Legs McNeil / Gillian McCain

The Profile

Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain are co-authors of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (1996), a landmark oral history of the punk era. They also co-edited Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose (2014).

Please Kill Me (1996) compiles first-person accounts from key figures of the 1960s–70s punk scene. Legs McNeil co-founded Punk magazine. Gillian McCain is a poet and author.

Two reviewers tackle Please Kill Me with fervor: one hears it ‘sound’ louder than most records, the other feels wrung out by its bleak parade of excess. The book’s oral history format, its chorus of punk voices, and its focus on seminal bands dominate the reactions. It’s celebrated for passion and honesty, even as it spotlights the scene’s wreckage.