Roderick Edward "Legs" McNeil (b. January 27, 1956 in Cheshire, Connecticut, United States) is a writer and rock music historian. He 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).

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 and The 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".

Joey Ramone (May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001) was an American musician, vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Ramones. Joey Ramone's image, voice and tenure as front man of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.

Born Jeffry Ross Hyman to parents Noel and Charlotte Hyman, he was raised in the Jewish tradition. They lived in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, where Jeffry and his future Ramones bandmates attended Forest Hills High School. Jeffry was happy but something of an outcast^{[citation needed]}. When he was 18 years old he was diagnosed with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). He grew up with brother Mickey Leigh and stepbrother John. His mother divorced and remarried three times.

Jeffry was a fan of The Beatles,The Who, David Bowie and The Stooges among other bands (particularly oldies and the Phil Spector-produced "girl groups"). His idol was Pete Townshend of The Who (with whom he shared a birthday). Jeffry took up drums at 13, and played throughout his teen years. Before he joined the Ramones, he was the singer in a band called Snipers.

Danny Fields (born Daniel Feinberg, 1941) is an American journalist and author. As a music industry executive in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, he was one of the most influential figures in the history of Punk. He managed Iggy and the Stooges, as well as the Ramones, as has worked in various roles with Jim Morrison, the MC5, and the Velvet Underground and the Modern Lovers. Fields has been described as "one of the godfathers of Punk".

Fields grew up in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959, he attended Harvard Law School, but left during his first year. He moved to Manhattan's Greenwich Village in 1960, briefly enrolled at New York University, and became involved with the burgeoning downtown arts and music scene.

Fields was an editor at a music magazine, Datebook, when he began frequenting Max's Kansas City It was there that he developed connections to Andy Warhol's Factory social circle. Fields occasionally shared his loft with Warhol actress Edie Sedgwick, and wrote an account of the Warhol-sponsored Velvet Underground during their early years. He later penned the liner notes for the band's historic Live At Max's Kansas City album, recorded in 1970, but released in 1972, after the band broke up. Fields was one of the first people in the music business to be openly gay, at a time when most were closeted.