Legs McNeil | |
---|---|
![]() McNeil and Gillian McCain doing a book reading at Book Soup in Los Angeles, California on July 26, 2014. | |
Born | Roderick Edward McNeil January 27, 1956 Cheshire, Connecticut, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | Author, writer, rock historian |
Known for | Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk |
Roderick Edward "Legs" McNeil (born January 27, 1956) is an American music journalist. He is one of the three original founders of the seminal Punk magazine that gave the movement its name; as well as being a former editor at Spin and editor-in-chief of Nerve Magazine.
At the age of 19, McNeil gathered with two high school friends, John Holmstrom and Ged Dunn, and decided to create "some sort of media thing" for a living. Holmstrom had an idea of combining comics with rock n roll. [1] They settled upon a magazine, assuming that people would "think [they were] cool and hang out with [them]" as well as "give [them] free drinks", and it worked. Within days of its first publication, Punk Magazine, McNeil, Holmstrom, and Dunn were famous.
The name "Punk" was decided upon because "it seemed to sum up...everything...obnoxious, smart but not pretentious, absurd, ironic, and things that appealed to the darker side". Holstrom wanted to call it "Teenage News Gazette" to which Ged said, "Absolutely not." The name Punk was McNeil's idea; Dunn agreed to it instantly, Holmstrom rather reluctantly.
Nicknamed "Resident Punk" in the magazine, McNeil claims (to much dispute) that he was the first person (along with co-founder John Holmstrom) to have coined the term "punk" to describe a certain type of music, fashion, and attitude. He says he came up with the name punk because Telly Savalas used the line "You lousy punk!" on the show Kojak . According to McNeil: "After four years of doing Punk magazine, and basically getting laughed at, suddenly everything was "punk," so I quit the magazine."
McNeil is the co-author (with Gillian McCain) of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, which has been published in 12 languages and helped launch the oral history trend in music books. The New York Times called the book "lurid, insolent, disorderly, funny, sometimes gross, sometimes mean and occasionally touching." [2]
McNeil is also co-author of The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry. As Publishers Weekly said, "This compulsively readable book perfectly captures the pop culture zeitgeist. It doesn't hurt that the history of American pornography is inextricably intertwined with all the subjects that captivate us: sex, drugs, beauty, fame, money, the Mafia, law enforcement and violence."
McNeil is also the co-author of I Slept with Joey Ramone (A Punk Rock Family Memoir) with Mickey Leigh, Joey Ramone’s brother.
McNeil's most recent book, Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose is another collaborative effort with Gillian McCain. Dear Nobody was published on April 1, 2014, and received widespread critical acclaim.
McNeil has appeared on many TV documentaries, from the History Channel to VH1, and has produced and hosted a three-hour TV special on Court TV over three nights on the porn industry, which was the highest-rated original programming in that network's history.
In 2016, a 2014 interview with McNeil was featured in Danny Says, the biographical documentary about the influential rock music publicist, Danny Fields, appearing alongside Fields, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, and others.
Jeffrey Ross Hyman, known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American singer, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of the punk rock band Ramones. His image, voice, and his tenure with the Ramones made him a countercultural icon. He, along with the guitarist Johnny Ramone, are the only two original members who stayed in the band until the disbandment in 1996.
Rocket to Russia is the third studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones, and was released on November 4, 1977, through Sire Records. Its origins date back to the summer of 1977, when "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" was released as a single. That summer was known as the peak of the punk rock genre since many punk bands were offered recording contracts. The album's recording began in August 1977, and the band had a considerably larger budget with Sire allowing them between $25,000 and $30,000; much of this money went toward the album's production rather than recording.
Ramones is the debut studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones, released on April 23, 1976, by Sire Records. After Hit Parader editor Lisa Robinson saw the band at a gig in New York City, she wrote about them in an article and contacted Danny Fields, insisting that he be their manager. Fields agreed and convinced Craig Leon to produce Ramones, and the band recorded a demo for prospective record labels. Leon persuaded Sire president Seymour Stein to listen to the band perform, and he later offered the band a recording contract. The Ramones began recording in January 1976, needing only seven days and $6,400 to record the album.
End of the Century is the fifth studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones, released on February 4, 1980, through Sire Records. The album was the band's first to be produced by Phil Spector, though he had offered the band his assistance earlier in their career. With Spector fully producing the album, it was the first release that excluded original member Tommy Ramone, who had left the band in 1978 but had produced their previous album Road to Ruin. Spector used more advanced standards of engineering, such as high-quality overdubbing and echo chambers. These painstaking methods caused conflict between the band and Spector since the Ramones were accustomed to a quicker recording process. Spector emphasized the production value as well, working with a budget of around $200,000, far exceeding their earlier album sessions.
