“Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of fuel,” wrote Hunter S Thompson. “On some nights, I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.”
The pioneer of Gonzo journalism’s musical taste was as eclectic as his writing style. From rock ‘n’ roll anthems to bluesy ballads, his favourite records show a mosaic of influences that resonate deeply with his maverick persona.
Where Were You When The Fun Stopped?, a compilation released in 1999, reveals the Good Doctor’s favourites – some obvious, some not. Most poignant for admirers is the inclusion of The Ballad Of Thunder Road by Robert Mitchum, which six years after the album’s release would be played on a boombox by family members in the private ambulance that took Thompson’s body away from his Owl Farm cabin in Woody Creek, Colorado following his suicide.
Thompson’s selection includes a handful of tracks synonymous with his golden years as the most notorious – and arguably the most popular – in America. There is American Pie by Don McLean, The Weigh by The Band, Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed, Maggie May by Rod Stewart and, naturally – White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane, which plays a key part in Thompson’s comic masterpiece Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.
There is also Mr Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan, a hero who Thompson compared to Ernest Hemingway. He once wrote: “Dylan is a goddamn phenomenon, pure gold and as mean as a snake,” though he also admitted, “Dylan is not one of my favourite singers, but I do admire his gumption and his originality, and I find myself liking his songs a lot.” This was certainly one of his favourites – one of the dedications in Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas is “Bob Dylan, for Mister Tambourine Man.” The song was played at Thompson’s funeral, shortly before his ashes were fired into the air in a giant firework, accompanied by Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit in the Sky, also on the CD.
Thompson’s friend Warren Zevon (“their work shared a certain twisted energy,” said writer Carl Hiaasen) features twice on the album – his own recording of The Hula Hula Boys and a version of his Carmelita by Flaco Jiminez. Other selections reflect Thomson’s love of country – If I Had a Boat by Lyle Lovett, Stars on the Water by Rodney Crowell and Will The Circle Be Unbroken? By the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – as well as blues – I Smell a Rat’ by Howlin’ Wolf – and the Allman Brothers’ Melissa, which may fall in between.
There are tracks that seem to sum up Thompson’s lifestyle – The Wild Side of Life by Hank Thompson and Why Don’t We Get Drunk by Jimmy Buffet. And there is The Battle Hymn of the Republic by flautist Herbie Mann, from his 1969 album Memphis Underground, which played a part in Thompson’s 1970 campaign for Sheriff of Aspen.
Thompson was also a fan of The Grateful Dead (“if the Grateful Dead came to town, I’d beat my way in with a fucking tire iron, if necessary,” he once wrote), The Doors – “especially ‘The End’… and anything off the first album” – and Neil Young, of whom he said, “I’ve spent half my life trying to figure out how to put across a highly sophisticated, subtle message in simple language, and Neil Young does it with one word.” Perhaps not surprisingly, he bonded with the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards and counted their 1969 album Let It Bleed as his favourite.
Also namechecked in his novels, journalism and letters are Dancing the Night Away by country/rock group Amazing Rhythm Aces, Bad ‘n’ Ruin by The Faces, Country Song by The Original Caste and One Toke Over the Line by Brewer & Shipley.
Albums he loved include Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain (1960), Inventions by Sandy Bull (1965), Buffalo Springfield’s self-titled 1966 debut and Eric Von Schmidt’s Who Knocked the Brains Out of the Sky? (1969).
Music played an indispensable role in Thompson’s life, adding layers to his iconic persona. It’s interesting, though, to wonder what his life and writing would have been like had he kept listening to stuff like his childhood favourite, Galway Bay by Bing Crosby.