Jim Carroll, R.I.P.

Punk poet and musician Jim Carroll has died at the age of 60 (NYT obituary). I guess that one of the most disturbing aspects of growing older is seeing the deaths of old friends and cultural icons, the reality of which brings us closer to our own mortality.

Jim Carroll had an immeasurable effect on my own writing and attitude. After reading about him in Creem magazine or somewhere, I picked up Carroll's Living At The Movies (1973) poetry collection, which blew my mind. This was my first real exposure to poetry outside of a few English classes in junior high, and the freedom of the imagery, and Carroll's grungy street-smart insight fired up my imagination. Carroll opened the door, for me, to Patti Smith, Charles Bukowski, and so much more. When The Basketball Diaries was published a few years later, the brilliance and honesty of Carroll's prose was simply blinding.

Carroll, the poet, became a musician at the urging of his friend Patti Smith, and Keith Richards helped the poet-rocker get a deal with Atlantic Records. The Jim Carroll Band would become best known for the raucous "People Who Died," from their acclaimed 1980 debut Catholic Boy, but they'd release two more albums -- Dry Dreams in 1982 and I Write Your Name in 1984. A punk rocker in every sense of the word, Carroll broke up the band during the mid-80s and returned to writing poetry and doing spoken word performances. Carroll would keep one foot in the rock & roll world, however, writing lyrics for Blue Oyster Cult, Boz Scaggs, and in a nifty lil' bit of symmetry, Bay area punks Rancid. Carroll released Praying Mantis, a collection of spoken word pieces, in 1991.

The Basketball Diaries would be made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, but his flirtation with the mainstream culture was fleeting.Carroll's importance is in the way that he legitimized the underground, his fusion of poetry and rock, and his vision and insight. He will be missed....

Jim Carroll Band - "Wicked Gravity"


Jim Carroll Band - "Sweet Jane"