William S. Burroughs, Kurt Cobain - Priest They Called Him

Probably Not Worth Owning...

If your a fan of Burroughs you will want to hear this at least once. Personally, I think with Burroughs, spoken word is the only way to go. He could read the grocery supplement from the Sunday paper and I would be enthralled.

However, this disc is painfully short... something like 9 minutes 20 seconds .

Cobain seems to be added as an afterthought. The fact that it's Kurt Cobain generating all that feedback is irrelevant. There's nothing noteworthy or distinct about the sounds he's making. Just your basic feedback and effects that any 12-year-old at Guitar Center could muster. Had the music been more structured and tied to the words, this may have been a CD worth grabbing. As it is, it's not worth the collector prices you see here on Amazon. October 5, 2007

"never trust a junkie"

It's tragic now when you listen to the priest they called him. Both Burroughs and Cobain having left us- but I liked the reminder of the Ministry reference to "Just One Fix". As someone else suggested, if you don't have it and are a fan- buy it. "As since he was himself a priest, there was no need to call one" sums it up. April 17, 2007

The Beginning and the End

William Burroughs has been called the "godfather of punk" by many people and that title seems to be accurate. He came from a wealthy background and his parents set up a trust fund for him which allowed him to lead a life outside of the mainstream and protest the establishment. He used quite a bit of left wing propaganda in his writing and speaking, but revealed himself to be a nihilist underneath it all. He chose to live among poor drug addicts and became one even though he had the means lead a much better lifestyle. Many punks also live this way, for a little while at least.

Kurt Cobain has been called a murder of punk by many people because he brought it to the mainstream which is accurate to some. He came from a very dysfunctional, lower class family. As a child, he was treated by doctors for ADD with Ritalin and sedatives, which he became addicted to, and was unable to break free of. He was a victim of the establishment and eventually forced out of it which landed him in the underground. The depression he spoke of in his music was real and could be seen in the nihilistic manner he lived his life. Once he had the chance to use his talent and knowledge to escape the life he was living, he took it. Punks hate sellouts.

The combination of these two figures of the underground culture is absolutely brilliant. Burroughs represents the beginning of punk and Cobain represents the end. It's kind of like a birthday and a funeral all rolled into one. Burroughs' upperclass, arty writing style from the 1950's that inspired punks the next few decades finally filtered down to the trailer parks that spawned Cobain in the 1980's. Punk has officially completed its journey through all parts of popular culture and landed at the bottom. "Priest They Called Him" could be considered a celebration of this journey.
The story read by Burroughs, while Cobain tortures his guitar, could be interpreted in so many different ways as it relates to the characters that perform it. If you know anything about punk or underground music or even pop culture, then this album is a must. May 16, 2005

not your typical "night before Christmas"

A very dark and grim story, the narration is perfectly interpreted by Kurt Cobain's harsh guitar. The music seems to express what's going on inside the heart of the priest in this story. Especially incredible is the junkie priest's death as we seem to hear his soul spiral out of this world into oblivion. A haunting story for Christmas and an incredible performance by Cobain. July 17, 2002

If you like this...

If you like this, you should really get Burroughs and Ministry on their "Just on Fix" CD single. There's a track called "quick fix" which is as good as the priest (the only drawback is that it's even shorter than this 9 minute masterpiece). November 30, 2001

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