Best Of Archives

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

The Velvet Underground in 1970: Doug Yule, left, Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison and Moe Tucker. (Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)

DOUG YULE: THE FORGOTTEN VELVET

Richie Unterberger·October 16, 2018

He appeared on more Velvet Underground recordings than John Cale or Nico and yet he is seldom mentioned in documentaries about the band, and was not included in the induction of the VU into the Rock & Roll Hall of...

All Please Kill Me Posts Best Of History Interviews Musicians Richie Unterberger

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STERLING SPEAKS! STERLING MORRISON’S LAST INTERVIEW WITH LEGS MCNEIL, 1995

Legs McNeil·October 11, 2018

Sterling Morrison (1942-1995) was the guitarist for the Velvet Underground, appearing on all four studio albums that the band made. He left the band in 1971 and moved to Texas to finish graduate school, became both a tugboat captain and...

All Please Kill Me Posts Best Of Cool People History Interviews Legs McNeil Musicians

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Herman's Hermits in 1968. From L-R: Keith Hopwood, Karl Green, Derek Leckenby, frontman Peter Noone, and Barry Whitwam. By NBC Television

PETER NOONE IS THE BIGGEST SEX PISTOLS FAN EVER! AND OTHER STARTLING REVELATIONS FROM THE HEAD HERMIT

Valerie Simadis·October 4, 2018

The former child TV star was part of the British Invasion that conquered America, chums with Keith Moon, Brian Jones and John Lennon, recorded with Bowie, and still tours and tells tales on his Sirius XM show “Something Good With...

All Please Kill Me Posts Best Of Interviews Musicians Valerie Simadis

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THE JOYS OF RENT BOYS AND DRAG QUEENS, THE STOOGES AND BOWIE: A CONVERSATION WITH LEEE BLACK CHILDERS

PKM Editor·September 27, 2018

Photographer and scene maker Leee Black Childers on his wild and woolly ride with Iggy, the Stooges, David Bowie, Andy Warhol, Candy Darling, Jackie Curtis, Wayne/Jayne County, underage groupies, leather boys, and in the gay bars and bathhouses of NYC...

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THE ‘5TH RAMONE’ SPEAKS!

Michael Shelley·September 24, 2018

Ramones Tour Manager Monte A. Melnick on the fights, the insanity, and the passions! The Ramones formed in March of 1974 and broke up in August of 1996 and Monte A. Melnick was a witness to almost every moment of...

All Please Kill Me Posts Best Of History Interviews Michael Shelley

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THE MC5’S WAYNE KRAMER TALKS ABOUT THE HARD STUFF

Todd McGovern·September 3, 2018

Fifty years after the recording of the MC5’s first album Kick Out the Jams and the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Wayne Kramer talks about his new memoir, the formation of the MC5, playing at the protest outside the Chicago...

All Please Kill Me Posts Best Of Cool People Interviews Musicians Todd McGovern

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GTOs with the Flying Burrito Brothers in front of the Whisky - Photo by Julian Wasser, courtesy of Pamela Des Barres

SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO: GRAM PARSONS

Pamela Des Barres·August 30, 2018

First spotted at the premiere of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, Gram Parsons – the new Byrd, then Flying Burrito Brother and later, solo artist – made an instant lifelong impression You know how potent that often unexpected moments in our...

All Please Kill Me Posts Best Of Musicians Pamela Des Barres

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BILL GRIFFITH: THE VIEW FROM HIS COMIX OBSERVATORY

Alan Bisbort·August 29, 2018

The brilliant cartoonist, comic strip artist, creator of Zippy the Pinhead, inspirer of Belushi/Ackroyd and keeper of the underground comix flame, turns his hand to his Levittown childhood and to the life and times of Schlitzie, circus sideshow star Bill...

Alan Bisbort All Please Kill Me Posts Art Best Of Comedy Cool People Interviews

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PROFESSOR RAT SCABIES MEETS THE HOLY GRAIL

Amy Haben·August 16, 2018

Rat Scabies, longtime drummer for The Damned (real name: Chris Millar), has continued pounding the skins while also teaching at universities. PKM spoke to him about his collaborations with Donovan and the Dandy Warhols, his solo album, and more. We...

All Please Kill Me Posts Amy Haben Best Of Interviews Musicians

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GLITTER MANIA AT THE RAINBOW FOR ELTON JOHN’S BIRTHDAY, 1974

Nora Novak·August 6, 2018

Set the Wayback Machine for the Sunset Strip in 1974, at a decadent rock ‘n’ roll palace during the peak of glitter-mania, with special guests David Bowie, Elton John, and two ‘Rainbow Ready’ ladies It was a cool spring night...

