Johnny Thunders: Enigma or Enema?

[rustoffa]

Flame on, or flame out....your choice. Personally? I cuntsider the dead dope fiend a riff-master of the highest regard. It's like when George Lynch says that duplicating Angus Young's tone isn't easy. Then Angus Young says duplicating Johnny Thunders' tone is impossible. Holy fucking shit....Chinese Rocks just blew my eardrums out.

Any thoughts?
Any spare P90's?
Any black tar heroin?
:confused: :cool:

[Mr. Vengeance]

Classic sloppy rocker. Not that that is a bad thing. His solo album is great!

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000005JBG.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by Mr. Vengeance
Classic sloppy rocker. Not that that is a bad thing. His solo album is great!

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000005JBG.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Correct!

Gibson thinks the world of him!
:(

http://www.gibson.com/backstage/200610/johnnythunders.htm

[FORD]

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[FORD]

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[FORD]

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[FORD]

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[FORD]

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[rustoffa]

By the time Johnny Thunders had arrived, he was already gone. Just 19 when he transformed from John Anthony Genzale, Jr.—the skinny Italian kid from Queens, New York who loved girls and baseball and rock ’n’ roll—and hit Manhattan as Johnny Thunders—the sneering New York Dolls guitarist with a mop of teased hair, platform go-go shoes, and a low-strung TV yellow Les Paul Junior—he was already teetering on the perilous abyss of a life controlled by heroin. Like some tragic cross between Al Pacino in The Panic in Needle Park and Exile-era Keith Richards, Thunders took the myth of rock excess and stripped away the fairy tale to reveal the abscesses, dope sickness, loneliness, and self-destruction at the poisoned heart of it all. And with every lick and lyric, Thunders both undermined and bolstered the fable.

Like all junkies, Thunders celebrated his self-immolation. He reveled in it while cursing it, unable to see where he stopped and addiction started, arguably because Thunders never stopped. From the lurid, street-life specifics of “Too Much Junkie Business” (Well you run down to the corner baby, see what you can cop / You buy some for your sister and you take yours off the top) to the resigned lament “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” (Even though they don’t show, the scars are so old ... You can’t put your arms around a memory / Don’t try), Thunders was a shark-skinned incarnation of his own songs.

But boy, could he play guitar. From the growling shuffle of the Dolls’ “Jet Boy” to the pummeling power chords of the Heartbreakers’ “All By Myself,” off of the gritty Live at Max’s Kansas City, the sound of Johnny Thunders punishing his Les Paul Junior is one of the greatest noises in the history of rock ’n’ roll. With his Chuck Berry leads and howling feedback, Thunders careened through rock guitar’s hall of fame like a wrecking ball.

After quitting the Dolls’ in mid-tour while in Florida because they were unable to get heroin, Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan—partners-in-crime till the bitter end—returned to New York and formed the Heartbreakers with guitarist Walter Lure. The band released one album, 1977’s L.A.M.F. (figure out that acronym on your own), and dedicated it to the drug dealers on the Lower East Side’s Norfolk Street.

A true classic, L.A.M.F. is New York punk at its most decadent, and Thunders went on to have a profound influence on the nascent English punk scene. Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones has professed embarrassment at how much he patterned himself after Thunders, and Joe Strummer name-checks Thunders on the Clash’s “City of the Dead.” But unfortunately, Thunders’ influence was more than musical. He is infamously credited with introducing heroin to the London scene on the chaotic 1977 Anarchy Tour that featured the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned, and the Heartbreakers.
In 1978, Thunders released So Alone, his one great solo album, featuring “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” and cameos by Phil Lynott, Steve Marriott, and Chrissie Hynde. Soon after, the quality and quantity of his output became erratic. Throughout the 1980s he stumbled from band to band, struggling with his drug habit, on and off methadone programs. He was besieged by sycophants and copycats, dealers, and hangers-on, in the ugly twilight world of addiction and semi-stardom. He was never without his moments of greatness, though, and even late in his life he could summon up the power of his Junior with more charisma than most performers. Sadly, but not unexpectedly, Thunders died alone, in a New Orleans motel room in 1991, possibly of an overdose, possibly murdered for his supply of methadone. All by himself.

Watch the fucking video on the source below.

This is the link where you can watch screaming guitar. (http://www.gibson.com/backstage/200610/johnnythunders.htm)

[Bill Lumbergh]

Johnny Thunders had a cool name, that's about it..........

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by Bill Lumbergh
Johnny Thunders had a cool name, that's about it..........

Which one?:confused: :D

[Atomic_Rob]

The New York Dolls own, brilliant band and if he were alive today, JT would be up with the boys.

[EAT MY ASSHOLE]

Not much. A Keith Richards wanna-be, more for the image than the music (which is why he burned out so completely so quickly)

That being said, "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" is one of the best rock ballads, EVER.

And legs mcNeil's PLEASE KILL ME is one of the very few must read books about rock history. (Thunders figures prominently)

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by EAT MY ASSHOLE
A Keith Richards wanna-be, more for the image than the music (which is why he burned out so completely so quickly)


It's funny, in Flippo's book, Keef was asked who ripped his look off more, Ronnie Wood or Johnny Thunders.

Keef: "They say imitation is the highest form of flattery right? Ronnie doesn't do anything intentionally (laughs). Johnny tends to parody lots of things, have you seen him play guitar?"
:cool:

[Steve Savicki]

Careful, since Johnny starts with ,"Jo", Joe Thunder may claim he's named after Thunders.

Joe Thunder vs. Johnny Thunders... hmmm...

[Mr. Vengeance]

Joe Thunder actually claims that he invented fucking thunder too. He controls the atmosphere now.

[isthatTHUNDER?!]

Thank you to all my supporters and well wishers out there. Keep the verbal praise coming. As I coined the phrase in Vancouver, Canada in 1991, "a little ain't enough".

[Steve Savicki]

Have a good weekend, everyone! :cool:

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by Steve Savicki
Have a good weekend, everyone! :cool:

Cause and effect, or LITMUS© test?

Another factoid from the Thunders archive....

Bob Marley: "Johnny was yes opinionated...very good player and insulted my band."
:lol:

[ALinChainz]

Originally posted by isthatTHUNDER?!
I wear a living bra for all my support and thanks for the welfare. Keep the K-Y coming. As I begged for coin in Vancouver, Canada to eat, the Happy Meal left me thinking "a little ain't enough".

http://www.fantasyoutlaws.com/images/gloryjoe.jpg

[binnie]

For me, Thunders was the real deal.

Hid solo records show that he could write great tunes, and he performed them with such emotion.

Not a virtuoso musician by any stretch of the imagination, but a great performer....