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.

‘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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MOE TUCKER: ON THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

Legs McNeilNovember 21, 2017

Maureen Tucker had a front row seat to punk rock history being conceived before her very eyes. An average high school girl from Levittown, Long Island, her life...

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RAY DAVIES NEVER WANTED TO BE A SINGER

Legs McNeilNovember 7, 2017

Former head Kink waxes eloquent about his mom and dad, Village Green Preservation Society, the Beatles, Keith Richards, “Madame” Jagger, Rod Stewart and the Que...

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I GET AROUND – WHEN GLEN CAMPBELL REPLACED BRIAN WILSON IN THE BEACH BOYS!

Legs McNeilOctober 12, 2017

An Oral History by Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain Brian Wilson: The Beatles' invasion shook me up an awfully lot. They eclipsed a lot of what we'd worked for...

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MODERN LOVERS BASSIST ERNIE BROOKS ON RECORDING THEIR CLASSIC ALBUM

Legs McNeilOctober 10, 2017

Ernie Brooks, bassist and founding member of The Modern Lovers, talks to Legs McNeil about the origins of the band, recording their classic (and only!) album, a...

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Carol Kaye started as a jazz solo guitarist, working the club scene of 1950s LA, when she was asked to work on some studio tracks for Sam Cooke. Though she loved the bebop jazz scene, Carol was a single mother with three kids and so to the studios she went, eventually switching to bass. She ultimately changed the very sound and role of that instrument in pop music as a member of what drummer Hal Blaine dubbed The Wrecking Crew (but which Carol has called The Clique). By any name, these were the session musicians who shaped some of the biggest hits of the 1960s, after which she went back to playing live gigs and working in movies and television, writing and teaching, which she is still doing in her 80s. Michael Shelley talks with the amazing Carol Kaye for PKM. Read more!

Daniel on DADDY COOL: AUSTRALIA’S UNSUNG ROCK & ROLL GREATSExcellent article. I understand everything you wrote about. I discovered Daddy Cool back when in the East Tennessee boonies off a Warner Bros double album sampler and still remain smitten to this day.
Barbara Shafer on MY OWN PRIVATE BASKETBALL DIARY: MEETING JIM CARROLLNO question the real unsung hero of CATHOLIC BOY is that terrelle winn(?) sorry the LP isn't within reach-the left handed guitarist he had then. he told me they " had a falling out" anyone know the details on that? after he left the albums became not so good.
David C Thompson on THE JOYS OF RENT BOYS AND DRAG QUEENS, THE STOOGES AND BOWIE: A CONVERSATION WITH LEEE BLACK CHILDERSYour paragraph about the bands Leee had a hand in has a mistake. It was Levi and the Rockats, not Rockettes, or Cockettes or any other ettes.

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