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Beat Punks
Here, accompanied by dozens of unique photographs, are the very best of Victor Bockris's infamous interviews, essays, and observations on the stars of downtown Manhattan in the 1970s and 1980s. The internationally acclaimed biographer Bockris was there as a witness, friend, collaborator, and co-conspirator. Some of the stars were founding members of Beat or Punk, others were just passing through. But all of them—rockers, rebels, artists, and intellectuals—revealed more to Bockris than they did to any other writer: Allen Ginsberg, Richard Hell, Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, Debbie Harry, William Burroughs, Patti Smith, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Richards, Terry Southern, Martin Amis, and Susan Sontag. Bockris's conclusion—that Punk owed the Beats a big debt and that the Beats were in turn re-animated by the Punks—is argued from the perspective of someone who was in the thick of it, and who loved every minute of it.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 7, 2020
Too Much Debbie Harry
There are various descriptions of what this book is supposed to be on the front and inside covers.
One is “Victor Bockris' fly-on-the-wall tales from the New York underground".
This is somehow consistent with its formal title “NYC Babylon", which was presumably based on Kenneth Anger's “Hollywood Babylon", although it isn't anywhere near as scandalous as that work. In fact, it's pretty tame, when it comes to sexual revelations.
It's not restricted to the New York underground. Once again, you could almost say that this was its least interesting part. At the time of interview (seemingly around 1982), Debbie Harry didn't sound particularly interesting or interested. She even seemed to be under the control of Chris Stein at the time. Yet, she features in four out of 24 chapters, which are the least impressive. Despite the appeal of Blondie's music, I would much rather have read interviews with Patti Smith (of which, regrettably, there are none). These interviews might also have helped to build the supposed bridge between Beat and Punk referred to in the title.
Styles of Interview
The interviews seem to fall into two categories: relatively formal one-on-one interviews, versus staged multiple participant interviews, where Bockris plans to take a back seat, and let the rapport between the participants prevail.
The transcription of a dinner party with Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol and William Burroughs never gets off the ground, probably because of Jagger's reluctance to cooperate at the time of Keith Richards' drug trial in Canada.
Another meeting between Susan Sontag and Richard Hell allows superficiality to triumph over mutual fascination. What a meeting of great minds it could have been.
Still, Bockris throws this comment into the middle of the conversation:
Of course, in this context, there is no evidence, nor does anybody take up the challenge of refuting this charge.
Overall, this interview never ascends above tentative, peripheral attempts at new topics of conversation. Sontag wants to talk about Fassbinder, whereas Hell is more comfortable with Godard. Sontag starts to discuss Hitler and Churchill, while Hell drops out altogether in favour of Bockris.
You get the sense of a missed opportunity.
His Biggest Heroes
“Notes of a Punk Rock Groupie" starts with Dave Davies (from the Kinks), then moves on to Sylvain Sylvain (New York Dolls), and ends up with Joey Ramone (with whom she loses her bra, and he his glasses).
Yet, Bockris says in the following chapter that “Joey Ramone was the coolest guy I ever met in the punk rock scene.” On the other hand, Richard Hell was “perhaps the most perceptive writer to emerge from the punk milieu.” Perhaps he was a better writer than a conversationalist?
There's no doubt that Bockris had access to some major literary, musical and artistic figures. In the introduction to his interview with Robert Mapplethorpe, he confesses:
Robert Mapplethorpe
It's the last interview in the book, conducted in the back of a cab on the way to the airport, and the most informal, yet paradoxically the most interesting and revealing. There are small revelations, without being overtly gossipy:
Isherwood and Burroughs
In the previous interview, Christopher Isherwood meets William Burroughs. This is easily the most successful of the multiple participant interviews. There is so much knowledge, talent and style around the table.
I also enjoyed the solo interview with Martin Amis, who hardly qualifies as a member of the New York underground.
Voice Portraits and Diaries
My two other favourite pieces of writing were a literary analysis of Andy Warhol's writing, and a diary of a trip to Berlin. In these pieces, you learn that Bockris can actually write, rather than just ask questions. I'll quote two snippets for their subject matter, rather than their style:
Bockris reveals how Warhol based his novels on tape recordings of his associates (that Bockris calls “voice portraits"). Bockris declares that:
In Berlin, Bockris attends a Patti Smith concert, at which she tells the apparently unresponsive audience (In English):
Still, there was an “hysterical 10-minute political demonstration demanding an encore.”
I'd recommend this book for the last five chapters alone. The rest might be of some interest to fans of the interviewees, but is nothing special.
There are various descriptions of what this book is supposed to be on the front and inside covers.
One is “Victor Bockris' fly-on-the-wall tales from the New York underground".
This is somehow consistent with its formal title “NYC Babylon", which was presumably based on Kenneth Anger's “Hollywood Babylon", although it isn't anywhere near as scandalous as that work. In fact, it's pretty tame, when it comes to sexual revelations.
It's not restricted to the New York underground. Once again, you could almost say that this was its least interesting part. At the time of interview (seemingly around 1982), Debbie Harry didn't sound particularly interesting or interested. She even seemed to be under the control of Chris Stein at the time. Yet, she features in four out of 24 chapters, which are the least impressive. Despite the appeal of Blondie's music, I would much rather have read interviews with Patti Smith (of which, regrettably, there are none). These interviews might also have helped to build the supposed bridge between Beat and Punk referred to in the title.
