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Please Kill Me : The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain is a 1996 non-fiction book that chronicles the birth, rise, and self-destruction of the punk rock movement through firsthand, unedited interview transcripts.
Core Overview
• Format: Written entirely as an oral history, using curated quotes and dialogue directly from the musicians, artists, and troublemakers who lived it.
• Publication: First published in 1996 by Grove Press and later reissued in various editions, including a 20th-anniversary release with extra photos.
• Scope: Traces the genre from its 1960s proto-punk roots (like Andy Warhol's Factory scene, The Velvet Underground, and MC5) through the New York CBGB era (The Ramones, Richard Hell, Blondie, The New York Dolls) to the implosion of the scene in the late 1970s and early '80s.
Key Themes & Subjects
• The Raw Scene: Focuses heavily on the gritty New York and Detroit club scenes, specifically venues like Max's Kansas City and CBGB.
• Featured Figures: Features chaotic and colorful firsthand accounts from icons like Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Dee Dee Ramone, Nico, and Malcolm McLaren.
• Chaos and Excess: Explores the DIY artistic energy alongside the heavy drug addiction, self-destruction, and interpersonal drama that decimated many of the movement's pioneers.
As noted by a consensus of readers on Reddit, the book leans heavily into the proto-punk and early New York underground rather than later hardcore or global punk waves, offering a raw, highly entertaining, and often brutal look at rock history.