"Chinese Rocks" or "Chinese Rock" is a song written in 1975 by New York punk rock musician Dee Dee Ramone with contributions from Richard Hell. Inspired by Lou Reed's "Heroin", the song openly details the day-to-day struggles of a heroin addict, and is based on Dee Dee's real-life experiences.
Thomas Erdelyi, known professionally as Tommy Ramone, was a Hungarian-American musician. He was the drummer for the influential punk rock band the Ramones from its debut in 1974 to 1978, later serving as its producer, and was the longest-surviving original member of the Ramones.
Leave Home is the second studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was released on January 10, 1977, through Sire Records, with the expanded CD being released through Rhino Entertainment on June 19, 2001. Songs on the album were written immediately after the band's first album's writing process, which demonstrated the band's progression. The album had a higher production value than their debut Ramones and featured faster tempos. The front photo was taken by Moshe Brakha and the back cover, which would become the band's logo, was designed by Arturo Vega. The album spawned three singles, but only one succeeded in charting. It was also promoted with several tour dates in the United States and Europe.
Punk was a music magazine and fanzine created by cartoonist John Holmstrom, publisher Ged Dunn, and "resident punk" Legs McNeil in 1975. Its use of the term "punk rock", coined by writers for Creem magazine a few years earlier to describe the simplistic and crude style of '60s garage rock bands, further popularized the term. The founders were influenced by their affection for comic books and the music of The Stooges, the New York Dolls, and The Dictators. Holmstrom later called it "the print version of The Ramones". It was also the first publication to popularize the CBGB scene.
Subterranean Jungle is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones, released by Sire Records on February 23, 1983. Overall, the album featured a return to a somewhat more hard punk rock style compared to the band's previous two albums End of the Century in 1980, and Pleasant Dreams in 1981, which were the most pop-focused of the band's career. This direction was encouraged by guitarist Johnny Ramone. The recording sessions saw disputes between band members, mainly due to struggles with alcohol addiction by Joey Ramone and Marky Ramone, and the drug addiction of Dee Dee Ramone.
The Neon Boys were a short lived New York City proto-punk band, composed of Tom Verlaine, Richard Hell and Billy Ficca. The trio later went on to form the influential rock band Television in 1973; Richard Hell also went on to form the influential punk bands the Heartbreakers and Richard Hell and the Voidoids.
Andy Shernoff is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He is a founding member of The Dictators, one of the original New York punk bands, in which he wrote nearly all of the songs, played bass guitar and keyboards, and sang backing vocals and occasional leads. He has been involved with a variety of other musical projects, most notably the heavily Dictators-populated Manitoba's Wild Kingdom and Joey Ramone's first studio album, Don't Worry About Me. He additionally co-wrote four Ramones songs with Joey.
Danny Fields is an American music manager, publicist, journalist and author. As a music industry executive from the 1960s to the 1980s, he was one of the most influential figures in the history of punk rock. He signed and managed Iggy and the Stooges, signed the MC5 and managed the Ramones, and worked in various roles with Jim Morrison, the Velvet Underground and the Modern Lovers. In 2014 The New York Times said, "You could make a convincing case that without Danny Fields, punk rock would not have happened."
The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! is the debut album by American punk rock band The Dictators. It was released in March 1975 and is considered one of the first examples of punk rock.
Sniper was an early American glam punk band that formed in New York City in 1972. They were one of several bands that played at the Mercer Arts Center, Max's Kansas City and the Coventry alongside the New York Dolls and Suicide, and were most famous for its former members, which included frontman Joey Ramone, prior to his forming the Ramones, and guitarist Frank Infante, later of Blondie.
The Ramrods were punk band from Detroit, USA which debuted in 1977. The last official Ramrods show was January 28, 1978, at the Red Carpet.
The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite only achieving limited commercial success during their time together, the band is today seen as highly influential.
Sabel Hay Shields, better known as Sable Starr, was a famous groupie, often described as the "queen of the groupie scene" in Los Angeles during the early 1970s. She stated during an interview published in the June 1973 edition of Star magazine that she had met Rod Stewart, Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Elton John, and Marc Bolan.
Mitchel Lee Hyman, best known by his stage name Mickey Leigh, is an American musician and writer. He is the brother of Joey Ramone, lead vocalist of the punk rock band Ramones.
Gillian McCain is a Canadian poet, author, and photography collector best known for Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, which she co-wrote with Legs McNeil. McCain is the author of two books of poetry: Tilt and Religion. Portions of her "found photo" collection have been featured in magazines, published as limited edition books, and exhibited at the Camera Club of New York gallery. She sat on the board of directors of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax and was the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery New York City.