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Massive Pissed Love: Nonfiction 2001-2014
Richard Hell may best be known as a punk icon, a founding member of seminal bands Television, the Heartbreakers, and The Voidoids, but for decades he’s been a prominent voice in American letters. Through his novels Go Now and Godlike, and his critically acclaimed autobiography, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp, Hell has proven himself as a talented and insightful writer across many genres, in many forms. But one might argue that Richard’s true genius lies in shorter form as a writer on culture. "Love comes in spurts," Hell once sang, and that could well describe the intensity of his penetrating and wickedly droll criticism.
Massive Pissed Love is a collection of Hell’s ruminations on art, literature, and music, among other things, that’s like a candy box of reading treats, a bag of shiny marbles, a cabinet of mementos and uncanny fetishes. However one thinks of it, it’s a joy to read from start to finish and a deeply necessary addition to the oeuvre of one of the sharpest minds and sensibilities at work today.
Massive Pissed Love is a collection of Hell’s ruminations on art, literature, and music, among other things, that’s like a candy box of reading treats, a bag of shiny marbles, a cabinet of mementos and uncanny fetishes. However one thinks of it, it’s a joy to read from start to finish and a deeply necessary addition to the oeuvre of one of the sharpest minds and sensibilities at work today.
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2015
22 people are currently reading
282 people want to read
About the author
Richard Hell
38 books141 followersBorn in 1949, Richard Meyers was shipped off to a private school for troublesome kids in Delaware, which is where he met Tom (Verlaine) Miller. Together they ran away, trying to hitchhike to Florida, but only made it as far as Alabama before being picked up by the authorities. Meyers persuaded his mother to allow him to go to New York, where he worked in a secondhand bookshop (the Strand; later he was employed at Cinemabilia along with Patti Smith) and tried to become a writer.
He arrived in the Big Apple at the tail end of the hippie scene. He took acid (and later heroin), but sought to develop a different sensibility in the manner of what he later referred to as 'twisted French aestheticism', i.e. more Arthur Rimbaud than Rolling Stones. He printed a poetry magazine (Genesis: Grasp) and when Miller dropped out of college and joined him in New York, they developed a joint alter ego whom they named Teresa Stern. Under this name they published a book of poems entitled Wanna Go Out?. This slim volume went almost unnoticed. It was at this point that Meyers and Miller decided to form a band. They changed their names to Hell and Verlaine, and called the band The Neon Boys.
During this hiatus, Hell wrote The Voidoid (1973), a rambling confessional. He wrote it in a 16 dollar-a-week room, fuelled by cheap wine and cough syrup that contained codeine. He then played in various successful bands: Television, Richard Hell and The Voidoids.
Hell recently returned to fiction with his 1996 novel Go Now.
He arrived in the Big Apple at the tail end of the hippie scene. He took acid (and later heroin), but sought to develop a different sensibility in the manner of what he later referred to as 'twisted French aestheticism', i.e. more Arthur Rimbaud than Rolling Stones. He printed a poetry magazine (Genesis: Grasp) and when Miller dropped out of college and joined him in New York, they developed a joint alter ego whom they named Teresa Stern. Under this name they published a book of poems entitled Wanna Go Out?. This slim volume went almost unnoticed. It was at this point that Meyers and Miller decided to form a band. They changed their names to Hell and Verlaine, and called the band The Neon Boys.
During this hiatus, Hell wrote The Voidoid (1973), a rambling confessional. He wrote it in a 16 dollar-a-week room, fuelled by cheap wine and cough syrup that contained codeine. He then played in various successful bands: Television, Richard Hell and The Voidoids.
Hell recently returned to fiction with his 1996 novel Go Now.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 12, 2015
Richard Hell can't do no wrong in my world. He's a man of great taste (even though I do not agree with some of it), and one of the few who can mix making music and writing very well. This is his first collection of essays, reviews, and nonfiction writing. It's a wonderful way to spend time with someone, without actually sitting across from Mr. Hell. He's a superb prose writer, who reads the world of cinema, literature, the visual arts and music quite well. His observations of life in New York City right after 9/11 is even unique, in the way he talks about how the city smelled during that time. His writing actually affects all my senses. If he ever wanted to be a food/restaurant critic, I'm sure he would be great for that as well.
I think a lot of people when they hear the name "Richard Hell" - explicit images come up. The thing is, Richard can articulate who he is, and why he likes a certain work of art, or why he does not like it. I can imagine him being a distinguished humanities professor. He understands why people create, and he's sensitive to the process of doing art. I recommend "Massive Pissed Love" to those who know Richard through his music and his role in the New York punk world. But beyond that, Hell is just naturally a very skilled writer. On one level, he's the other side of the coin when it comes to Patti Smith. It's interesting to read both of their memoirs right after the other - because in a way it deals with the same subject matter - and both are very unique and clear-headed prose stylists. Essential book for your collection.
