In general usage, "Gonzo" refers to Gonzo journalism, a style of first-person confrontational journalism developed by Hunter S. Thompson in the early 1970s.
Another speculation is that the word may have been inspired by the 1960 hit song "Gonzo" by New Orleans rhythm and blues pianist James Booker.
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Gonzo journalism has now become a bona-fide style of writing that concerns itself with "telling it like it is", similar to the New Journalism of the 1960s, led primarily by Tom Wolfe and also championed by Lester Bangs, George Plimpton, Terry Southern, and John Birmingham—in fact, gonzo journalism is considered a sub-genre of new journalism.
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The late Gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson wrote that he believed himself to be the resurrected Lono while on assignment in Hawaii for Running magazine with artist and friend Ralph Steadman.
It is a gonzo-esque quest to find the Holy Grail by punk rock legend Rat Scabies, the one-time drummer of The Damned, with whom Dawes strikes up a friendship when the two become neighbours in the London suburb of Brentford.
Scanlan's is best-remembered for featuring several articles by Hunter S. Thompson, and especially for what is considered the first instance of gonzo journalism, Thompson's "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved".
La Jerga: Periodismo Gonzo Independiente (Independent Gonzo Journalism) is a free, bilingual (Spanish and English), gonzo newspaper established in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico in April 2003, that has been publishing consistently monthly for the past four years.