<p>As he releases a tell-all book, the Punk magazine founder and self-described ‘fuck-up’ holds forth on 1970s excess, the American roots of punk and why the Beatles are ‘stupid’</p><p>Legs McNeil vividly remembers the reaction he got from the original CBGB bands in 1975 when they heard the name of the magazine he co-f

<p>As he releases a tell-all book, the Punk magazine founder and self-described ‘fuck-up’ holds forth on 1970s excess, the American roots of punk and why the Beatles are ‘stupid’</p><p>Legs McNeil vividly remembers the reaction he got from the original CBGB bands in 1975 when they heard the name of the magazine he co-founded: Punk, the first publication ever dedicated to the form. “<em>Absolutely no </em>one wanted to be called a punk back then,” he said. “Not even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/ramones">the Ramones</a>. Johnny Ramone demanded that we cross out every reference to punk in an article about them.”</p><p>Flash forward a few years and, “suddenly <em>everybody</em> wanted to be called a punk!” McNeil said. “The Ramones started running around telling everyone, ‘you know, we were the first punk band!’”</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/sep/12/legs-mcneil-tell-all-review">Continue reading...</a>