Johnny Thunders The Tragic & Mysterious Death of the New York Dolls, Heartbreakers Musician

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Today we take a look at the tragic life and death of punk rock legend Johnny Thunders who was a member of the glam group New York Dolls and Johnny Thunders And The Heartbreakers

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And By the age of 16 Thunders would take up the bass guitar and would start attending shows of the bands like the Who, and Small Faces and even rubbed elbows with the big rockstars at the time including Rod Stewart who he drank beer with backstage at the Newport Folk Festival.
By age 17 Thunders would latch onto the Detroit Music scene and His childhood friend Gail Higgins remembered “We would drive eight hours to see the MC5 or The Stooges,”It was around this time that Thunders quit bass and picked up guitar. “Whenever he was practising, I used to yell into the bedroom: ‘Give up, Johnny’,”
Given the look of the New York Dolls, Thunders never blended into the crowd - he would frequently borrow his girlfriend’s clothes. His former bandmate from the band the Heartbreakers Walker Lure rememberd “He had high-heeled boots, velvet jackets and pants, bowling gear,” “I’d see him at all the shows – mostly the British bands, as opposed to the Grateful Deads and Jefferson Airplanes – so I’d seen him around for years. Then when the Dolls started happening I said: ‘Holy! There’s that guy.’”
The story of the New York Dolls began in the early 70’s in the East Village of New York with the original lineup consisting of vocalist David Johansen , guitarist Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane, drummer Billy Murcia and pianist Sylvain Sylvain. Some of the band members were already familiar with one another prior to the formation of the Dolls as they played with each other in various bands and The band quickly got noticed with their look. They had big hair, wore silk scarfs and dressed like women.In fact sometimes they got mistaken for women.
Fashion aside, The band quickly got noticed and would find themselves playing at Wembley Stadium in London, England supporting the faces a year later, but during that trip Tragedy would strike as drummer Billy Murcia die due to an accidental drowning during a party.
Johnny Thunders friend Gail Higgins would remember: “Johnny was devastated. He was the closest with Billy and it really upset him. Johnny was very sensitive and loving, very needy and very insecure.”

hroughout most of 1977 the Heartbreakers would call London their home and record their lone album L.A.M.F. The record was hampered by mixing issues that lasted months and months and ultimately forced the demise of the band with the band’s manager remembering
“That mix can be completely laid at the door of Jerry Nolan.” “He went into this kind of control freak thing where he had to mix it. But everyone was stoned. Walking into the studio was like walking into a crack house. I should have gotten a gun and shot a couple of them dead.” he’d remember
Walter Lure of the Heartbreakers remembered the record label pressures with the album saying: “We were told we needed to release it in time for Christmas because they needed to make some money. So they just put us in a room and said if it doesn’t get released you’re not gonna have a contract. Johnny, Billy and I said yeah; Jerry said no, he was leaving, and just walked out.”
Nolan would form his own band the Idols which would make a name for themselves back home in New York. The Heartbreakers meanwhile limped along but Thunders was devastated by Nolan’s departure.\\
The Heartbreakers would be done by 1980 but would sporadically reform and perform shows together until 1990. And following the breakup of the band Thunders would remain in London and release a series of solo records featuring a whose who of the UK punk rock scene with his first being So Alone in 1978. He would eventually find his way back to the US and hook up with one of his idol’s MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer to form the shortlived project Gang War with kramer remembering

By 1986 Thunders seemed to turn his life around and repaired some of the fractured relationships in his life and soon enough Thunders was offering words of advice to other musicians stuck in the grip of addiction. By 1987 Thunders would get a second chance at being a father with the birth of Jamie Gazale, but something was wrong. The mother to his new child remembered

[MrGiorgioud]

I was a Thunders nut, from having had the pleasure of playing support on one of his gigs in 1986 when I was 18. I knew the Dolls, but that night his performance completely changed my life and set the bar for excellence that has never been touched by anybody I subsequently seen or worked with. The evening I read of his passing in 1991 is still engraved in my memory and I felt like someone had hit me in the solar plexus. The way my life turned out, the choices I made (some excellent, some not so), can all be traced to that evening in 1986 I saw John Genzale performing his magic, deftly assisted by Jerry Nolan on drums, Glen Matlock (ex-Sex Pistols) on bass and Barry Jones (ex-Idols and co-founder of the Roxy Club) on guitar. As it happens, he was magnificent, but the band was excellent too, and that contributed to the gig being brilliant. Johnny lives on, his music being discovered by generation after generation of misfits and ne’er-do-wells, as it should be....

[silversnail]

I was born on the exact day he died. Always weirded me out. RIP Johnny, one of the most ferociously original rock guitarists and a punk icon for the ages.

[Ralphanthonybianscomusic]

Johnny was so f’n cool. So much swagger, and the tone of his guitar was always amazing. What a loss.

