- Legs McNeil
Roderick Edward "Legs" McNeil (b. 1956 in
Cheshire, Connecticut ), is the co-founder and a writer for "Punk Magazine ". He is also a former senior editor at "Spin Magazine ", and the founder and editor of "Nerve" magazine (print only; 1992)."Punk" Magazine
At the age of 18, McNeil gathered with two high school friends,
John Holmstrom and Ged Dunn, and decided to create "some sort of media thing" for a living. 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". 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". In "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk", McNeil said that the magazine was inspired by two chief influences:Harvey Kurtzman andThe Dictators ' debut album "The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! ", indicating that the magazine was started strictly so that its creators could "hang out with the Dictators". [McNeil, Legs and Gillian McCain. (2006) "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk": 10th Anniversary Edition.Grove Press : USA. ISBN: 0-8021-4254-8. 268.]Nicknamed "Resident Punk" in the magazine, he 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."Oral Histories
McNeil is the principal author of two books in the
oral history format:* "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk" with Gillian McCain (Penguin Books, 1997).
* "The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry", with Jennifer Osborne and Peter Pavia (Regan Books, 2006).
References
External links
* [http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2005/07/20/legs_mcneil_resident_punk.php Legs McNeil Gothamist interview]
* [http://www.gloriousnoise.com/arch/000391.php Legs McNeil Glorious Noise interview]
* [http://www.myspace.com/3729984 Legs McNeil Myspace webpage]
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