking" hair styles (already done), anti-corporate attitude (ooh, fresh!), and preparedness to burn their draft cards under the circumstances of no one actually they go out and die for your countries. If there was anything more original about "punk" than farting in one's own oatmeal it has yet to be discovered.
@@dantean MUSIC. Not the fashion. You twat, we are talking about music.
@@dantean 45 years later Punk still carries the torch of Rock and Roll. Or do you prefer the sham that is Foo Fighters?
If this is 70's his finger is spectacularly off the pulse isn't it. Bangs showed everyone that being able to write well, is very different from having an opinion worth listening to
What was he wrong about? Pretentious prog bands were bad.
@yinoveryang
Bravo, Thank You for that. Lester Bangs was a stupid contrarian just for the sake of being so, he was a dimwit loser who had very little judgement when it came to valid criticism.
Huh? Lester *was* the pulse.
Lester didnt live long enough to have any true objectivity. Critics right in the thick of their industry, be it music or movies, are just a cog in that industry. The ones with past & future vision, removed objective context, those are the most genuine. Some of Lester's opinions dont hold up at all this far out.
God, I miss his honesty
God, all the people with the bland 'critics are parasites' comments here. It's such an anodyne observation from people who don't have the personality or critical thinking to construct an original comment. Say what you like about the guy, at least try to be original about it (if you can that is). He was a writer and he was good at writing. That was his thing. What thing do people have round here, apart from writing half-assed generically illiterate comments under UA-cam videos?
It takes the box tops less than 2 minutes to accomplish what jethro Tull HOURS to NOT ACCOMPLISH 😂
The 70's. Nothing's happened? So there was this band from down under. Sydney, Australia. AC/DC. You might have heard of them.
In my opinion they are the epitome of a rock band.
No pretentious bullshit, no ballads, just down and dirty, ball busting, testosterone fueled rock music.
Which fucking sucks. It’s good for drunken fights at your local dive bar, and that’s about it. AC/DC is extremely overrated.
As someone who loves prog-rock, I totally agree with him on ELP. One of the biggest musical disappointments of my life.
The 1970s were probably the best decade for music although the more I look into that period, the more disappointed I get and can see eye to eye with Bangs. The youth movement of the late 60s was probably the last ground up movement that pushed it's way into the mainstream, some of its residue leaking into the 70s. However, the 70s were increasingly being plagued with the main problem people have with modern music, the music industry. If it wasn't vapid disco or baroque pop clogging the top charts, it was vapid "rockstars, carrying the torch" from the original groups in the 60s, it's just that most of them were missing an identity or a point. Note that I say top charts, as in, not encompassing everything at the time. In modern times we tend to filter out the best from the past, often stuff that was ahead of its time and did not make the charts, but that's normal. Of course there was the punk movement which was ground up but that wasn't nearly as influential as the 60s youth movement, nor did it carry the numbers to make it's way into the mainstream. Two different realms of music are traditional music and popular. Traditional is ground up and dances around/ projects to a certain idea, popular has the only point of making money. It's not 100% scrupulous but as we head further and further through time, you will have to sell out to the popular route, not the traditional. You have to be someone who wants to be a "star" and have a strong identity whilst not actually saying anything and make a lot of money. The 70s just seems like the decade that sealed the deal for that cancer.
and now we have almost no music industry. is it better yet? have these glorious grassroots movements spawned your afflatus?
Well....everything you just wrote can be applied to how Hip Hop music was basically destroyed by the mid 2000s. It is finally unrecognizable and completely cut off from its artistic/spiritual roots. Its fascinating to see an artform from your era of youth disappear. Inevitably you are looking back on your life. In a radio podcast last year, De La Soul was asked by some (Gen X) fans why hip hop sucks so much now, and they said "Look....you guys grew up, finished college, got jobs, brought home, started raising families and STOPPED buying music as much. You left!"
This was filmed in 1972, and yet Lester does mention Led Zeppelin, or seem to consider them an important band, when they were easily the biggest band in the world.
glorified cover band
Anywhere we can find the full interview?
People like Lester Bangs are needed now more than ever, because if all we’re surrounding an artist with is yes-people, we’re gonna get pretty shit art.
Facts.
Wow! I did not know that Lester Bangs was Pablo Escobar's identical twin.
He makes ELP sound way cooler than what they were.
I wish this full interview was available somewhere. He was on the mark more often than not. Dave Marsh never came close to him.
