Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung

The Work of a Legendary Critic: Rock 'N' Roll as Literature and Literature as Rock 'N' Roll

Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung contains the wild and brilliant writings of Lester Bangs—the most outrageous and popular rock critic of the 1970s—edited and with an introduction by the reigning dean of rock critics, Greil Marcus.

©1987 By the estate of Lester Bangs. Introduction copyright © by Greil Marcus. Many of the essays in this work were originally published in Creem. Copyright © 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1986 by Creem. Reprinted by permission (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

He Bangs! He Bangs!

This audiobook version of the mythical text is amazing! Ramiz Monsef did a wonderful job, I particularly appreciated the different voices. If you are a fan of the print version this is a great compliment, or if you are interested in classic rock and want to hear some great takes on it. If there is a gripe at all, I really wish the chapters were labeled the name of the article instead of just “Chapter 23” and so on.

Has not aged well

I read this book when I found it in a sale rack back in the early 90s and some parts are still quite funny (my favorite chapter is Ch 25 in this audiobook on Kraftwerk, also the tribute to Peter Laughner from Père Ubu), but Bangs’ writing style is often bloviating and all over the map. I think this book works better in print where you can skip the dross.