Theres actually a great book by Jim deRogatis about Lester Bangs called "Let It Blurt - The Life and Times of Lester Bangs" from Bloomsbury Books. Deals with everyone from that generation and lists a few writers, great read.

There's a guy who used to write for the NME; Nick Kent, I think, who's supposed to be a bit of a larf. Apparently, he was the guy who told yer man from the Manics that he wasn't 'for real' (hence the razorblade slashing incident). Then again, I've never read him.

sam snort might not have a job in the greatest music publication ever, but he's a good read in fairness.

Cheers for all the names thrown in. I actually knew about that 'Let It Blurt' book and am going to check in Waterstones tomorrow morning to get it. I'm currently reading 'Psychotic Reactions And Carburetor Dung' by Lester Bangs.

Nick Hornby's '31 Songs' features some great music writing. I hadn't heard much of the stuff he was talking about and he has real conservative taste but it made me want to listen to all the music and hear what he was talking about. That's gotta be the mark of good writer if you ask me.

Yeah I have '31 Songs', an interesting read. I also have the soundtrack with those songs. Nick Hornby is a superb writer.

I thought Mark Godfrey's article on Rock Critics was excellent with a capital E but I would like to go on to make the point that the type of writing he is talking about is essentially redundant. As rock music etc developed as a cultural form, both the overwrought short form prose and critical posing of scribes such as Bangs etc was replaced with book length writing by far more gifted authors such as Peter Guralnick. This new breed of rock scribes sought not to give opinions on individual records or artistic phases but rather set out sought to explore and portray popular music within a larger historical context. A number of contempary bestsellers in this regard are the following books. John Harris 'The Last Party' Simon Napier Bell 'Black Vinyl - White Powder' Peter Doggett 'Are You Ready For The Country' Ronin Ro 'Have Gun Will Travel' Frederic Dannen 'Hit Men' Michael Azerrad 'Our Band Could Be Your Life' Peter Guralnick 'Feel Like Going Home: Portraits in Blues and Rock 'n' Roll' In these books, flowery obscure flights of language gave way to clean, sharp journalistic prose and wilfully dense critical postures gave way to terse, sharp story telling. I recently took both John Harris' 'the last party' and 'Stranded' edited by Greil Marcus on my summer hols and I can tell you that Harris' wonderful account of both the rise of New Labour and the creation of Britpop won hands down over rubbishy essays by Marcus, Bangs, Christgau, Tosches, Maslin and Marsh etc about their favourite desert island discs. Yes, Lester Bangs did have a love/hate relationship with Lou Reed but Reed, a writer of genius and a former student of literature had a hate/hate relationship with Bangs. The film 'Almost Famous' which contains a fond portrait of Bangs is also subliminally critical of his solitary life alone with his record collection and seems to suggest that, if he had done what the embryonic Cameron Crowe had done instead, go out on the road with a real band and live life to the full, he might have been a far greater writer. Anyway, Mark Godfrey's overview of rock critics deserves to be in the company of the new breed, Way to go Mark.

Have to take issue with the depiction of Lester Bangs you see in Almost Famous. If you're writing music criticism for the general reader sitting at home wondering what album to buy next then surely it's better to be in a similar position to them. How can they connect with your words if you're talking about hanging out backstage with rock stars, or jetting around the world to interview them in five star hotels? It's essentially the journalistic equivilent of the rock band losing the identification of their audience. Morrissey, for example, was one person who many people now aged 25-40 felt they had a connection with. When he sang about being lonely, misunderstood, etc you could appreciate what he was talking about and he felt like a contemporary. Now when he talks about losing court cases and the solitude of a hermit's life in LA the connection is gone, because he's leading a life very few of us know or understand.

Just got 'Let It Blurt' by Jim DeRogatis. Read first two chapters on bus home, good so far. I'm turning into a big Lester Bangs fan now. About halfway through 'Psychotic Reactions And Carburetor Dung'. And also bought 'Milk It' by Jim DeRogatis. Cheers for all the recommendations. Any good biographies out there on musicians? I have an excellent one about Steve Earle called 'The Life And Near Death Of Steve Earle'. And I've always wanted to get 'Cash' by Johnny Cash.

Cheers. Can always count on the Rev. Might look into that Lou Reed one. Also want to get one about Robert Johnson. The biographies/autobiographies I have are of Steve Earle, Che Guevara, Michael Collins & Eammon DeValera, Stephen King, Ian Wright, Niall Quinn, Roy Keane. But have loads of books to get me through until xmas at least.

While it's not strictly rock journalism, I'd say anything by anything by Hunter S Thompson would qualify as the kind of blistering writing we should find in rock magazines. His 'gonzo journalism' musings (well, ravings, more like) on George W in his autobiography 'Kingdom of Fear' make Michael Moore seem like a limp, toothless commentator. For example, when did you ever here Moore refer to the Iraq war as 'the mass murder of brown-skinned people in the name of Jesus and America'? With rock journalism, it's that courage to really nail your colours to the wall that's missing, I reckon.

Hunter S Thompson is a legend! I love that 'Gonzo' style where he just lets rip with a stream of consciousness - he's had a mad life too which makes his writing all the more fascinating.

yer right there dromed, i mean, fear and loathin is a fookin true story!!the man is a true survivor, someone for all the kids to aspire to!

Favourite music journalist Alexis Petridis who writes for The Guardian

Got a good book there for €4.99. Its called 'Lost In Music' by Giles Smith. Only started it but its good so far.