Lester Claypool, you are the cutest actor.
I was a huge emerson ,lake and palmer fan back then and in looking back he wasn't wrong, as he said of keith emerson, trained fingers might as well be trained seals if there's not a mind behind it.
How in the world is ELP sterile? I understand bangs didn't like progressive rock because it did not fit his idea of how rock should be, but it was anything but sterile. To me on the other hand I really like because it's different.
Their sound is easily one of the whitest ever recorded and is a jam band that doesn't jam in any real interconnected sense. Just a bunch of different solos.
Well other than progressive rock I do listen tho things like psychedelic rock, hard rock & heavy metal, glam rock, post-punk and a little bit of new wave, folk rock, jazz fusion. Plus I'm always buying albums but not just from the mainstream but also obscure underground groups that might never have gotten the attention they deserved. complex and sophisticated or plain and simple I'll take it just as long it's good.
Hey Josh, I agree with your point of view...nice man!
The bunny rabbit story 😆Philip Seymour Hoffman nailed this impression.
I didnt care for his ceaseless grinding on bands he didn't like. I did enjoy when he spoke of bands he did like or waaa hen he got in fights with performers.
Such a mood
Two words... Rolling Stones. 😍
Pavement deserves to be on any list that is interested in discussing the 'Best' music of the 90's.
There was good music then, there is good music now. There was bad music then and there is bad music now, but in the 60s and earlier there was GREAT music. In my opinion,that was his point. I can't say I agree 100%.
There is still great music today and there was great music in the 70s, but over time it became easier to find the bad stuff than the good stuff. Now there is plenty of good stuff but it is much lower key than the bad. With a few exceptions...
It's funny to watch this and think about how cynical this man was about music in the 70s, when I'm sure any one of us would have done terrible things to have grown up/experienced that era. In some ways, it was a musical golden age for popular music . . . compared to what's available now.
DISCLAIMER: I am aware of the huge abundance of amazing music being produced now a days, but most of it is on the underground and wouldn't be able to make the same heights it might've been able to 30-40 years ago. I am also aware that today is a golden era in the sense that anyone can make and distribute music to the entire world for pretty much free.
Great post.
Very insightful!
I really think he would have like the indie/college rock scene of the 80's and 90's when rock music was deconstructed down by bands like R.E.M., Dinosaur Jr., My Bloody Valentine, and Pavement.
after viewing this i praise philip seymour hoffman's portrayal of him in almost famous lol it was spot on.
"Musical sterility..." Love it!
Phillip Seymour Hoffman did his homework.
Bangs was a good writer, sometimes overplaying it, but he was no music "expert." He had opinions and comments that jumped out at you. That, and being in the right place at the right time are what launched him -- plus the fact that his essay-style of writing was different to what anyone else was doing. But some of his opinions can only be seen as that. E.g. Jethro Tull were never one of my favorite bands, but their songs were really interesting, sometimes moving, and their playing was exceptional vis-a-vis rock music. I sometimes wonder if he was more interested in being outrageous than accurate. I mean, he must've only liked 50% of what was released, if that. Back in the 70s, it was really a much higher percentage than that. You went to the record store and it killed you that you could only afford one or two albums. There was just gold in all the racks.
Jethro Tull sucks.
ELP were great on a technical level but it is true their music had no heart or soul.
Athletes, not artists. But I do like Brain Salad Surgery, and their live album.
That ELP has a great level is a great truth, that they had no heart and soul is only a cuestion of taste very personal is like you believed in God or not....a pure esthetic position. The only function of these creatures (Rock critics) was heard his opinions...in 2020 absolutely ridiculous questions.
His writings show that he was much more of a snob/bore than any of the musicians that he criticized.
David DeQuasie
He's punk rock. He doesn't give a shit if you think he's a snob. You're probably a talentless hack.
Yeah, I went to Berklee and have been able to play and teach music for a living since 1985. Lester would have hated me.
Correct, but for me it has made it much more fun and inspiring. I spent my early years with no formal training and sounded somewhat restricted during that time.
I don't always agree with his opinions, but I always found his writing to be both thought-provoking and interesting/entertaining. Also, Bangs played and recorded music in his lifetime. You don't have to go to Berklee to play music. Some of the best and most interesting musicians I've heard were not formally trained.