I think a lot of people when they hear the name "Richard Hell" - explicit images come up. The thing is, Richard can articulate who he is, and why he likes a certain work of art, or why he does not like it. I can imagine him being a distinguished humanities professor. He understands why people create, and he's sensitive to the process of doing art. I recommend "Massive Pissed Love" to those who know Richard through his music and his role in the New York punk world. But beyond that, Hell is just naturally a very skilled writer. On one level, he's the other side of the coin when it comes to Patti Smith. It's interesting to read both of their memoirs right after the other - because in a way it deals with the same subject matter - and both are very unique and clear-headed prose stylists. Essential book for your collection.
January 19, 2016
This is not a book you pick up because you are a fan of Richard Hell's greater known endeavors. This is a book you pick up if you subscribe to several different publications, read the reviews sections in all of them, and notice that you are turned on by a few snippets that are signed by his name. Surprise, that is probably not you. Massive Pissed Love is a book of short essays about various artistic outlets and a few other miscellaneous things; and man, Hell could not get me to give a single shit about anything he writes about, including things for which said shit pre-exists. He relies on references to other adjacent artists to talk about his subjects rather than just telling us about the damn thing. This book feels like a reactionary response to the resentment that comes from being a Smart Guy whose audience isn't often so sophisticated (in this case, punk fans.) In the few instances in which he writes about women, he reveals his brain to be embarrassingly simplistically male ("(Kate Winslet's) orgasmically flushed face," "you can't talk about Sarah Silverman without talking about her appearance," "Kim Gordon (is that your real hair or did you scalp an angel?)") I won't give this book, which took me months to finish, one star, though, because Hell isn't dumb and my desire to read his memoir isn't completely diminished. It will, however, take a long time of forgetting this book to want to pick up I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp.
January 5, 2016
Depending on what your current cultural frames of reference are, this book will be a kickass voyage of discovery or an affirmation of things you already know about and love. Either way, you win.
Musician/writer/editor/critic/all-around badass Hell has opinions, and writes about them cogently. Literature, art, film, sex, drugs, punk, everything. The literature pieces are the best from a technical point of view (his love for the French poets reeeeeeeealllly shines through - not a complaint), but it's the movie reviews that grabbed me. The way Hell thinks about film and film-making is refreshing, not at all pretentious, and actually makes me want to watch (or re-watch) all the movies he mentions.
The writing is clever, but not "look, I'm being clever!" clever. Hell is who he is and never pretends to be otherwise. His delight in certain small things is almost childlike, and he wears sex like the well-loved coat you never get tired of (sex writing is hard - he makes it look easy). I suppose my only complaint is that there's not nearly enough material here, and the pieces are so short! Just when you're getting into the groove of one it's unexpectedly over, leaving you wanting (and I'm smiling right now, because there's a whole bit about reading being like sex that I will let you discover on your own).
A definite purchase for the cultural critics and lifelong learners among you. Unless, of course, you're already familiar with every single text referenced here. If you are, hats off to you: I was impressed that there is still so much new to me under the sun even after all these years of reading and study. Those who lived through the 70s will have a certain advantage, but even the hard-core lit folks will find themselves surprised. Great fun for the not-snotty literati.
Musician/writer/editor/critic/all-around badass Hell has opinions, and writes about them cogently. Literature, art, film, sex, drugs, punk, everything. The literature pieces are the best from a technical point of view (his love for the French poets reeeeeeeealllly shines through - not a complaint), but it's the movie reviews that grabbed me. The way Hell thinks about film and film-making is refreshing, not at all pretentious, and actually makes me want to watch (or re-watch) all the movies he mentions.
The writing is clever, but not "look, I'm being clever!" clever. Hell is who he is and never pretends to be otherwise. His delight in certain small things is almost childlike, and he wears sex like the well-loved coat you never get tired of (sex writing is hard - he makes it look easy). I suppose my only complaint is that there's not nearly enough material here, and the pieces are so short! Just when you're getting into the groove of one it's unexpectedly over, leaving you wanting (and I'm smiling right now, because there's a whole bit about reading being like sex that I will let you discover on your own).
A definite purchase for the cultural critics and lifelong learners among you. Unless, of course, you're already familiar with every single text referenced here. If you are, hats off to you: I was impressed that there is still so much new to me under the sun even after all these years of reading and study. Those who lived through the 70s will have a certain advantage, but even the hard-core lit folks will find themselves surprised. Great fun for the not-snotty literati.
