"Anything that's funny indicates an emotion that's died"

Richard Hell: Basically I have one feeling ... the desire to get out of here. And any other feelings I have come from trying to analyze, you know, why I want to go away ... See, I always feel uncomfortable and I just want to .. walk out of the room. It's not going to any other place or any other sensation, or anything like that, it's just to get out of 'here.'  (read more)

Legs McNeil: Where do you feel comfortable?

RH: When I'm asleep...

LM: Are you glad you where born?

RH: I have my doubts ... Did you ever read Nietzsche?

LM: Ha ha ha.

RH: Legs, listen to me, he said that anything that makes you laugh, anything that's funny indicates an emotion that's died. Every time you laugh that's an emotion, a serious emotion that doesn't exist with you anymore ... and that's why I think you and everything else is so funny.LM: Yeah, I do too, but that's not funny.RH: That's cause you don't have any emotions.

- from Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. A core text for anyone interested in the history of 'punk' - here mainly U.S. punk, from MC5, the Stooges to the Ramones. It's a pretty extensive account of how punk came into being, how groupies and dope were involved and does a pretty good job proving that the "icons" of punk were really just a bunch of boring, power-hungry and/or fucked up rock'n'roll junkie douchebags. In case you didn't know already.