Don’t ask me why I obsessively look to rock ’n’ roll bands for some kind of model for a better society. I guess it’s just that I glimpsed something beautiful in a flashbulb moment once, and perhaps mistaking it for prophecy have been seeking its fulfillment ever since.
Interpretation
The quote reflects a yearning for an ideal society inspired by the beauty perceived in music.
In this quote, Lester Bangs expresses his fascination with rock 'n' roll bands as archetypes for an improved society. He articulates a longing for a profound and uplifting experience he once had, suggesting that this moment of beauty has influenced his outlook and pursuit of a more fulfilling existence ever since. The 'flashbulb moment' symbolizes epiphany, representing a rare insight into a possible ideal that he now chases.
In practice
In a discussion about the impact of music on culture, you might use this quote to highlight the visions artists inspire.
Look at it this way: There are many here among us for whom the life force is best represented by the livid twitching of one tortured nerve, or even a full-scale anxiety attack. I do not subscribe to this point of view 100 percent, but I understand it, have lived it. Thus the shriek, the caterwaul, the chainsaw gnarlgnashing, the yowl and the whizz that decapitates may be reheard by the adventurous or emotionally damaged as mellifluous bursts of unarguable affirmation.
Rock'n'roll is an attitude, it's not a musical form of a strict sort. It's way of doing things, of approaching things. Writing can be rock'n'roll, or a movie can be rock'n'roll. It's a way of living your life.
Style is originality; fashion is fascism. The two are eternally and unalterably opposed.
Nature has planted in our minds an insatiable longing to see the truth.
God's willingness to answer our prayers exceeds our willingness to give good and necessary things to our children, just as far as God's ability, goodness and perfection exceed our infirmities and evil.
Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.
The future is always a wholeness, a sameness. We're all tall and happy there,' she said. 'This is why the future fails. It always fails. It can never be the cruel happy place we want to make it.
We want the spirit of America to be efficient; we want American character to be efficient; we want American character to display itself in what I may, perhaps, be allowed to call spiritual efficiency - clear disinterested thinking and fearless action
Today's aikido is so dimensionless. It's hollow, empty on the inside. People try to reach the highest levels without even paying their dues. That's why it seems so much like a dance these days. You have to master the very basics solidly, with your body, and then proceed to develop to the higher levels.... Now we see nothing but copying or imitation without any grasp of the real thing.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.