Aspiring Rock Critic Revisits The Situation That Killed Lester Bangs

me and some friends were tripping off robo one Saturday and I put on the Human League's Dare, noting that Lester Bangs was listening to it when he died. Everybody went "woah," but it doesn't take much to inspire awe at that point. Anyhow, the album seemed more ominous than it usually does, and it made me think about a cold, robotic world of soulless pulse music (I probably would have cried if I had to hear Radio Activity afterwards). My friend who plays synth and is crazy for the Cocteau Twins and Magnetic Fields was pissed off that we assumed he'd like it just cuz he played old synths.

Much more frightening that night was seeing Madonna's video for "Music." From my fucked-up perspective, all I could hear behind the grotesque video was a quite beat and a robot voice saying "myoo-zik...myoo-zik." It inspired one of the darkest depressions of my life, one that wasn't helped by seeing Fail-Safe in a film class that Monday.

The most mundane chapter of the rock critic/cough syrup whatnot yet!