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THE LONESOME DEATH OF DANNY RAPP: THE FRONT MAN FOR DANNY & THE JUNIORS

Burt Kearns·July 24, 2018

Danny Rapp, the man who first sang “Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay” and “At The Hop” stumbled and fell after stardom faded by Burt Kearns & Jeff Abraham The Juvenairs were four teenagers from southwest Philadelphia who got...

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THE LEGEND OF WHITE BOY RICK – THE FBI INFORMANT WHO WAS SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON AT AGE 17

Chris Simunek·June 21, 2018

At 14, Richard Wershe Jr. infiltrated the Detroit drug trade for the FBI. He then turned his street knowledge into a lucrative cocaine business, until he was busted at 17 and sentenced to life in prison. Due to the journalism...

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BEHIND THE SHADE WITH JAMES WILLIAMSON

James Marshall·June 7, 2018

Former Stooges guitarist James Williamson talks about his new album, Behind the Shade, and new band the Pink Hearts; including Petra Haden, Frank Meyer (ex-Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs), Gregg Foreman (Cat Power), and Don Cooke James Williamson has certainly not been resting on his laurels. In...

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THE TRUTH BEHIND THE BRAWL BETWEEN JOHN LENNON AND CHRIS MONTEZ IN 1963! EXCLUSIVE!

Burt Kearns·May 23, 2018

Eyewitness accounts finally reveal what really happened in the brawl between John Lennon and Chris Montez, which has become one of the great urban legends of rock & roll! It was March, 1963. Chris Montez’s rock & roll career had just...

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Jack Kerouac based his muse/lover “Mardou Fox” in The Subterraneans on Alene Lee, a mixed race (Black/Cherokee) bohemian writer and intellectual who was a part of the NYC Beat circle of Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Lucien Carr. Despite her intimate connection to these writers, the real Alene Lee is nowhere to be found in most accounts and biographies—partly due to her own reticence to speak. Erika Blair did some digging and presents a more rounded portrait of this fascinating woman. Read more!

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SAM CUTLER: LIFE WITH THE STONES, THE DEAD & OTHER WONDERFUL REPROBATES

ALL THE RAJ: HOW ‘NORWEGIAN WOOD’ UNLEASHED THE ‘INDIAN INVASION’

THE KNACK … AND HOW TO GET IT: AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESCOTT NILES

Best Of

PLEASE READ ME: THE BEST OF PKM FOR 2021, PART II

UTOPIA PARKWAY: THE ENDURING MYSTERY OF JOSEPH CORNELL

RUTH UNDERWOOD: A MOTHER OF INVENTION

TOM BAKER: DRINKING IT UP WITH JIM MORRISON

PRIDE TV: THE QUIET GAY HEROES OF SIXTIES SITCOMS

CHIP TAYLOR: THE HAPPY GAMBLER

Best Of

DOUG YULE: THE FORGOTTEN VELVET

STERLING SPEAKS! STERLING MORRISON’S LAST INTERVIEW WITH LEGS MCNEIL, 1995

PETER NOONE IS THE BIGGEST SEX PISTOLS FAN EVER! AND OTHER STARTLING REVELATIONS FROM THE HEAD HERMIT

THE JOYS OF RENT BOYS AND DRAG QUEENS, THE STOOGES AND BOWIE: A CONVERSATION WITH LEEE BLACK CHILDERS

THE ‘5TH RAMONE’ SPEAKS!

THE MC5’S WAYNE KRAMER TALKS ABOUT THE HARD STUFF

SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO: GRAM PARSONS

BILL GRIFFITH: THE VIEW FROM HIS COMIX OBSERVATORY

PROFESSOR RAT SCABIES MEETS THE HOLY GRAIL

GLITTER MANIA AT THE RAINBOW FOR ELTON JOHN’S BIRTHDAY, 1974

THE LONESOME DEATH OF DANNY RAPP: THE FRONT MAN FOR DANNY & THE JUNIORS

THE LEGEND OF WHITE BOY RICK – THE FBI INFORMANT WHO WAS SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON AT AGE 17

BEHIND THE SHADE WITH JAMES WILLIAMSON

THE TRUTH BEHIND THE BRAWL BETWEEN JOHN LENNON AND CHRIS MONTEZ IN 1963! EXCLUSIVE!

SAM CUTLER: LIFE WITH THE STONES, THE DEAD & OTHER WONDERFUL REPROBATES

ALL THE RAJ: HOW ‘NORWEGIAN WOOD’ UNLEASHED THE ‘INDIAN INVASION’

THE KNACK … AND HOW TO GET IT: AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESCOTT NILES

POLY STYRENE: BREAKING DOWN THE BONDAGE

WE NEVER LEARN: GUNK PUNK IN THE 1990S