[xdefne]

Johnny Thunders is a legend & doesn’t get enough credit, what so ever. He is a pioneer of punk music. Guns N Roses also covered “You can’t put your arm around a memory” on The Spaghetti Incident”. Duff McKaggan is a huge Johnny Thunders fan, he covered the same song with Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols on Joneseys Jukebox.

[mitchelvalentino]

The sound of Johnny Thunders’ guitar is my favorite in all of rock n roll.

[J]

R.I.P. Johnny. L.A.M.F. is one of the greatest rock albums of all time. The music's immortal and will never be forgotten.

[ryandrouillard]

Johnny Thunders was the best songwriter that ever lived. Bob Dylan himself said that he WISHED he wrote “ you can’t put your arms round a memory “
Johnny Thunders was one of a kind. A treasure. But he was on a sinking ship, and he never got his treasures off board before the boat sank. It’s a sad story, but the music is pure rock n roll it’s nothing like todays music. I appreciate Johnny Thunders.

[natashagoldstein]

Ya know, I really hate the way that some police officers treat the death/robbery/assault/rape/ ad infinitum, of a known user, that is immediately to blame. If ANY drugs were found in our systems, it's immediately labeled as being' drug related' and all other evidence is promptly ignored. This man deserved better.

[darkChristian]

Johnny Thunders was and is a legend, it was a fast life but a wild one, the true bad-boy of all time but he was just killing himself slowly, he was no bad-boy just misled and in utter pain and suffering he had cancer that made him the bad-boy. he was charismatic and somewhat talented. long live the legend.

[nannettefreeman]

I saw him a number of times performing in London in 86 & 87, then again in 89 in Los Angeles, with Celebrity Skin as the opening act. It was kind of a crapshoot going to see Johnny perform live. Sometimes he would play for HOURS. Other times, he'd cut the show incredibly short. I'm so grateful that last time I saw him in LA, he played for hours, even repeating songs he played at the beginning of the set again near the end. He took a brief intermission somewhere near the middle & returned to the stage, bleeding from his arm & visibly high. He still played an amazing show. He WAS rock n roll. RIP, Johnny!

[alaplex]

I'm 70 and still love to hear the dolls and Heartbreakers. There's a little club in LA that we still go to where musicians like Walter Lure of the Heartbreakers, Clem Burke of Blondie as well as other young bands that keep his music alive. Johnny had a knack and flashy style on the guitar that still gives me chills every time I listen.

[juanelorriaga]

I knew a lot of people whose parents ran with Thunders here in NYC and all say the same thing he died of drugs maybe someone ripped him off but he was on methadone at the time so he probably partied and his body couldn’t take it anymore not to mention being sick also so sad he didn’t look 38 he looked much older such a shame I love his music

[MdlAgedHeadbanger]

Great upload. I was working in a record store when Johnny died and my boss was massive Thunders fan. He was upset to hear he died, but not shocked. My boss had worked as a promoter and had brought Johnny into the Northwest for a tour. I wasn't too familiar with Thunders so I didn't ask a lot about it but he said in the early 80's the heroin had taken a serious toll. My boss said Johnny's arms had really thick scar tissue even then, almost like wood.

[bobbywhitlowmusic]

I’ve always believed that Johnny Thunders truly died of a broken heart

[travisstafford]

Thank you I’m an old school punk, I got LAMF tattooed on my arm the day after he died.

[mariosthunders]

JT might be one of the most underrated guitarists of all time in the rock n roll genre, his style, let alone guitar playin n attitude influenced almost EVERY 80-90s glam/Hard rock band that reached ARENA status(GnR, Motley Crue, FsterPussycat, Skid Row, basically almost ALL OF EM), but was given little to NONE credit, cause people were always more interested in his personal life rather than the huge contribution he made to the evolution of rock..

[maisiekayglassco]

I got into the Dolls via my discovery of The Ramones as a teenager in the 80’s. Although I was too young to ever see the great fathers of punk in their heyday, I thoroughly enjoyed them throughout my adult life, especially Johnny. I still have my LAMF license plate on my car after almost 20 years. We all have some sort of demons in our lives, but as Johnny said, “There’s no such thing as a bad kid.” I’d like to believe the good he brought through can outweigh the tragedy. He inspired me as a young kid, long before I even heard about drugs. My heart goes out to his family and friends for their loss of a brother, father and friend. Rest In Peace Johnny, your memory and influence live on.

[carlosalbertovz]

You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory, but we have to remember Johnny. R.I.P. Johnny, Arthur, Billy and Jerry.

[LetsGoMetsGo]

RIP- Johnny, Jerry, Arthur, Billy M, Billy R, and now Walter as well.

[ministerofdarkness]

Johnny’s “So Alone” is a pure classic!
Cool video Syd!
RIP Ol’ Chatterbox!
PLAY LOUD 🎸