Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung

September 30, 1987
Until his death in 1982 at age 34, Bangs wrote freewheeling rock 'n' roll pieces for Creem, Rolling Stone, the Village Voice and London's NME (New Musical Express. As a rock critic, he was adept at distinguishing the commercially packaged product from the real thing. Written in a conversational, wisecracking, erotically charged style, his impudent reviews and essays explore the connections between rock and the body politic, the way rock stars cow their audiences and how the pursuit of success and artistic vision destroys or makes rock performers as human beings. This collection (which includes no Rolling Stone pieces) covers "fake moneybags revolutionary'' Mick Jagger, John Lennon (``I can't mourn him''), David Bowie ``in Afro-Anglican drag,'' Iggy Pop, the Troggs, Lou Reed, Van Morrison, Chicago, the Clash, many more. Marcus, a music critic, is the author of Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music.