Quotessence
Home / Authors / Lester Bangs
Lester Bangs

Lester Bangs Quotes

Journalist

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsRocksThinkingRock N RollWayArtMeanFirstsFormKnowsMayReasonWritingAnswersCareFeelsHeroHumansI CanMen

Famous Lester Bangs Quotes

“... the twin concepts of nihilism and the antihero have had it. What began with The Wild One and James "nobody understands me" Dean, ran with increasing vehement negativism up through the Stones and Velvets and Iggy ... [I]t may be time, in spite of all indications to the contrary from the exterior society, to begin thinking in terms of heroes again, of love instead of hate, of energy instead of violence, of strength instead of cruelty, of action instead of reaction.”

ThinkingMayActionHateEnergyTermViolenceHeroConceptsStonesContraryReactionsCrueltyRanSpiteTwinsNihilismIndicationDeanVelvetExteriorUnderstand MeVehementAntiheroesWild OneNobody Understands Me
Author:Lester Bangs
Create image

“Sexual chaos reigns currently, but out of chaos may flow true understanding and harmony, and either way Elvis almost singlehandedly opened the floodgates.”

WayMayUnderstandingFlowHarmonyChaosReignTrue Understanding
Book:Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung: The Work of a Legendary Critic: Rock'N'Roll as Literature and Literature as Rock 'N'Roll
Create image

“Personally I feel that real rock 'n' roll may be on the way out, just like adolescence as a relatively innocent transitional period is on the way out. What we have instead is a small island of new free music surrounded by some good reworkings of past idioms and a vast sargasso sea of absolute garbage.”

WayFeelsMayRealPastSeaRocksPeriodsAbsolutesInnocentIslandsRock N RollAdolescenceGarbageIdiomFree Music
Book:Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung: The Work of a Legendary Critic: Rock'N'Roll as Literature and Literature as Rock 'N'Roll
Create image

“Look at it this way: There are many here among us for whom the life force is best represented by the livid twitching of one tortured nerve, or even a full-scale anxiety attack. I do not subscribe to this point of view 100 percent, but I understand it, have lived it. Thus the shriek, the caterwaul, the chainsaw gnarlgnashing, the yowl and the whizz that decapitates may be reheard by the adventurous or emotionally damaged as mellifluous bursts of unarguable affirmation.”

WayLooksMayForceViewsAnxietyPercentPoint Of ViewScalesNervesAffirmationAdventurousChainsawTwitchingAnxiety Attacks
Author:Lester Bangs
Create image