Legs McNeil

LEGS MCNEIL is co-author of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, and is the coauthor (with Jen Osborne) of The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry. He was the former Resident Punk at Punk magazine, and a senior editor at Spin.

REMEMBERING PUNK, THE MAGAZINE, MUSIC, MOMENT IN TIME

Legs McNeilJune 14, 2021

Five years after the punk wave had washed over New York and London, Legs McNeil looked back in anger and awe at what it had wrought. In this story from his arch...

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G. GORDON LIDDY: REST IN PEACE (NOT)

Legs McNeilApril 5, 2021

G. Gordon Liddy was one of the memorable characters to emerge from the Watergate scandals. A former FBI man and prosecutor—he’d made a splash raiding the upstat...

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MEET THE BEATLES WITH MILES: AN INTERVIEW BY LEGS MCNEIL

Legs McNeilJanuary 7, 2021

Miles (aka Barry Miles) had a front-row seat to the London underground scene of the 1960s, as a bookseller and gallery co-owner at a time when Beatlemania was m...

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TOM BAKER: DRINKING IT UP WITH JIM MORRISON

PKM EditorDecember 9, 2020

Actor-filmmaker Tom Baker (1940-1982) befriended Jim Morrison in L.A. when he was a budding filmmaker and poet, at the beginning of his Doors’ career. The pair ...

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‘SHELLAC IN HIS VEINS’: AN INTERVIEW WITH SEYMOUR STEIN

Legs McNeilJanuary 9, 2019

As the co-founder (with Richard Gottehrer) of Sire Records in 1966, Seymour Stein reshaped the direction of popular music with his signing and tireless support ...

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Norman Mailer and Legs McNeil. Photo by Victor Bockris.

NORMAN MAILER MEETS THE RESIDENT PUNK, 1979

Legs McNeilNovember 16, 2018

The great novelist had just published The Executioner’s Song—which would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize—when he sat down with Legs McNeil two days after they h...

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

Legs McNeilOctober 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...

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POP CULTURE: LEGS McNEIL’S NEVER TOLD STORIES OF PEPSI-COLA

Benito VilaAugust 15, 2018

Legs McNeil was hired to write a centennial history of the soda pop company; it was never published but some amazing stories were gathered before it disappeared...

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BACKSTAGE AT CAFE NINE: A PLAY IN ONE ACT, STARRING ROBERT GORDON

Legs McNeilJuly 25, 2018

Legs McNeil interviews Robert Gordon and Chris Spedding at Cafe Nine just before they play a sold-out show. Robert talks about turning down Bob Dylan's songs an...

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TIME TRAVEL! WITH LEGS McNEIL AND THE ROCK & ROLL EXPLORER GUIDE TO NYC

Legs McNeilJuly 3, 2018

"I know, I know; you were born too late, but here’s a secret passage way to the past... If you operate this book correctly, it will transport you back to those ...

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EXPLORING ROCK & ROLL HISTORY IN NEW YORK CITY

Legs McNeilMay 30, 2018

Mike Katz and Crispin Kott comb the boroughs for any and all hints of rock & roll's roots and put it all inside one handy-dandy guidebook; the Rock and...

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DEE DEE RAMONE – PORTRAIT OF A PUNK!

Legs McNeilDecember 6, 2017

In 1989, just after he left the Ramones, Dee Dee Ramone called his old friend Legs McNeil and went off for 10 hours. In these excerpts Dee Dee talks about his c...

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AND NOW A FEW MINUTES WITH ROCK & ROLL FRED! (OUR FAVORITE POSTMASTER)

Legs McNeilNovember 28, 2017

Fred on meeting AC/DC! ...

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LEGS MCNEIL DISCUSSES HIS & GILLIAN MCCAIN’S NEW BOOK ABOUT CHARLES MANSON AND THE 60’S

PKM EditorNovember 27, 2017

Legs McNeil talks to Billboard about the book he and Gillian McCain have been working on for 20 years - documenting the late ‘60s California music scene an...

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The Plasmatics, fronted by the unmatchable Wendy O. Williams, may have been the most misunderstood rock ‘n’ roll band ever. Conceived as all of the following: performance art, social comment, consumer culture satirists, and rock ‘n’ roll band; the Plasmatics were impossible to categorize, falling somewhere between punk rock and Kiss/Alice Cooper (both bands were fans), their shows were a legendary as they were terrifying, featuring chainsaws, hammers, exploding cars and TV sets. PKM’s Adam Ganderson speaks with former ‘Matics Wes Beech and Richie Stotts and revisits the legacy of W.O.W. Read more!

Jeff on PETER STAMPFEL: THE LAST HOLY MODAL ROUNDER TELLS ALLSome of the first albums I bought when I was getting into music was the Holy Modal Rounders and the Fugs. I saw the Rounders at the Boston Esplanade in 1972 or there abouts. Stempfel mentions the Skillet Lickers. If you search for their music be warned that they recorded
Slacker on TINA BELL’S HIDDEN LEGACY: THE BLACK WOMAN WHO CREATED THE SOUND OF GRUNGEIt's a great story until you actually listen to their music. Nothing wrong with it; the guitar sound is entirely derivative of mid-80s Killing Joke, but grunge? Naah. An OK band but certainly not one that deserves mythologising to the extent that this articles suggests.
John Carlucci on HEARTBREAKERS: THUNDERS VS. PETTY; OR, WHAT’S IN A NAME?I also saw the Heartbreakers at the Coventry in May of 75, when they were a trio with Richard Hell, Johnny & Jerry.

All Posts

XTC’S COLIN MOULDING STILL MAKING PLANS FOR NIGEL (AND HIMSELF)

SKATE OR DIE!: PUNKS & ANARCHISTS AT FDR SKATEPARK

JOHN PEEL AND THE WEIRD WORLD OF DANDELION RECORDS

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?