"PLEASE KILL ME - THE UNCENSORED ORAL HISTORY OF PUNK"

LEGS MCNEIL and GILLIAN MCCAIN.

Little Brown and Company UK (1996) ISBN 0316 88147 3

Essential reading for all dirty rock & roll fans. If you didn't know that Punk first surfaced in America you definitely need this book. Mind you I think anybody that enjoyed the movie Pulp Fiction would probably enjoy this book, only they would struggle to believe that this is a true story.

Please Kill Me is as the title says an oral history of Punk. Apart from brief forays to the motor city and London this is really the story of New York Punk's brief reign and decadent misunderstood demise.

Thousands of interviews with the guilty parties have been sewn together to tell one hell of a story. I guess you could say it's like a movie script only this is one movie that Hollywood could never pull off.

Although at first it's just like reading a play. That is it takes you awhile to get used to but after frequent consultations of the cast list at the back of the book you'll soon pick it up.

It all adds up to a unique first person perspective of events as they unfold. As William Burroughs says on the cover " A beautifully organized collection . . . I felt like I was there . . . wait a minute I was there ! ".

The plot goes something like this. The Velvet Undergound hook up with Andy Warhol and his freaky crew of speed freaks. Meanwhile soon after in Detroit Danny Fields (the guy who discovered the Doors) signs the MC5 and their little brother band the Stooges to Electra records.

You will be entranced as New York and everybody's excesses start to take their toll. A luck bunch of folks are 'having a real cool time'. The music is way ahead of it's time. Only the coolest cats get it and it doesn't sell.

Maverick rock critic Lester Bangs is one of the very few in the music media who are impressed by this musical movement. Around this time our co-author Legs McNeil and his Detroit buddies Mary Harron and John Holmstrom move to New York and start 'PUNK' magazine thus giving the music a name.

Meanwhile Iggy and the boys melt down on heroin and are dropped by Electra and hook up with David Bowie. The punk rock of 'Raw Power' gives way to the glam rock of the New York Dolls as they lead the second wave of punk that includes the Dictators, Television, the Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie, and the Dead Boys.

Malcolm Maclaren rears his head for the first time trying to manage and mold a bunch of mostly junk fucked New York Dolls. It doesn't work but it gives him lots of ideas.

Then we basically get the American reaction to the arrival of English Punk and many including the author are dismayed at how mindless and destructive English Punk turns out to be when it washes up on their shores.

Along with the musicians you get to meet all the scenesters. Managers, promoters, producers, girl friends, roadies, bar owners and don't forget this was the era of the super groupies who were almost stars in their own right.

The speed slowly gives way to smack as many of the cast need a serious hand to unwind after years of speeding their tits off. This takes it's toll and many of the characters die tragic deaths.

Danny Fields is adamant that " all musicians are assholes " and there is little evidence to contrary as most of our anti-heroes turn out to be just that. Plenty of shallow beautiful people with junk fucked mega egos on show here.

Either way this book is one of my all time favourites and the sound track takes a lot of beating I can assure you. This book will enrich your life buy it !!