Rating: 
Summary: Empty Icons
Review: McNeil and McCain attempt to give an overview of the New York Punk Scene with this collection of quilted interviews.
What comes through at the end of the book is the bleak, wasted lives these cultural icons led.
The majority of the key personalities of this movement were hapless drug addicts with no clue about making a real life for themselves. They seem to exist to hang out and get high. Their music and fame were the enablers.
The book is a good read about the dark side of our popular culture. The technique of pasting together interviews gives it a documentary feel while allowing the authors to craft a view and message.
There is no surprise when we get to the end of the book and find it to be a chronicle of death. Grim but real, Please Kill Me is an uncomfortable but fascinating revelation of the power and pitfalls of public acclaim.
Rating: 
Summary: thoroughly engrossing - rock stars de-mythologized
Review: It's interesting how "punk" means so many things to so many people. To some, it is a triumph of substance over style; to others, the exact opposite. This book starts at the roots of US/UK punk rock and works it's way up, and it's a fascinating read into the often sad world of the rock star life.Since every band in this book is pretty famous and well-known, the whole account is like a fairy tale, with bands drifting from gig to gig to album to album without much mind; for most of the participants in this saga, the objective is sex and drugs, usually in the opposite order. The after the fact musings by Wayne Kramer of the MC5 and Iggy Pop and Ron Asheton on the Stooges heyday is worth the price of admission alone; Asheton's remembrance of snorting coke alongside Miles Davis is a bizarre image I can't get out of my head, a real mix of eras and genres, where for all of these different musical icons, drugs are the bottom line. if you read this book without having heard any of these bands, I can't imagine coming away with any interest in hearing any of their music, since it is so obvious how little attention was paid to the music. However, if you know something about the punk world of the late 60's through the late 70's (MC5, Stooges, NY Dolls, Lou Reed, Heartbreakers/Johnny Thunders, Bowie, Patti Smith, Jim Carroll, Ramones, Dead Boys, Sex Pistols, Clash, Dictators, etc.), this book is absolutely essential reading.
Rating:
Summary: When the music mattered...
Review: "Please Kill Me" is an invaluable record of what the 70's were really like, & why the music that came to be known as punk was inevitable & absolutely necessary. The authors (who were part of the scene as publishers of the first fanzine "Punk") let the musicians & scenesters tell the story in their own words. The structure of the book is the same as George Plimpton's "Edie", simply a collection of quotes grouped to tell a chronological story. McNeil & McCain really went to the effort of finding some of the most obscure "hangers-on" who were there, so the overall view is very well-rounded. What is truly intelligent about the presentation is that they understand punk did not beging with the Sex Pistols or the Ramones. Instead, we start with the Velvet Underground & Warhol, move to Detroit to talk to the MC5 & Iggy and the Stooges, then it's early glitter with the New York Dolls! Great stuff & the timing is excellent, especially since many of those interviewed have since died. The photo sections are also excellent altho I have a few quibbles about why some people are included & others not. There is also a very helpful "Cast of Characters" at the end of the book which even the most knowledgeable rocker will flip to often. Many younger readers may be surprised that most of the book deals with the New York City music scene. Punk has become so identified as a British import that those who weren't part of it may not realise the Brits only got going after a visit to the UK by the Ramones. CBGB's was already a very hot & happening spot, long before Johnny was Rotten! Whether you were there or not, you will enjoy "Please Kill Me", as well as learning quite a bit from it; check it out!
Rating:
Summary: Better to burn out than fade away
Review: "Please Kill Me" is a beautifully arranged oral history of punk music in America. Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain are heroes for clipping together hundreds of interviews and making it not only coherant (it reads like everyone is in the same room together), but visceral - when Stiv Bators gets in a knife fight on the street or the Ramones pee into Johnny Rotten's soda, you're right there with them. It's a great read, and totally entertaining. And something else, too. McNeil and McCain have the benefit of hindsight - they didn't arrange this book until long after punk was no more. The writing during the glory years have a wonderful, kinetic urgency to them - but as the music started to get co-opted, and people started to die as a result of hard living, the book becomes genuinely moving and heartfelt. And the fact that so much time is spent on "forgotten" artists is totally heartwarming - and completely in the spirit of the music, and the movement. You can skip around "Please Kill Me," but it's a much better read from cover to cover. Read it, and emit a deep, mournful sigh at the next Blink 182 song you hear.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is one of the best books I've ever read about music (and punk rock. A must.
Rating:
Summary: Brillant!
Review: This book is wonderful and brillant! It wasn't what I expected. While reading it it seems like you are witnessing the history being revealed before you, right then in there.Its fast and crazy, and you can hear the music in your head while your reading.I could not let this book go!Please kill me and kill me again!!!
Rating:
Summary: Review For Bestsellers Class...
Review: I first picked up Please Kill Me, because I wanted something similar to Punk: The Definitive Record of a Revolution, only fewer pictures and more grimy details. I was very impressed not only with the writing style and format of the book, but also with the sheer volume of information that it included. I was expecting a basic "this band started this date and the original members were so and so and his brother." kind of thing, and was quite pleased at the details that were included in the book. My favorite part would have to be Sid Vicious singing country songs and crying to himself around Christmas time, you won't find that kind of thing anywhere else. I loved the book and would recommend it to anyone interested in learning a little more about the true beginnings of "punk."
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Summary: Pleased as Punk.
Review: So you weren't around in the 70s, but you'd like to know a thing or three about early punk rock? Well, this is the book that'll hip you to it, Daddy. Not only is it chock-full of tales of dope, groupies, brawls,larceny, misbehavior, and - oh yes - rock 'n' roll, but it's told by the folks who were there. For one low price, you get boatloads of stories about everyone from the Dead Boys to the Voidoids to that AMAZING force of nature known as Dee Dee Ramone. Or, if you've been weighing the pros and cons of trying a little heroin just to show everyone how bad you are, PKM's portrayal of the junked-up Johnny Thunders might make you put that idea on the back burner. It's a great, fun read, to be sure, but it's also an excellent primer on music, history and attitude for all you up-and-coming young punks. For instance, you know how some folks nowadays think that it's just plain 'not punk rock' to sell lots of records? WRONG! A careful study of "Please Kill Me" will reveal, among other things, that these bands wanted to be STARS!! (The trick was to become stars without schlocking out, which very few of them were able to do.) Essential reading for anyone into punk rock, then or now.
Rating:
Summary: Blank
Review: I don't have a lot to say about this book that hasn't already been said other than it will make you crap yrself laughing. It's still my favorite book to just pick-up, turn to any page and read. It's so full of interesting and funny antidotes you can't go wrong. Steal this book.
Rating:
Summary: Punk Lives!
Review: This book comes together as a seamless oral history by the biggest players in the American punk movement-- all the great bands, artists, and poets, who were there from the beginning. The oral interviews are pieced together in narrative form and read better than any other book on punk rock that I've read. A real pleasure! Your money will NOT be wasted here.
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