Best Of

A selection of our top stories, for your reading pleasure…

PLEASE READ ME: THE BEST OF 2020, PART II

PKM EditorDecember 30, 2020

Keep that tankard of coffee warm because here’s another bracing batch of 2020’s top stories on Please Kill Me. These include features and interviews on the Cramps front man Lux Interior; the peerless bassist, Gail Ann Dorsey (who played for years wit...

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PLEASE READ ME: THE BEST OF 2020, PART I

PKM EditorDecember 28, 2020

Put another log on the fire, top that tankard of coffee, and kick back with Please Kill Me’s Top stories of 2020…starring Poison Ivy and Lux Interior, united again in a tandem of stories by Ingrid Jensen; the tough-talking Carol Kaye, bassist extraor...

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LUX INTERIOR: WHERE ON EARTH DID YOU COME FROM?

Ingrid JensenNovember 23, 2020

The Cramps’ frontman was impossible to miss, on or off stage, the perfect foil to his equally striking partner in life and music, Poison Ivy Rorschach. Ingrid Jensen reflects on what made the former Erick Lee Purkhiser, a suburban boy from Ohio steep...

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GOIN’ HOME WITH THE ROLLING STONES

Tosh BermanNovember 16, 2020

Thinking about moving into your first home away from the family? Well, there was a time when even the members of the Rolling Stones had to go through that rite of passage. A new collection of photographs by Gered Mankowitz, of the band’s various memb...

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POISON IVY OF THE CRAMPS: UNCROWNED QUEEN OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL

Ingrid JensenOctober 27, 2020

Poison Ivy Rorschach, lead guitarist, songwriter, arranger, producer and sometime vocalist of one of the greatest bands in the universe, the Cramps, which she co-founded with her lifetime partner Lux Interior (RIP), has yet to get her crown. Well, PK...

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IN THE LIMELIGHT: THE VISUAL ECSTASY OF NYC NIGHTLIFE IN THE ‘90S

Cree McCreeOctober 20, 2020

Steve Eichner was the photo king of NYC mega-clubs. He is also a chameleon who moved seamlessly through the multiverse of colliding worlds that was New York City nightlife in the 1990s. Cree McCree talked with the photographer about his career and a ...

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BADFINGER: THE TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY OF ‘THE NEXT BEATLES’

Scott SchinderOctober 1, 2020

Signed to Apple with direct hands-on help from all of the Beatles, particularly Paul (who gave them “Come and Get It”) and George (who co-produced their 3rd album), Badfinger was ‘on top of the world’ by the early 1970s. Ten years later, two members...

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ROLLING STONE: LIFE AND DEATH OF BRIAN JONES

Gary LucasSeptember 7, 2020

The acclaimed guitarist Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart, Jeff Buckley, Gods and Monsters, Lou Reed, et al.) has long held a special flame for Brian Jones, the co-founder of the Rolling Stones whose deep love of American blues gave the band a gritty edg...

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TINA BELL’S HIDDEN LEGACY: THE BLACK WOMAN WHO CREATED THE SOUND OF GRUNGE

Jen B. LarsonSeptember 3, 2020

In 1983, the Seattle band Bam Bam, fronted by a talented, elegant Black woman named Tina Bell, created a sound and lyrical foundation for a genre that white men with knit hats and plaid shirts would later make famous as "grunge." Bell was backed by h...

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GAIL ANN DORSEY: LIFE BEFORE AND AFTER BOWIE

Robert GourleyAugust 20, 2020

After two decades as a member of David Bowie’s band, Gail Ann Dorsey never put her bass guitar down, becoming an indispensable part of Lenny Kravitz’s band and pursuing other solo and collaborative projects, including recent work with The National. B...

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HERE’S LOOKING AT HUGH: THE STRANGLERS’ HUGH CORNWELL SPEAKS

Anthony PetkovichAugust 10, 2020

The former guitarist/vocalist of the classic English punk band has, since he left the Stranglers, had a long and wide-ranging solo career as both a musician and writer. Cornwell talks at length about his musical roots, solo projects, friendships with...

