Aleister Crowley: Magick, Rock and Roll, and the Wickedest Man in the World

Description

When the mystic, occult magician, poet, and founder of the religious philosophy of Thelema, Aleister Crowley died in an obscure boarding house in Hastings, England, on December 5 1947, at the age of 72, few knew he was to become one of the most enduring pop culture figures of the next hundred years. In this definitive work Gary Lachman traces both the arc of the occultist's strange and controversial life, and his influence on rock-and-roll giants from the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, to Black Sabbath and Blondie, of which Lachman was a founding member. Twenty years after his death, in the middle of the Swinging Sixties, Crowley was more popular than he ever was in his lifetime. In 1967, the Beatles put him on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Rolling Stones became, for a time, serious devotees, their music and image being groomed by one of Crowley's most influential disciples, the avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger. His libertarian philosophies informed generations of notable heavy metal groups like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Metallica, and others, while these same beliefs form the subject of scholarly theses. His image hangs in goth rock bars, occult temples, and college dorm rooms alike, and he's turned up as a character in pop cultural environments from Batman comic books to Playstation video games. But ALEISTER CROWLEY is more than just a biography of this continually compelling and divisive figure-it's also a portrait of his influence on modern pop culture and rock music. Lachman paints the first truly thorough portrait of one of the most famous occult figures of all time. ALEISTER CROWLEY show readers not only who "The Great Beast" was and where he came from, but also why he's still on our minds nearly one hundred years later.

Gary Lachman is one of today's most widely read and respected writers on esoteric and occult themes. His writing has been published in several national journals on philosophy, esotericism and modern culture. In his musical career, Lachman has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a founding member of the pioneering rock band Blondie. Lachman was born in New Jersey and currently lives in London.

"Clocking in at 394 pages jam-packed with in-depth information, factoids, anecdotes and insights from the first sentence to the last. A historical biography through and through, Lachman's book is meticulously researched and it is quite easy to believe that the author, like a professor well-versed in their subject, could analyze and extrapolate at much greater lengths. The oft touted declaration of Crowley as the Wickedest Man in the World, may well have been overblown in it's own time, but he's certainly not an individual with whom it is easy to empathize. As detestable as he is, there is an undeniable fascination in his exploits, and Lachman seems the perfect man to deliver them." -The Examiner "Gary Lachman has become an increasingly prolific engine of literate, well-written, and clear-headed books about esoteric history and 'occulture.' " -Erik Davis, author of TechGnosis "Thinking outside the box, Lachman challenges many contemporary theories by reinserting a sense of the spiritual back into the discussion." -Leonard Shlain, author of Art & Physics and Alphabet versus the Goddess