Birdland

The East Coast punk unit Birdland was founded by Lester Bangs, better known as one of the most influential and notorious rock critics of his era. A native of California, Bangs first gained notice in 1969 as a reviewer for Rolling Stone magazine, but his greatest success came in the mid-1970s at Creem, where he honed a kind of gonzo critical aesthetic which greatly expanded the parameters of rock music reportage. One of punk's earliest and most vocal supporters, while at CBGB's in 1977 he met guitarist and songwriter Mickey Leigh, the brother of Joey Ramone; Bangs and Leigh immediately formed Birdland, and began occasionally gigging around the New York City area. Their lone recording date was on April Fool's Day of 1979, when they snuck in to Electric Ladyland studios during the middle of the night and cut a number of songs; when Birdland disbanded months later, only a rough cassette mix remained as proof of their existence. Following Bangs' 1982 death, Leigh properly issued the material as simply Birdland; it has since been re-released a number of times. ~ Jason Ankeny