August 15, 2025
It was the best at times it was the worst at times
January 20, 2023
Like chatting to your cool friend from 70s
March 29, 2025
Vast and Fascinating
I’ve gone down a Richard Hell rabbit hole of late. It started when I wrote an essay about his brilliant song “Blank Generation” and it’s taken me to reading two of his most recent books simultaneously. I finished both on this vacation.
Massive Pissed Love is a collection of essays and other ramblings he’s penned on everything from movie reviews to how sex is better on drugs. Hell is so well read his references often go way over my head (which then cause me to go down even more artistic rabbit holes [like the hour I spent looking at Marilyn Minter’s strange and erotic art work]). There are plenty of insights and witty asides in this book like: “My personal definition of God is ‘the way things are’” and “ I wasn’t choosing doubt and suspicion and despair, I was taken there by reality” and perhaps my favorite (even if I barely understand it) “A rock and roll show is about the audience agreeing to surrender to the band in such a way that the band gives back that which it’s received from the crowd in the form of the crowd’s pleasure in itself, in the form of the crowd’s ideal of itself, of its own glory (as personified by the band’s front man).”
I think Richard Hell is one of the most important musical artists of the 20th century. Like all true punk rockers his career was meteoric and short-lived (Iggy Pop being the notable exception). If “Blank Generation” was the only thing he ever did he’d still be essential to the punk rock story. But he’s much more than just his greatest song. Without him CBGBs is still playing obscure blues music and The Ramones and Talking Heads (et al) have no club to play their sloppy, loud music in. Without him there’s no Pistols and without the Pistols everything that happens in rock and pop music from Bollocks on is different and by different I mean suckier and blander and more predictable.
Hell is a New Yorker. He moved there in the late sixties and he’s lived in the same East Village apartment for half a century. His writing is often of and about the city, whether the subject matter is directly about New York (like his beautiful essay Dawn in New York) or just informed by it. I usually end my reviews by recommending a book to a certain kind of reader but I don’t know anyone who would actually enjoy these two books so in the spirit of punk rock, piss off, don’t read either of these.
I’ve gone down a Richard Hell rabbit hole of late. It started when I wrote an essay about his brilliant song “Blank Generation” and it’s taken me to reading two of his most recent books simultaneously. I finished both on this vacation.
Massive Pissed Love is a collection of essays and other ramblings he’s penned on everything from movie reviews to how sex is better on drugs. Hell is so well read his references often go way over my head (which then cause me to go down even more artistic rabbit holes [like the hour I spent looking at Marilyn Minter’s strange and erotic art work]). There are plenty of insights and witty asides in this book like: “My personal definition of God is ‘the way things are’” and “ I wasn’t choosing doubt and suspicion and despair, I was taken there by reality” and perhaps my favorite (even if I barely understand it) “A rock and roll show is about the audience agreeing to surrender to the band in such a way that the band gives back that which it’s received from the crowd in the form of the crowd’s pleasure in itself, in the form of the crowd’s ideal of itself, of its own glory (as personified by the band’s front man).”
I think Richard Hell is one of the most important musical artists of the 20th century. Like all true punk rockers his career was meteoric and short-lived (Iggy Pop being the notable exception). If “Blank Generation” was the only thing he ever did he’d still be essential to the punk rock story. But he’s much more than just his greatest song. Without him CBGBs is still playing obscure blues music and The Ramones and Talking Heads (et al) have no club to play their sloppy, loud music in. Without him there’s no Pistols and without the Pistols everything that happens in rock and pop music from Bollocks on is different and by different I mean suckier and blander and more predictable.
Hell is a New Yorker. He moved there in the late sixties and he’s lived in the same East Village apartment for half a century. His writing is often of and about the city, whether the subject matter is directly about New York (like his beautiful essay Dawn in New York) or just informed by it. I usually end my reviews by recommending a book to a certain kind of reader but I don’t know anyone who would actually enjoy these two books so in the spirit of punk rock, piss off, don’t read either of these.
September 5, 2017
There are many, many articles in this collection on subjects about which I know very little, and care even less (Christopher Wool's paintings and phootographs, Robert Bresson's films, Jean-Luc Godard) and many on which I flat out disagree with Mr. Hell (for example, his opinions about Wong Kar Wai's movies). Nevertheless I pretty much enjoyed every one of them, with the glaring exception of "Dreaming", in which he summarizes some of his writings which were strongly informed by his dreams, and was frankly unreadable.
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June 2, 2023so good– loved it more and more as i got through. not the most shining prose but I guess thats the point of punk writing plus it was just interesting to hear semi-conversationally what he's thinking about. so now i think he's very smart and want to hangout with him which as he states, is his goal as a writer so great job richard
typical man though, to mention godard or burroughs every 5 minutes and never touch varda or woolf but whatever its fine
typical man though, to mention godard or burroughs every 5 minutes and never touch varda or woolf but whatever its fine
June 14, 2022
Dark, wry, insightful - an excellent collection of his non-fiction work, great on films, on the Velvet Underground vs. The Rolling Stones, on friends he lost along the way.
