Man, I’m really getting into Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, which pretty much deals with the NY punk scene. It’s set up in a “quote” format, which I’m not a fan of because if it’s not done perfectly the narative completely falls apart (like in that SNL biography that is ruined by the format.) This book, so far at least, is coming together perfectly and all the quotes about a particular subject are grouped well that it forms a cohesive story.
It’s funny though, the book is managing to break down some of my preconceived notions on some of the pre-punk stars. David Bowie in particular, who I had imagined was this Glam god that everyone riffed off of, is coming off like this really almost sad follower. I know it’s just the point of view of this book, but I know next to nothing about Bowie outside of his films and some of his music, but man it seems like nothing he did in his glam stage was his idea. There’s bits about this group of NY transvestites that made their way to England and ended up attending on of his shows while he was still awkward folky Bowie and he just seems to latch onto their image and want to know who did their hair and stuff. Same with his reactions to the New York Dolls and Iggy Pop. It almost seems like all he had was money, a crazy libedo and a will to learn, and out popped Ziggy Stardust.
And Lou Reed, don’t get me started on Lou Reed. Man Led Zeppelin’s got nothing on Reed, even Zeppelin with a baby shark…
