Text and drugs and rock 'n' roll : the Beats and rock culture /
Warner, Simon,1956-
London : Bloomsbury,
2013.
Text and Drugs and Rock'n'Roll explores the interaction between two of the most powerful socio-cultural movements in the post-war years - the literary forces of the Beat Generation and the musical energies of rock and its attendant culture.Simon Warner examines the interweaving strands, seeded by the poet/novelists Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and others in the 1940s and 1950s, and cultivated by most of the major rock figures who emerged after 1960 - Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Bowie, the Clash and Kurt Cobain, to name just a few.This fascinating cultural history delves into a wide range of issues: Was rock culture the natural heir to the activities of the Beats? Were the hippies the Beats of the 1960s? What attitude did the Beat writers have towards musical forms and particularly rock music? How did literary works shape the consciousness of leading rock music-makers and their followers? Why did Beat literature retain its cultural potency with later rock musicians who rejected hippie values? How did rock musicians use the material of Beat literature in their own work? How did Beat figures become embroiled in the process of rock creativity? These questions are addressed through a number of approaches - the influence of drugs, the relevance of politics, the effect of religious and spiritual pursuits, the rise of the counter-culture, the issue of sub-cultures and their construction, and so on. The result is a highly readable history of the innumerable links between two of the most revolutionary artistic movements of the last 60 years.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Preface -- Rock and rock'n'roll : a short note to the reader -- Introduction. i) How the Beats met rock : some history and some context ; ii) Charting the Beats : background and impact ; iii) Beat and rock : a survey of association ; iv) The Beats' own recordings : a selective discography -- 1. Sifting the shifting sands : Allen Ginsberg, 'Howl' and the American landscape in the 1950s ; Interlude A: Lawrence Ferlinghetti : A survivor surveys ; Interview 1: David Amram, jazz musician and Beat composer, including the Pull My Daisy soundtrack -- 2. Chains of flashing memories : Bob Dylan and the Beats, 1959-1975 ; Interview 2: Michael McClure, poet and author of The Beard -- 3. Muse, moll, maid, mistress? Beat women and their rock'n'roll legacy -- 4. Raising the consciousness? Re-visiting Allen Ginsberg's 1965 trip to Liverpool ; Q & A 1: Michael Horovitz, poet, publisher and British Beat ; Interview 3: Larry Keenan, photographer of 'The last gathering of the Beats' in San Francisco in 1965 ; Obituary 1: Peter Orlovsky, 'Member of the Beat Generation, poet and lover of Allen Ginsberg' ; Interlude B: All Neal : Cassady celebrated in downtown Denver ; Q & A 2: Mark Bliesener, rock band manager and a founder of Neal Cassady's memorial day in Denver -- 5. The British Beat : rock, literature and the British counterculture in the 1960s ; Interview 4: Pete Brown, British poet and rock lyricist for Cream ; Q & A 3: Jonah Raskin, Ginsberg biographer and cultural historian -- 6. The sound of the summer of love? The Beatles and Sgt. Pepper, the hippies and Haight-Ashbury ; Q & A 4: Levi Asher, founder of Beat website Literary Kicks ; Interview 5: Ronald Nameth, Beat filmmaker and director of the film of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable -- 7. The Meltzer chronicles : poet, novelist, musician and historian of Beat America ; Review 1: Book : David Meltzer, Beat Thing ; Interview 6: Bill Nelson, British rock guitarist and Beat follower ; Q & A 5: Jim Sampas, Beat record producer including Kerouac : Kicks Joy Darkness -- 8. Versions of Cody : Jack Kerouac, Tom Waits and the song 'On the Road' -- 9. Feeling the bohemian pulse : locating Patti Smith within a post-Beat tradition -- 10. Jim Carroll : poetry prodigy, post-Beat and rocker ; Obituary 2: Jim Carroll, 'Poet and punk musician who documented his teenage drug addiction in The Basketball Diaries' -- 11. All cut up? William Burroughs and Genesis P-Orridge's beatnik past ; Interview 7: Steven Taylor, Ginsberg's guitarist and member of the Fugs -- 12. Steven Taylor : a Beat Englishman in New York ; Q & A 6: Pete Molinari, British singer-songwriter with Beat leanings -- 13. Return to Lowell : a visit to the Commemorative and Kerouac's grave ; Review 2: Film : One Fast Move or I'm Gone : Kerouac's Big Sur ; Review 3: CD : One Fast Move or I'm Gone : Kerouac's Big Sur ; Q & A 7: Chris T-T, British political singer-songwriter ; Obituary 3: Tuli Kupferberg, 'Key figure in the US 1960s counterculture' ; Q & A 8: Kevin Ring, editor of the magazine Beat Scene ; Review 4: CD : On the road : original motion picture soundtrack -- Appendix. Kerouac and Cassady on record ; Bibliography, discography, filmography, broadcasts, personal communication and interviews.
Text and Drugs and Rock'n'Roll explores the interaction between two of the most powerful socio-cultural movements in the post-war years - the literary forces of the Beat Generation and the musical energies of rock and its attendant culture.Simon Warner examines the interweaving strands, seeded by the poet/novelists Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and others in the 1940s and 1950s, and cultivated by most of the major rock figures who emerged after 1960 - Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Bowie, the Clash and Kurt Cobain, to name just a few.This fascinating cultural history delves into a wide range of issues: Was rock culture the natural heir to the activities of the Beats? Were the hippies the Beats of the 1960s? What attitude did the Beat writers have towards musical forms and particularly rock music? How did literary works shape the consciousness of leading rock music-makers and their followers? Why did Beat literature retain its cultural potency with later rock musicians who rejected hippie values? How did rock musicians use the material of Beat literature in their own work? How did Beat figures become embroiled in the process of rock creativity? These questions are addressed through a number of approaches - the influence of drugs, the relevance of politics, the effect of religious and spiritual pursuits, the rise of the counter-culture, the issue of sub-cultures and their construction, and so on. The result is a highly readable history of the innumerable links between two of the most revolutionary artistic movements of the last 60 years.
Music and literature.
Beat generation.
Rock music
Authors, American
American literature