Rating: 
Summary: One of the Most Disgusting Books I've ever read!
Review: We all know that American rock music hasn't exactly matured from punk/new wave ever since it got in the mainstream. Because of punk we've got expensive Hot Topic stores where anyone from preteen kids to suburban moms buy certain risque fashions that were all the rage in 1979 or later, and were often an inventive technique of poor urban kids to make themselves look less decrepit. 25 years after the fact we've still got kids with hair like Sid Vicious, girls with makeup like Siouxsie, dresses like Nancy Spungen's, and slovenly bourgeoisis numb-nuts who feel that being "punk" means being piggish and violent and ugly. Reading this book makes one come to the conclusion that the punk rockers were nasty, thuggish, naive people who took sex and drugs to a murderous extreme. This book certainly doesn't talk about the creativity of these people. It's like a collection of Enquirer articles unedited, and though amusing it is very saddening to read of the depths of human suffering, and it's almost a celebration of that. Why do we need this? People can barely deal with their own issues as it is.
Rating: 
Summary: An In Depth Look At The Punk Movement
Review: This book is incredible. You get to witness a movement from its birth to its near-death and everything in between. This book takes you on a journey, introducing you to bands and people such as the Velvet Underground, NC5, Nico, Iggy Pop, the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, the Heartbreakers and the Ramones. You almost feel as if you're there in some parts. This book is very offensive in some parts, so if you're easily offended I wouldn't really recommend it. Overall this is a great read, for fans of punk and even none fans... it will introduce you to a world that you would have never seen otherwise. And that is the true purpose of a great book.
Rating: 
Summary: A music history unlike any other
Review: Few books have captured my attention like "Please Kill Me." This book goes from Punk's early influences (The Velvet Underground, MC5) smoothly transitions into the hey-day of American Punk (The Stooges, The Dolls, Ramones) and then finally takes you down as the Punk movement lost its steam. (The death of Johnny Thunders/Sid Vicious) The first hand accounts presented within will have you laughing so hard tears will be streaming down your face, while also giving gut-wrenching tales of the demise of so many of the stars of this era. The ups and downs of the Punk movement are shown throughout "Please Kill Me" so well that a reader couldn't ask for much more. "Please Kill Me" is filled with just about all the information an American punk fan could be looking for. A great book for those that are just getting into that old-school Punk, or the vet who lived through it all. "Please Kill Me" has something for everyone, and it's impossible to leave this book without a plethora of historical facts regarding Punk rock.
Rating:
Summary: A Punk's Bible
Review: The is by far, one of the best books I have ever read. It is written so unique. One story, told by a group that watched and experianced the birth of a movement. It took a while for punk to be called that. It has a glossary of characters, i recoomend the edition that's hardback, it has photographs. This books features so many beloved bands and characters. My favorite quote from the book is, "And there is no doubt about it. Music is affected by the substances you abuse." Read it, and be enlightned....
Rating:
Summary: ILLUNINATING AND EMOTIONAL
Review: The Ramones were cartoon characters. Iggy was a junkie madman. Sid and Nancy were mere junkie [punks]. Same with Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan. At least, that's the popular perception of punk's key figures until you read this oral history of the movement. Read this, and suddenly these folks are no longer mere one-dimensional caricatures, but suddenly they're the passionate, misguided, and doomed twenty-somethings of their generation (and, hey, weren't we all?). Whether or not you listen to or even care for punk, this is a great read. I mean, even if you don't listen to music at all. Even if you're deaf. And if you're blind, have someone read it to you.
Rating:
Summary: Great recounting of the NY underground music scene
Review: I am not sure who invented the oral biography, though I suspect the honors should go to Studs Terkel. This is one of the best representatives of the genre that I have ever read. Some have called the book revisionist, in that it asserts the primacy of the New York and American punk movement over that of the English Punk movement. Properly speaking, it isn't at all revisionist: it is a corrective. In fact, the point of the book is that the British Punk Movement, which made more of an impact in the public eye and the mass media, actually hit the scene as punk was more or less dying. Johnny Rotten and the Clash and all the others didn't come at the beginning of punk, but only after it had been around for years and was actually fading in NY. In other words, Punk wasn't an English invention, but an American one. The book begins with the Velvet Underground and then proceeds to the founders of Punk, people like Iggy Pop and the MC5 and the New York Dolls. All the major figures on the New York scene are dealt with in detail, from Patti Smith and the Heartbreakers to the Ramones and, my favorite NYC band, Television (who I discovered after they broke up for the first time, but who I have since seen live twice in Chicago, first in 1993 and then in 2001). Not merely the great bands and performers are featured, but a lot of the people on the scene that music fans might not have been familiar with. In fact, so many people are quoted that you begin to get confused, but not to despair: there is a very helpful Cast of Characters near the end of the book. A great book, and one that will have any fan of the New York underground music scene in the sixties and seventies rushing to pull out their old records, and perhaps to rush out and buy a few new ones.
Rating:
Summary: Wish I was there in a way
Review: I thought the book was awesome. I've been in music scenes but not as thick as that. Man. I wish I was there but very happy I wasn't. And how "Punk" rock started? I knew where and how but to read the stories and how it fits together is pretty incredible. Legs and Gillian did a great job interviewing and compiling what material they had ...that including the musicians even remembering what they did. Loved the book.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic story told by the people who were there
Review: Well done, but it could have used input from John Lydon, Lou Reed, and other survivors of the era who made huge contributions. If you're gonna let other people put down my man Lou Reed ya damn well better let Lou defend himself!
Rating:
Summary: How much of this can you believe?
Review: I've enjoyed reading this book. It's basically a collage of interview segments with the people that participated in this scene, mostly New York City in the mid-70s around CBGBs. You can sense the bitterness these people feel for each other, especially the ones that were left behind or denied the fame that the others received. That's what I mean by "How much of this can you believe?" You can tell that the people who were left behind were bitter and give these horrific accounts of what happened and horrible opinions on the people involved. However, immediately after you read THAT account, you're given an account of what happened from someone who was part of it all and paints it as if it were all wonderful. This is why the book's so much fun to read, not to mention the intimate backgrounds you'll get on what will probably be musicians you're interested in, if you're buying this book at all. It was hard to stop reading once I got started. Well worth the time and effort.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: I really didn't know that much about the punk rock movement before I read this book. I think that it really gives you a feel of what the time was really like for the people who were living then. There were parts in the book that makes you want to just cry but then there are parts that make you want to just smile. To me, it was one of those books that as soon as you start to read it, you just can't put it down. I personally think that everyone should read it!
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