By: Brian Berger

Out of Bedlamite shrieks, a Melvillean lucidity.

By: David Smay

A lost, louche world of hair-tossing karate chops and sexy banter.

By: Joe Alterio

The skewed, cynical vision of an anti-Disney.

By: Joshua Glenn

Where did the term “gonzo” originate?

By: Patrick Cates

His sludgy, funky bass lines launched a metal revolution.

By: Joshua Glenn

Our favorite jackasshole.

By: Mimi Lipson

His music and his life disguised joy as menace — and vice versa.

By: Matthew Battles

A legacy too big for prose.

By: Tor Aarestad

Where could one find another like him in all the world?

By: Amanda French

A wandering, committed poet of crepuscular love.

By: Tim Carmody

He blends virtuoso musicianship with generational esoterica.

By: Annie Nocenti

Brilliant, prescient, and obsessive, even in his disorder he was ahead of its time.

By: Brian Berger

He was a pioneering cultural relativist.

By: Brian Berger

Rhapsodic, recondite philosopher of music, hope, and Stalin.

By: Sarah Weinman

An artist who transcends gender and mood to embrace the senses.