Albert Goldman
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- For the Trotskyist and labor movement lawyer, see Albert Goldman (politician).
Albert Harry Goldman (April 15, 1927 – March 28, 1994) was an American professor and author.
Born in Dormont, Pennsylvania, Albert Goldman wrote about the culture and personalities of the American music industry both in books and as a contributor to magazines. However, he is best known for his controversial biographies of Elvis Presley, John Lennon and Lenny Bruce.
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[edit] Written work
Goldman's breakthrough bestseller, Ladies and Gentlemen - Lenny Bruce!!! won praise from the likes of Norman Mailer and Pauline Kael, who called the book "brilliant." The book was largely positive in its appraisal of Bruce's talent, though it was attacked by many of Bruce's friends for allegedly distorting his character. Goldman had done legal work for Bruce before the latter's death.
Goldman's 1981 biography Elvis probably aroused more controversy. In this book, the author drew on more than four years' research into Presley's life. But for many, his research was undone by his intense personal dislike of Presley. For instance, Goldman dismissed Presley as a plagiarist who never did anything of note after his first records at Sun Records, insisting that he was inferior as an artist to Little Richard and other early rock'n'roll singers. He also portrayed Presley as nearly insane, using stories that some might see as innocuous (such as Presley taking his friends halfway across the country to buy them peanut-butter sandwiches) to "prove" that the singer had lost his grip on reality. The author belittled the late singer over his weight problems, his diet, his choice of performing costumes, and his sexual appetites and peculiarities. He even suggests that Elvis's promiscuity masked latent homosexuality.
In a review in the Village Voice, Greil Marcus wrote: "The real significance of Goldman's 'Elvis' is its attempt at cultural genocide ... The torrents of hate that drive this book are unrelieved." Furthermore, he particularly objected to Goldman's constant slurs against Presley's background, including his characterization of Presley's parents as "the original Beverly Hillbillies."[citation needed] Other critics liked the book. Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post called it a "nasty book, written in spectacularly execrable prose, but the view of Presley that it expressed dovetailed in many instances with my own, and in spite of itself I found things in it to admire."[citation needed] Lamar Fike, the Presley insider and former member of the Memphis Mafia, who introduced Goldman to many of his sources, recalled: "The problem was Albert's personality. At first, he liked Elvis. But later, he started disliking him. And by the end of (writing) the book, I think he hated him. I said, 'Albert, you can't do this.' But I couldn't stop him."[citation needed]
In 2006, BLENDER Magazine cited Elvis as the worst rock bio ever, stating that Goldman dealt with everything about Elvis Presley but his music. The book was an example of an author hating his subject and it showed. The magazine also pointed out that Goldman did not cite any sources to his controversial claims.
In 1982, Goldman wrote a very unflattering article on actor Bruce Lee which was divided into two parts for Penthouse Magazine (Jan, Feb 1983 issues).
In 1990, Goldman published a second book, entitled Elvis: The Last 24 Hours, on the circumstances and events of Presley's death, arguing that the singer had committed suicide. The book drew some attention for its sensational thesis but was largely ignored.
Goldman's next biography was about John Lennon. In the book, Goldman made many controversial allegations, among them the charge that Lennon had a homosexual relationship with The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, and that he may have had something to do with the untimely death of his friend Stuart Sutcliffe, an early member of The Beatles. Yoko Ono was portrayed in an even worse light, and Goldman alleged that the two carried on constant affairs throughout their marriage.
Concerning Goldman's account of Lennon's consumption of LSD, Luc Sante, in the New York Review of Books, said: "Goldman's background research was either slovenly or nonexistent." The author replied:
- "What is the basis for this sweeping and defamatory assertion? Absolutely nothing save for my quoting only one book about LSD. Yet if Sante knew anything about drugs, he would recognize that the only serious problem about Lennon's consumption of LSD was one that has no literature; namely, the question of what effect this drug has upon a man who takes it every day, eating it 'like candy.' "
Goldman died in 1994 en route to London. He left unfinished a biography of Doors singer Jim Morrison.
[edit] Family
Goldman is survived by a daughter in her early thirties. Goldman never married the girl's mother (now deceased), who had no connection with their daughter.
[edit] Partial bibliography
- Freakshow;: The rocksoulbluesjazzsickjewblackhumorsexpoppsych gig and other scenes from the counter-culture (1971)
- Ladies and Gentlemen - Lenny Bruce!! (1974)
- Carnival in Rio (1978)
- Grass Roots: Marijuana in America Today (1979)
- Disco (1979)
- Elvis (1981)
- The Lives of John Lennon (1988)
- Elvis: The Last 24 Hours (1990)
- Sound Bites (1992)
- Freakshow : Misadventures in the Counterculture, 1959-1971 (2001) - posthumous collection
