re: The Germs are the band people think the Sex Pistols are

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Loved that punk bible by Legs McNeil. Can't remember name of the book right off.

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Please Kill Me?

Legs McNeil also started Punk! magazine and is likely the guy who gave the scene its name. Which is pretty f'n cool. I do like how the book traces the roots to Detroit, and the settles in on the CBGB scene. The Pistols come off terribly (especially McLaren), as does Patti Smith. Man, a lot of people hate her f'n guts. Lou Reed comes off as an a total a-hole, but a really cool total a-hole, so it almost helps his myth.

The book does a good job of showing how 70s punk was not connected to hardcore. The story ends in the last 70s, and you can see how punk was very much a movement of art school kids slumming it. It's pretty interesting. Hardcore would never get played at Andy Warhol's party.

We've Got the Neutron Bomb is a great oral history of the LA hardcore scene.