I was recently reading a fun UPROXX article about Hunter S. Thompson’s appearing in pop culture. Of course this didn’t include the good doctor’s own contributions to said pop culture. This article mostly talked about biopics like Where the Buffalo Roam, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Rum Diaries. But it was also smart enough to mention Spider Jerusalem in the mix and savvy commenters were quick to add Colonel Hunter Gathers from the Venture Bros. cartoon.

I really like all of these Hunter happenings, but nothing beats the man himself. Here’s a bit about the Gonzo Tapes which give us the clearest glimpse we’re likely to get of the mad one’s demons and angels…

…from early missives on the Hells Angels and classic selections from Thompson’s seminal Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to trenchant 1972 presidential campaign coverage and reportage from the front lines of the Vietnam War.

The Gonzo Tapes wildly unspool the hidden history of the ’70s in a way few documentaries can. It’s not music to the ears, but fans of gonzo journalism, American history and pop culture will find themselves an embarrassment of foul-mouthed riches.

The tapes were released in a CD box set a while back, but, of course, they’re also available on my YouTube page…

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Fear and Loathing On the Road to Hollywood is a documentary featuring writer Hunter S. Thompson and artist Ralph Steadman on a road trip to Tinsel Town. Also known as Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision, the Documentary Heaven site has the skinny…

A fascinating, 30 year old BBC documentary on the Good Doctor and Ralph Steadman, five years after Nixon’s resignation, and on a road trip to Hollywood (to work on what would become Where the Buffalo Roam).

Includes an interesting scene of John Dean chatting with Hunter about his Watergate testimony (at about 32 minutes), the birth of the “Re-Elect Nixon Campaign” (with a Bill Murray cameo), and a remarkably eerie scene with Hunter and Ralph planning Hunter’s final monument and his ashes being shot into the air, long before the actual fact.

Here is Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision. YouTube has removed the sound on most versions of this due to copyright infringement, but this playlist has audio up through the last 6 minutes — the best version available…

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Please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I archive all of the videos I curate at Insomnia. Click here to check out more Counter Culture posts.