Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders, born
John Anthony Genzale, Jr (
July 15,
1952 -
April 23,
1991), was a
rock and roll guitarist and singer, first with the
New York Dolls, the proto-punk
glam rockers of the early
'70s. During the late '70s, he was a familiar figure on the
New York punk scene, both with
The Heartbreakers and as a solo artist. His screeching, penetrating guitar sound is distinctive and highly influential in
punk rock music. Thunders tangled with the demons of fame along with alcohol and drug addiction.
Under the name "Johnny Volume", Genzale began performing in high school with "Johnny and the Jaywalkers"; after leaving that band, he joined "Actress", which featured future Dolls
Arthur "Killer" Kane and Billy Murcia. "Actress" became the
New York Dolls in 1971 and Genzale renamed himself Johnny Thunders.
After recording two critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful albums —
The New York Dolls and
Too Much Too Soon — the Dolls broke up. The early Dolls recordings are still in print today and continue to influence young bands with their trash/glam/punk attitude.
He formed
The Heartbreakers with Dolls drummer
Jerry Nolan, ex-Demons guitarist Walter Lure and
Television bassist
Richard Hell, who left soon after to form
Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Hell was replaced by Billy Rath.
With Thunders leading the band, the Heartbreakers toured America and
Britain, releasing one official album,
L.A.M.F., in 1977.
L.A.M.F. is a punk classic that documents the important bridge between the U.S. and U.K punk scenes. The group relocated to the UK, where their popularity was significantly greater than it was in the U.S., particularly among punk bands.
In late 1979 Thunders began performing in a band called Gang War. Other members included
John Morgan, Ron Cooke, Philippe Marcade and former
MC5 guitarist
Wayne Kramer. They recorded several demos and performed live several times before disbanding. Bootlegs of their demos and live performances are circulating; One semi-official live album, credited to Thunders and Kramer and titled
Gang War, is easily available from specialist retailers.
Thunders recorded a number of solo albums beginning with
So Alone in 1978. The album was laid down in drug laden sessions with all the swirling turbulence of an atomic explosion. The complex bittersweet sound is a standard that many bands aspire to emulate and it is universally hailed as Johnny Thunders' masterpiece. It featured guests such as
Phil Lynott,
Chryssie Hynde,
Steve Marriott,
Glen Matlock,
Steve Jones,
Walter Lure,
Billy Rath, and
Peter Perrett of
The Only Ones. The core of the band on the album included Thunders, Lynott, Cook, and Jones. After its release, Thunders and
Sex Pistols ex-bassist
Sid Vicious played in the Living Dead for a short time. The CD version of the album contains four bonus tracks, including the single "Dead or Alive," one of Thunders' finest post-Dolls moments.
During the early
'80s, Thunders re-formed The Heartbreakers for various tours; the group recorded their final album in 1984.
In 1985, he released
Que Sera Sera, a collection of new songs that showed he could still perform convincingly. Three years later he recorded an album of rock and
R&B covers with vocalist Patti Palladin,
Copy Cats.
Thunders kept performing and recording until his death in 1991, but problems with
heroin addiction kept his output and songwriting sporadic during the 1980s.
Thunders always had a loyal following. No doubt there would be many more fans if not for the uneven performances and lack of good publicity. The flood of bootleg recordings has never slowed. Amongst his last recordings were the live concerts in
Japan that show a mature, and surprisingly clean, Johnny Thunders.
His final recording was a cover of "Born to Lose" with German punk rock band
Die Toten Hosen, recorded some 36 hours before Thunders' death.
His hotel room ransacked, with drugs present at the scene, he died under mysterious circumstances in
New Orleans,
Louisiana in 1991.
|
Johnny Thunders, live c. 1980 |
*"You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory" and a live cover version of "Pipeline" have been used in the closing credits of
The Sopranos. The former also featured prominently in
Martin Scorcese's 1999 film
Bringing Out The Dead.
*
The Clash mentioned Thunders in the lyric from their song "City Of The Dead," singing "...that's what New York Johnny said, you should get to know your town, just like I know mine."
*The
Murder City Devils have a song written in tribute to Thunders on the
Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts LP.
*Guns N' Roses bassist
Duff McKagan wrote the song "So Fine", which was dedicated to Thunders. The song appears on the album
Use Your Illusion II. Also, in 1993, Guns N' Roses covered his song, "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory" on their collection of punk covers,
The Spaghetti Incident?.
*At their reunion shows, The New York Dolls have been performing "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory", with member
Sylvain Sylvain singing the lead vocal and sometimes changing the title lyric to "I can't put my arms around you, Johnny."
*
Die Toten Hosen paid tribute to Johnny Thunders by including the line "Solange Johnny Thunders lebt, so lang bleib ich ein Punk" ("As long as Johnny Thunders lives I'll stay a punk") in their song "Wort zum Sonntag".
*
The Replacements included a song about Johnny Thunders, "Johnny's Gonna Die", on their first album.
*He shares his stage name with a villainous
biker character from
Ray Davies'
rock opera Preservation (which was the basis for three
Kinks albums as well as a
musical.)
*
New York Dolls - (1973)
*
Too Much Too Soon - (1974)
*
Lipstick Killers - The Mercer Street Sessions 1972 - (1981)
*
Red Patent Leather - (1984)
*
L.A.M.F. - (1977)Heartbreaker Live At Max's 1979
Johnny Thunders
*
So Alone - (1978)
*D.T.K. - Live at the Speakeasy - (1982)
*In Cold Blood - French 45 R.P.M. 12" E.P. - (1983)
*Hurt Me - (1984)
*Que Sera, Sera - (1985)
*Copycats (with Patti Palladin) - (1988))
*
Nice article about the man, myth, and legend.*
Johnny Thunders Cyber Lounge*
Johnny Thunders in England*
Johnny Thunders Best