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THE PRETTIEST STAR: ANGIE BOWIE-BARNETT CARRIES ON

Lucretia Tye JasmineAugust 6, 2020

She helped make her now-legendary husband David Bowie a star—managed his early career, shaped his Ziggy alter ego, even sewed his costumes—but had enough after 10 years and one child (film director Duncan Jones). When faced with what to do for an enc...

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SLANT 6: STRAIGHT OUTTA WASHINGTON, D.C. IN THE ’90S

Eric DavidsonJuly 13, 2020

Catching some wind from the Riot Grrrl Movement but sailing mostly on their own, the all-female trio Slant 6 created a sound—minimalist garage rock influenced by everyone from Blondie, Wire, the Breeders and the Gories to the Kinks and Ramones—that w...

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HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT: UNRAVELING A MYSTERY

Jim PowellJuly 2, 2020

Jeff Krulik and John Heyn’s 1986 film Heavy Metal Parking Lot has become an unlikely cult classic. In less than 20 minutes, the film—culled from footage taken in a parking lot outside a DC-area venue where Judas Priest was playing—captured all one mi...

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John Battles on SYLVAIN SYLVAIN: SLEEP BABY DOLLThis is gutting news , about Sylvain Sylvain's death. I used to promote his solo gigs in Chicago , and we became pretty good friends , though I lost touch with him after The Dolls reformed. It's true , he was , in fact , a real mensch with a
paul childs on LABEL CONSCIOUS: EXPLORING ‘LOST’ MUSIC OF THE 1970SI love it when the music that was the core of what I listened to gets called 'lost'. Confirms I was doing something right, back in the day...........
Christopher Ghiardi on SYLVAIN SYLVAIN: SLEEP BABY DOLLCaught a Sylvain show at the Metro Cafe in DC early this century. Highlights included a very beautiful version of "Femme Fatale". Must have been around Valentine's day as he was kind enough to sign a large heart decoration for me.

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MARISKA VERES: BEYOND ‘VENUS’ AND SHOCKING BLUE

SYLVAIN SYLVAIN: SLEEP BABY DOLL

LET THE SUNSHINE IN: THE ENDURING MYTHS OF HAIR

Best Of

PLEASE READ ME: THE BEST OF 2020, PART II

PLEASE READ ME: THE BEST OF 2020, PART I

LUX INTERIOR: WHERE ON EARTH DID YOU COME FROM?

Best Of

PLEASE READ ME: THE BEST OF 2020, PART II

PLEASE READ ME: THE BEST OF 2020, PART I

LUX INTERIOR: WHERE ON EARTH DID YOU COME FROM?

GOIN’ HOME WITH THE ROLLING STONES

POISON IVY OF THE CRAMPS: UNCROWNED QUEEN OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL

IN THE LIMELIGHT: THE VISUAL ECSTASY OF NYC NIGHTLIFE IN THE ‘90S

BADFINGER: THE TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY OF ‘THE NEXT BEATLES’

ROLLING STONE: LIFE AND DEATH OF BRIAN JONES

TINA BELL’S HIDDEN LEGACY: THE BLACK WOMAN WHO CREATED THE SOUND OF GRUNGE

GAIL ANN DORSEY: LIFE BEFORE AND AFTER BOWIE

HERE’S LOOKING AT HUGH: THE STRANGLERS’ HUGH CORNWELL SPEAKS

THE PRETTIEST STAR: ANGIE BOWIE-BARNETT CARRIES ON

SLANT 6: STRAIGHT OUTTA WASHINGTON, D.C. IN THE ’90S

HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT: UNRAVELING A MYSTERY

MARISKA VERES: BEYOND ‘VENUS’ AND SHOCKING BLUE

SYLVAIN SYLVAIN: SLEEP BABY DOLL

LET THE SUNSHINE IN: THE ENDURING MYTHS OF HAIR

LABEL CONSCIOUS: EXPLORING ‘LOST’ MUSIC OF THE 1970S

DON VAN VLIET AND FRANK ZAPPA: TWO PEAS IN A MISSHAPEN POD