Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung: The Work of a Legendary Critic: Rock 'n' Roll as Literature and Literature as Rock 'n' Roll (1987)

Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung: The Work of a Legendary Critic: Rock 'n' Roll as Literature and Literature as Rock 'n' Roll is a collection of essays written by rock music critic Lester Bangs. Named for a 1971 article of the same title, it was edited by Greil Marcus and released in 1987, five years after Bangs' death. In his introduction, Marcus explains that, "Perhaps what this book demands from a reader is a willingness to accept that the best writer in America could write almost nothing but record reviews."

The book consists mainly of Bangs' published articles, beginning with his early work for Creem magazine before moving into his later writings as a freelancer for New Musical Express and other publications. Many of his most famous works are present, including the title piece on garage rock band the Count Five and the Troggs-inspired "James Taylor Marked for Death" from his earlier career as well as an acclaimed profile of the Clash and a tribute to Van Morrison's album Astral Weeks from his later years. One chapter of the book is devoted entirely to Bangs' infamous series of interviews with Lou Reed, including "Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves," while another chapter features unpublished essays and an unfinished novel excerpt, "Maggie May".

Contents

I. Two Testaments

Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung: A Tale of These Times

Astral Weeks

II. Blowing It Up

Of Pop and Pies and Fun: A Program for Mass Liberation in the Form of a Stooges Review, or, Who's the Fool?

James Taylor Marked for Death

Do the Godz Speak Esperanto?

III. Creemwork--Frauds, Failures, and Fantasies

Chicago at Carnegie Hall, Volumes I, II, III, & IV

Black Oak Arkansas: Keep the Faith

White Witch

John Coltrane Lives

The Guess Who: Live at the Paramount

James Taylor: One Man Dog

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, or, The Day the Airwaves Erupted

Jethro Tull in Vietnam

Screwing the System with Dick Clark

Slade: Sladest

My Night of Ecstasy with the J. Geils Band

Johnny Ray's Better Whirlpool

Barry White: Just Another Way to Say I Love You

Kraftwerkfeature

David Bowie: Station to Station

IV. Slaying the Father

from Untitled Notes on Lou Reed

Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves, or, How I Slugged It Out with Lou Reed and Stayed Awake

How to Succeed in Torture without Really Trying, or, Louie Come Home, All is Forgiven

The Greatest Album Ever Made from Untitled Notes on Lou Reed

V. Slaying the Children, Burying the Dead, Signs of Life

Iggy Pop: Blowtorch in Bondage

I Saw God and/or Tangerine Dream

Where Were You When Elvis Died?

Peter Laughner

The Clash

Richard Hell: Death Means Never Having to Say You're Incomplete

Growing Up True Is Hard to Do

The White Noise Supremacists

Sham 69 is Innocent!

New Year's Eve

Otis Rush Mugged by an Iceberg

Thinking the Unthinkable About John Lennon

A Reasonable Guide to Horrible Noise

VI. Unpublishable

Fragments from Notes on PiL's Metal Box from "All My Friends are Hermits"

Review of Peter Guralnick's Lost Highway: Journeys & Arrivals of American Musicians from Notes for Review of Peter Guralnick's Lost Highway from "The Scorn Papers"

from "Women on Top: Ten Post-Lib Role Models for the Eighties," a book proposal from "Maggie May"

VII. Untitled

from Untitled Notes