Lester Bangs

Lester Bangs never won a competitive award, never had a hit record, and never saw his name on a magazine cover. What he had was influence. The New Yorker called him the most advanced and authentic writer on rock of his generation. Jim DeRogatis called him America's greatest rock critic. His collected work, Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, edited by Greil Marcus, has stayed in print since 1987, and his essays on Van Morrison's Astral Weeks and the Ramones are still anthologized. His legend lives on in music, movies, and books, and his voice remains a standard for anyone who takes rock seriously.