If you are dismissive of rock music journalism, feel insulted by its gimmickry, stupidity and glibness, why should you read Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, an edited selection of the criticisms of Lester Bangs, the late American rock journalist? Here are three reasons: 1 He's damn good. 2 He's damn funny. 3 You may learn something. (And you won't even have to listen to any records.)

Writing for Creem, New Musical Express (when they were at their best) and the Village Voice, among others, Lester Bangs analysed the Anglo-American rock music arena from the early '70s to the early '80s, at the same time influencing a whole generation of rock writers. The observations he made are