Styles of Interview
The interviews seem to fall into two categories: relatively formal one-on-one interviews, versus staged multiple participant interviews, where Bockris plans to take a back seat, and let the rapport between the participants prevail.
The transcription of a dinner party with Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol and William Burroughs never gets off the ground, probably because of Jagger's reluctance to cooperate at the time of Keith Richards' drug trial in Canada.
Another meeting between Susan Sontag and Richard Hell allows superficiality to triumph over mutual fascination. What a meeting of great minds it could have been.
Still, Bockris throws this comment into the middle of the conversation:
“Bob Dylan stole most of his stuff from Jack Kerouac, there are many lines that come straight out of Kerouac.”
Of course, in this context, there is no evidence, nor does anybody take up the challenge of refuting this charge.
Overall, this interview never ascends above tentative, peripheral attempts at new topics of conversation. Sontag wants to talk about Fassbinder, whereas Hell is more comfortable with Godard. Sontag starts to discuss Hitler and Churchill, while Hell drops out altogether in favour of Bockris.
You get the sense of a missed opportunity.
His Biggest Heroes
“Notes of a Punk Rock Groupie" starts with Dave Davies (from the Kinks), then moves on to Sylvain Sylvain (New York Dolls), and ends up with Joey Ramone (with whom she loses her bra, and he his glasses).
Yet, Bockris says in the following chapter that “Joey Ramone was the coolest guy I ever met in the punk rock scene.” On the other hand, Richard Hell was “perhaps the most perceptive writer to emerge from the punk milieu.” Perhaps he was a better writer than a conversationalist?
There's no doubt that Bockris had access to some major literary, musical and artistic figures. In the introduction to his interview with Robert Mapplethorpe, he confesses:
“This whole book is about heroes. Robert was one of my biggest heroes.”
Robert Mapplethorpe
It's the last interview in the book, conducted in the back of a cab on the way to the airport, and the most informal, yet paradoxically the most interesting and revealing. There are small revelations, without being overtly gossipy:
“I want very much to do a spread in Vogue. But I don't want to be a fashion photographer because I know fashion photographers and they might as well be brick layers. It's nine-to-five and it's not very creative...”
Isherwood and Burroughs
In the previous interview, Christopher Isherwood meets William Burroughs. This is easily the most successful of the multiple participant interviews. There is so much knowledge, talent and style around the table.
I also enjoyed the solo interview with Martin Amis, who hardly qualifies as a member of the New York underground.
Voice Portraits and Diaries
My two other favourite pieces of writing were a literary analysis of Andy Warhol's writing, and a diary of a trip to Berlin. In these pieces, you learn that Bockris can actually write, rather than just ask questions. I'll quote two snippets for their subject matter, rather than their style:
Bockris reveals how Warhol based his novels on tape recordings of his associates (that Bockris calls “voice portraits"). Bockris declares that:
“’a' is just as important a book as ‘The Chelsea Girls’ is a film or ‘The Velvet Underground and Nico' is a record and should be recognised as among the most accurate, creative, influential novels of the Sixties.”
In Berlin, Bockris attends a Patti Smith concert, at which she tells the apparently unresponsive audience (In English):
“I ain't impressed with you, I sang in front of 14,000 people so 2,000 doesn't mean shit to me.”
Still, there was an “hysterical 10-minute political demonstration demanding an encore.”
I'd recommend this book for the last five chapters alone. The rest might be of some interest to fans of the interviewees, but is nothing special.
June 7, 2021
A series of disjointed interviews. While it was a good quick read, I found it lacking in content to tie them together.
December 30, 2023
An interesting read, full of intriguing anecdotes and bits of information. Certainly worth reading if you have a scholarly interest in the aforementioned subcultures as I do!
My only criticism is there seems to be a lacking thesis or narrative to this book. While these interviews are interesting they only seem loosely relevant to each other.
My favorite parts are with Debbie Harry, Richard Hell and William S. Burroughs. The whole book is interesting although some of it can linger on the featured cast’s off-putting pseudo-intellectualisms. lol
Overall worth the read! Especially if you are looking for more reading material, it has some great recommendations!
My only criticism is there seems to be a lacking thesis or narrative to this book. While these interviews are interesting they only seem loosely relevant to each other.
My favorite parts are with Debbie Harry, Richard Hell and William S. Burroughs. The whole book is interesting although some of it can linger on the featured cast’s off-putting pseudo-intellectualisms. lol
Overall worth the read! Especially if you are looking for more reading material, it has some great recommendations!
August 10, 2019
this would be a cool book if it wasn't an exercise in name-dropping. some good interviews.
October 3, 2024
Debbie Harry killed Eleanor Roosevelt!
January 25, 2009
Contains a quite interesting free-wheeling conversation between Sontag, Burroughs and Bockris. Highly recommended if you're into that period and those people, a great read alongside “Please Kill Me” and any Warhol biography (most preferably “Factory Made”, perhaps).
Four stars, because it's not really essential – but don't hesitate to go there if you're curious. Bockris is a star.
Please Kill Me The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Factory Made Warhol and the Sixties
Four stars, because it's not really essential – but don't hesitate to go there if you're curious. Bockris is a star.
Please Kill Me The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Factory Made Warhol and the Sixties
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews