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Old 02-27-2009, 02:09 PM   #639
troutman
Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
 
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Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Crowsnest Pass
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rogermexico View Post
For this round I'll use my Wildcard pick to select Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.



This is a really fantastic book in a lot of ways. Legs was one of the editors of Punk magazine, the New York fanzine that was at ground zero of the Lower East Side/Bowery rock and roll scene centered around CBGBs and Max's Kansas City. The structure of the book - it's completely comprised of direct quotations without any kind of editorial interjection - make it really lively and unreliable in the best possible sense of the word.

All the key characters are here - Lou Reed, Andy Warhol, Iggy Pop, Richard Hell, Debbie Harry, Johnny Thunders, Dee Dee Ramone, Lester Bangs - but it's the side characters and other voices that really make the book. The hangers on from the Factory, the groupies and junkies from the periphery, the lesser know characters and players, like Jayne County and Peter Laughner.

It's a sad, squalid, morbid book, and is often truly heartbreaking. Reading about the last days of Thunders, or Nico, or Stiv Bators, is really gut wrenching. You don't need to care about punk rock to enjoy the book, but if you do, it will change the way you listen to a lot of those old records.
I loved that book. It is a miracle Iggy Pop is alive today.
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