"I went to Berklee" No one cares. You sound like an old burnout hippie
@alexlancer11 I think you're misunderstanding what he's saying. He loved their music and was really hoping for Roxy Music to tear the lid off of rock'n'roll. But when he met Bryan Ferry he realized that they guy behind it all was about all the wrong things and just didn't have it in him. At least according to Bangs. Ferry gave (and still does imho) the impression of being overly shallow. And so Roxy Music never hit their true potential.
Emerson Lake and Palmer....musical sterility. LMAO
This is the most agreeable thing he said in these clips.
Rock critics ..musical sterility...steril literature.
First album was decent enough. Besides that, Lake should have stayed in King Crimson
Truth hurts.
The same thing in the 70`s, the same thing now.
PSH did this guy justice
Nirvana and Pantera happened in the 90's
If the lead guitarist or the drummer in every one of Lester bangs favorite bands were to die,,and were replaced with a clerk from Walmart,,,
Nobody could tell the difference. That's why there are zero radio stations,,that have a "get the Buzzcocks out" weekend
I like Pavement, particularly the early stuff but my subjective tastes have moved largely toward drone and noise the past few years.
LED ZEPPELIN WAS THE 1970'S! - LESTER MISSED THAT PART! I THINK BANGS WAS RIGHT ABOUT SO MUCH AS TO MUSIC AND CULTURE!
@Electricshrock Totally agree. Nothing wrong with voicing your opinion in an articulate manner, like Roger Ebert does, but these first-gen rock critics were fucking assholes. I'm glad the internet has made "professional" critics almost irrelevant.
Thanks for sharing this.
Perhaps the stupidest thing Bangs ever did was when he applied his "corporate rock" label to the band Boston. Bangs even went as far to say that Boston created "corporate rock". He used this term to imply that 70's super-groups like Pink Floyd, Styx, Boston, Fleetwood Mac, Kansas, Foreigner, etc were nothing but pawns of record corporations who cared nothing about the music they made. Granted their success did generate a lot of revenue for these record corporations, but none of these bands can be accused of being partners with their record companies.
Anybody familiar with the history of the band Boston, knows how full of shit Bangs was because Boston founder Tom Scholz actually brought CBS Records to its knees with one of the most infamous lawsuits in rock n' roll. Until Scholz made his stand, all rock bands were treated like corporate slaves and expected to produce an album every 6 - 9 months and spend the rest of the time touring. Scholz's legal victory meant that bands could now take up to 2 years between successive albums. In reality, Boston was "anti-corporate" rock.
If anything, Bangs' anger was mis-directed. In reality, he was angry at AOR radio stations, who would often play "entire albums" the day they were released. This meant the public could hear the album immediately and make-up their mind if they liked the music instead of having to rely on music critics to screen the albums for them. Thus, Boston's debut album became the fastest selling debut album in history despite the fact that music critics like Lester Bangs and Robert Christgau tried their best to discredit them. The fact that these bands were not indebted to these lame music critics for their huge success further enraged the critics who did their best to counter their success by ushering in the punk rock movement, which wasn't being embraced by AOR radio.
Even today, Boston's "More Than A Feeling" and Kansas' "Carry On Wayward Son" are still popular songs that you hear on the radio all the time. I can't remember the last time I heard The Sex Pistols or Patty Smith. This is proof that critics like Bangs and Christgau are good for only one thing--their ability to criticize using derogatory sarcasm that some people thought was funny.
And even today there are people who listen to Boston songs and think that are pure crap. This is the proof that Lester Bands and Christgau opinion was valid.
I always liked a band that has some kind of inventiveness to them. Being basic can be good at first but if it's done too much it gets rather boring.
@@Sciakka91 Yeah and there are still people who like Nickelback, and they have more taste than punk fans.
What a meaningless word salad novel of a comment you just made.
Imagine what would he thinks about techno music in 90s "Its soulless trash without any emotions. But i like Prodigy. They brought punk attitude and energy and smash this sterile rock scene." Or grunge music - imagine him saying: "Pathetic. Really pathetic music." :)
Imagine what Lester Bangs would say about nowadays´ music... Hahaha... From dubstep to trap, from reggaeton to latin pop... from corporate hip-hop to American Idol... Hahaha... He would need to coin new words or terms to describe it all... Because they´ve all been surpassed with the decadence we suffer everyday...
Cocaines a hell of a drug.
i like all the music he likes. but i don't understand why you can't also dig a little bit of emerson lake and palmer. for example lucky man and from the beginning are sexy ballads.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman was spot on