Not necessarily a book to read all in one sitting, but excellent for dipping in to
Not necessarily a book to read all in one sitting, but excellent for dipping in to
September 7, 2020
A helluva read.
March 30, 2016
Massive Pissed Love: Nonfiction 2001-2014
By Richard Hell
Soft Skull Press
Richard Hell is best known as a punk icon, a founding member of seminal bands Television, the Heartbreakers and The Voidoids. He has already written several books. Massive Pissed Love is a collection of Hell’s ruminations on art, literature, and music from various publications over the years.
“Art, like life, is a matter of killing time.” I have been listening to Mr. Hell’s music since I was a teenager. I haven’t read his other works, but I will. There are certain books you should read to further your understanding about the world around you. Books that give you a deeper knowledge on subjects you have yet to encounter. Massive Pissed Love works like that for me, covering artists, films, and subjects I had missed or didn’t fully comprehend. At the start of the book I wasn’t thrilled with his writing style, or maybe it was the subjects that were covered, but as it moved on I grew to love it. For me, I hate the first 50 pages of most books. You need that much time to get your footing and once you do its too late to put it down. And that is about how long it took me to warm up to this book. Give it time; it will heat up. Throughout the book there is a sprinkling of clues as to the personal Mr. Hell. Married, lives in the East Village around Union Square, and has a love of muscle cars and art films. I wonder how many times I have walked by him in the streets. My biggest takeaway from Massive Pissed Love is that it made me more confident in my own work, my own art, and during times of doubt I think of his statements on other artists and push through it. Thank you Mr. Hell.
By Richard Hell
Soft Skull Press
Richard Hell is best known as a punk icon, a founding member of seminal bands Television, the Heartbreakers and The Voidoids. He has already written several books. Massive Pissed Love is a collection of Hell’s ruminations on art, literature, and music from various publications over the years.
“Art, like life, is a matter of killing time.” I have been listening to Mr. Hell’s music since I was a teenager. I haven’t read his other works, but I will. There are certain books you should read to further your understanding about the world around you. Books that give you a deeper knowledge on subjects you have yet to encounter. Massive Pissed Love works like that for me, covering artists, films, and subjects I had missed or didn’t fully comprehend. At the start of the book I wasn’t thrilled with his writing style, or maybe it was the subjects that were covered, but as it moved on I grew to love it. For me, I hate the first 50 pages of most books. You need that much time to get your footing and once you do its too late to put it down. And that is about how long it took me to warm up to this book. Give it time; it will heat up. Throughout the book there is a sprinkling of clues as to the personal Mr. Hell. Married, lives in the East Village around Union Square, and has a love of muscle cars and art films. I wonder how many times I have walked by him in the streets. My biggest takeaway from Massive Pissed Love is that it made me more confident in my own work, my own art, and during times of doubt I think of his statements on other artists and push through it. Thank you Mr. Hell.
May 13, 2016
A collection of articles that were previously published. The other reviews here outline the subject matter. I have much respect for Richard's musical endeavors, and I was glad to read his insights on his early forays into book publishing- his Slum Journal and Cuz are "punk rock" compendiums before punk rock existed. I really liked his stuff about what he wanted to get across in his bands Television and the Voidoids. I was a teenager when Hell was in Television and saw some of his last shows with them. He was an inspiration on a few levels- he could not play bass well and I'd never seen a band on stage that would allow that. He exuded attitude even in one on one conversation. And those cats weren't teenagers anymore! Walking around Manhattan in torn shirts and looking like Bob Dylan after being thrown to the pavement by a Tilt-A-Whirl ride was the perfect manifestation of life in Alphabet City and at the same time looking like a rock star. Yeah, his attitude toward women is weird, but its certainly toned down from his "Tramp" book. As far as I'm concerned "rock star" dreams were part of what made early NYC punk so great. Hell doesn't apologize. And he shouldn't. I skimmed through his movie reviews in the book. I really enjoyed his pieces on visual art and obscure writers. That's where he knows his stuff.
September 26, 2016
"Full fledged front men have to be difficult, egotistical people," Hell writes in his essay "The Velvets vs. the Stones." He's ostensibly talking about Lou Reed and Mick Jagger, but I think it's pretty obvious he's talking about himself also. But, whatever, difficult and egotistical as he might be, Richard Hell is also pretty witty and often insightful, and this collection of essays about a variety of things (but mostly art, music, and movies) is largely entertaining.
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January 22, 2016814.54 H476m 2015
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews