William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock ‘n’ Roll
On sale
28th May 2026
Price: £12.99
‘If you simply follow Burroughs through the rock ‘n’ roll years you’ll see him achieve a flickering ubiquity – lurking here, eavesdropping there, photobombing the whole parade. It becomes a kind of alternative history’ NEW YORK TIMES
William S. Burroughs’s fiction and essays are legendary, but his influence on music’s counterculture has been less well documented – until now. Examining how one of America’s most controversial literary figures altered the destinies of many notable and varied musicians, William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock ‘n’ Roll reveals the transformations in music history that followed in his wake.
‘Casey Rae’s book is a labour of love that offers a map to understanding Burroughs’ complex relationship to music and other art forms’ CHRIS STEIN, co-founder of BLONDIE
William S. Burroughs’s fiction and essays are legendary, but his influence on music’s counterculture has been less well documented – until now. Examining how one of America’s most controversial literary figures altered the destinies of many notable and varied musicians, William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock ‘n’ Roll reveals the transformations in music history that followed in his wake.
‘Casey Rae’s book is a labour of love that offers a map to understanding Burroughs’ complex relationship to music and other art forms’ CHRIS STEIN, co-founder of BLONDIE
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Reviews
The ultimate guide to Burroughs as counter-cultural contagion
There's a brilliant idea behind Casey Rae's William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll, which is that if you simply follow Burroughs through the rock 'n' roll years you'll see him achieve a flickering ubiquity - lurking here, eavesdropping there, photobombing the whole parade. It becomes a kind of alternative history
A timely reminder of the Pope Of Dope's influence on good music as well as tedious transgressive sludge. "Once you start looking, Burroughs is everywhere," Rae writes. "It's like a game of Where's WaMo? with a killer soundtrack.'
