I've had Please Kill Me: the Uncensored History of Punk (1996) on my shelf for a while and after the recent death of Lou Reed and after having recently read Patti Smith's memoir, Just Kids, it seemed like the time was right to read it. Some people might say Lou Reed punk rock? But I think it's right to include the early proto punk bands like the Velvet Underground, MC5, The New York Dolls, and Iggy and the Stooges, since direct links to the scene that was to follow started there. It also shows how all the early CBGB bands (Television, Richard Hell and the Voivods, Patti Smith, The Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads among others) were started and those that sprung up in other places like Cleveland with The Dead Boys and over the sea in England. So all of these connections told mostly in chronological order was informative. However, this history comes across as more gossipy than other histories of punk that I have read with remembrances from groupies and girlfriends. This approached resulted in a demystification of some of my rock heroes who come off as arrogant, selfish, and self-destructive fuck ups. There are much too many stories of drug use and effort expended to score drugs--what a boring existence. It seems amazing that any music got written at all.
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