Casey Rae

Author: Casey Rae

Title: William Burroughs and the Cult of Rock’n’Roll

Publisher: Jimenez

Pages: 368

Price: 19 euros

A reference point of American counterculture (and beyond), “the most transgressive of the Beat writers,” William S. Burroughs moved through the entire second half of the twentieth century driven by a constant impulse to resist the rules imposed by the System. Whether it was the cut-up technique (through which the Hombre Invisible sought to blow apart the meanings imposed by Control, to shake consciences numbed by the “algebra of need”) or his excessive use of drugs, Burroughs had one single goal in mind: to be an outsider always and in every circumstance, without ever letting that become a mere pose to sell to consumer society. This inevitably made him an absolute point of reference for a whole series of artists, and musicians in particular, especially those who had sacrificed their lives on the altar of rock’n’roll.

In this unconventional biography, Casey Rae retraces the key moments of the adventure lived by the author of “Naked Lunch,” filtering them through the contacts and the influence he had on some of the heroes of the music we love best (Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Joe Strummer, Thurston Moore, Kurt Cobain, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Al Jourgensen, and many others). All of them in love, more than with the work itself, with an attitude, a way of presenting oneself on the world's (cultural) stage that turned established rules, laws and structures upside down (following the teaching of the eleventh-century Persian mystic Hassan-i Sabbah: “nothing is true, everything is permitted”), in order to build a proud individuality rooted in one's own diversity (as if that weren't enough, Burroughs was also gay).

In its labyrinthine progression (linearity would have been an affront to Mr. Burroughs!), this book guarantees a stimulating reading experience, rich with ideas worth exploring further, giving us back a fresh image of a man and an artist who, over the course of a life that was nothing short of adventurous, remained to the end a rebel steeped in curiosity about the world and about people.

Ride the wave of great music

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21/01/2026