Iggy Pop, Sonic Youth Praise William S. Burroughs' Punk Spirit in Documentary

"I am not punk and don't know why anyone would consider me the godfather of punk," William S. Burroughs said. So, why would artists like Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Jello Biafra and Thurston Moore associate the legendary 'Naked Lunch' writer with the genre? Maybe it's because he was a compulsive anti-authoritarian who came crashing out of the suburban stagnation of the '50s, cutting up poetry, shooting guns and heroin, refusing to conform and influencing an entire movement.

The new documentary 'William S. Burroughs: A Man Within,' which opens at the IFC Center on Nov. 17, portrays the late author as a catalyst of New York's music culture of the '70s. In the exclusive clip below, fans can see Pop and Biafra discuss Burroughs' legacy and, at the start of the excerpt, catch a glimpse of Sonic Youth members hanging out in the author's backyard in 1993.


From appearing at CBGB and on the cover of the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band' to coining the term "Soft Machine," Burroughs was intimately connected to the music world. Smith sang to him, Pop dedicated his "most depraved" songs to him and Biafra mimicked his cut-up poetry technique for the Dead Kennedys. In the film, he even whips out a scissored-and-taped lyric draft to prove it.

Still, as the movie shows, Burroughs never identified as a punk, beatnik or homosexual; he was always an outsider, even for the outsiders to whom he spoke. 'William S. Burroughs: A Man Within' is only partially about the music, but it does give fans an explicit, heroic and tragic vision of a rebel cultural figure.

With clips of Burroughs with Allen Ginsberg and Andy Warhol, original music by Sonic Youth and more insights from Genesis P-Orridge, Laurie Anderson, John Waters and David Cronenberg, 'William S. Burroughs: A Man Within' opens in select US theaters this month.



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