Creem (which is always capitalized in print as CREEM despite the magazine’s masthead appearing in lower case letters), “America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine,” was a monthly rock ‘n’ roll publication first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. It suspended production in 1989 but received a short-lived renaissance in the early 1990s as a glossy tabloid. Lester Bangs, often cited as “America’s Greatest Rock Critic,” became editor in 1971.

Lester Bangs loved the Guess Who, as evidenced by his effusive review of Live At The Paramount.

Lester Bangs was an American music journalist who wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazine. To date, he is revered as perhaps the greatest American music journalist of all time. He died in 1982. He is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in the film.

An anti-war sentiment— it’s Bowie’s way of saying how perverse it is that the world grows and flourishes because of war.

Bowie isn’t quite the youngster he once was. At age 66, he’s in the twilight of his career.

Bowie has written many “songs of dust,” as he recorded the entirety of his 1976 LP Station to Station under the influence of cocaine.

Bowie postulating that war isn’t the opposite of love, but the theft of it.

Bowie has chosen several personas over the years, and it’s safe to say he hasn’t settled on one (yet).

Some grim imagery here: Note how Bowie mentions his “bloody history” with this woman in the previous line, then visualizes her dead body hanging from a beam.

Bowie delivers an ominous threat to this unnamed woman. She better watch her back, because one of these nights she’ll be shot dead with a silent pistol, leaving no trace of evidence.