Tosches, who had a taste for rock and country (and their far fringes) “and his fellow music writers Richard Meltzer and Lester Bangs were labeled ‘the Noise Boys’ for their wild, energetic prose” in the 1960s and 1970s. He also wrote many biographies, including a famous, perhaps infamous, one of Dean Martin. He said of that 1992 book, “Life is a racket. … Writing is a racket. Sincerity is a racket. Everything’s a racket.” – The New York Times