April 2024. Thirty-three years ago this week, Johnny Thunders checked in at St. Peter’s Guest House in the French Quarter of New Orleans. When he checked out he left in a body bag. Most people who knew him personally had assumed he’d meet a morbid fate long before then. No one expected exactly what allegedly happened, and ever since then the macabre events of April 23rd, 1991 have remained a sinister mystery.
ULTIMATE ROCK N’ ROLL
Thunders was only thirty-eight when he made the move from living legend to ghostly icon. He made a lot of enduring, spirited music during that time and created at least three incredible bands; The New York Dolls, The Heartbreakers and the short-lived Gang War, formed with MC5 veteran Wayne Kramer. He performed hundreds of live shows around the globe and continues to be fervently revered in international fan circles, an eternal flame of Ultimate Attitude Rock N’ Roll.
Attitude is the major part of the Thunders’ mystique. Ten seconds or less of his guitar playing loudly and you can’t miss it - the full snarl, the sneer, the reckless abandon. Even the phonetics of his name sound like an explosion of power.
The best songs with this unique style at maximum volume are The Heartbreakers biggest hits; Born To Lose and Chinese Rocks. The guitars and lyrics rage, bursting through the speakers like lightning flashes through your brain. The frenzied pace hits your adrenaline fast and it’s blast-off into the sonic stratosphere.
THE ORIGINAL HEARTBREAKER
Tom Petty was undeniably one of the coolest and best songwriters ever. He also named his band The Heartbreakers.
Tom and Johnny actually had a lot in common. They were both born in the early 1950’s, loved to play baseball, were inspired by Elvis Presley and hit their stride with music in the 1970’s. They were natural leaders that both played guitar and sang. They both had problems with their fathers. Tom’s dad was physically and verbally abusive. Johnny’s was alive but long gone. They both believed in the power and glory of Rock N’ Roll music. Beyond that, the catalogs and careers of Thomas Earl Petty (Gainesville, Florida) and John Anthony Genzale (East Elmhurst, Queens) were as different as Southern fried chicken and New York City pizza.
Guitarist Sylvain Sylvain explains the origin story of the name in his fascinating 2018 autobiography There's No Bones In Ice Cream, recalling how he was inspired by the song “Heartbreak Hotel” on a car ride with Johnny and Jerry Nolan during the Doll’s final tour in 1974; “Jerry and Johnny were sitting behind me, and I turned around to them and said, “Man, wouldn’t that be a great name for a band? The Heartbreakers!” And what happened? They looked at one another like lovers do, and when they went back to New York, they took that name with them.” - page 227.
The Noo Yawk version of The Heartbreakers was born first. They were already touring under the name in 1975. Their very first gig billed as The Heartbreakers is listed as May 30th, 1975 at The Coventry in Queens. An audio document of The Heartbreakers playing live at CBGB’s on July 7th, 1975 survives on the CD What Goes Around. That same year Tom Petty and crew were still going by the name Mudcrutch, releasing the single “Depot Street” on Shelter Records. The first show by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers wasn’t until over a year and a half later at Paul’s Mall in Boston on December 12th, 1976 per Setlist.fm.
There are a plethora of books that describe the bad things, bad words, bad looks, bad situations and overall bad vibes Johnny was indirectly or directly involved in. Most of the sad stories are related to substance abuse, which is a nice way of saying a suicidal life choice when it came down to the particular substance involved. Just say no and don’t do drugs.
Without passing any judgment, let’s just say he had quite a reputation for sometimes outrageous behavior, on stage and off. Some of it exists on film or record. He acknowledged his struggles in interviews and discouraged copycats. He didn’t deny being a human being, just like the defiant self-love epic “Human Being”, the last song on the last album by the original New York Dolls.
Johnny was the first and the last of his kind. His character had another side of the coin, showcased throughout his post-Heartbreakers work, often performed solo on acoustic guitar, that fully displays the more nuanced side and wide range of his songwriting talent.
When They Go, They Let You Know
You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory
Starting off with the obvious headliner, most fans of Thunders’ work know this one well and are thrilled to hear it unexpectedly played at a bar or restaurant. If you’re new to his oeuvre it’s an essential listen. It’s been licensed for the iconic television series The Sopranos (Season Two, Episode Eleven) as well as the 1999 Martin Scorsese and Nicolas Cage film Bringing Out The Dead.
“Memory” is the ultimate Hard Rock Requiem. The song somehow finds a perfect poetic balance of honoring memories of deceased family and friends while also reminding you to celebrate the time you have with the ones still here.
Johnny knew grief and loss, up close and personal. Losing his father not to death but the lothario lifestyle described by the song “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” was probably the first. The most staggeringly traumatic in his early years was the death of original Dolls drummer Billy Murcia. Before the recording of their debut album the Dolls flew to London to open for Rod Steward. Billy ended up at an afterparty with lots of crazy party people but none of his bandmates, where he ingested some very powerful downers along with alcohol and proceeded to soon overdose. With the best of intentions the fellow partygoers decided the most helpful thing to do was plop Billy in a bathtub of cold water and force copious coffee down his unconscious throat.
Dreadfully, that logic resulted in his death from lack of oxygen. He was only twenty-one. That was in November 1972. David Bowie references him in the 1973 song “Time”, singing; “Time - in Quaaludes and red wine, demanding Billy Dolls, and other friends of mine, take your time…”
Though he isn’t named in the Thunders tune, you can bet that Johnny drew on the emotional memories of Billy Doll when he wrote and recorded this classic for his debut solo album, 1978’s brilliant So Alone. If you’ve heard this track a million times already we’ve included a special live version from The Roxy in Hollywood in 1987, sourced from the stellar Thunders, Kane And Nolan: You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory concert film.
Home Is Where The Heart Is
Help The Homeless
What’s one of the worst problems in America that no one wants to acknowledge, much less sing a song about? The homeless epidemic. If you live anywhere near or in a major city you’ve probably been numbed to it by now, which is a crying shame. No one has any answer for it - how to help the people shivering in tents under the barren shelter of the highway underpass? How to really help the muttering beggars shuffling past crowded places where people with money are shopping and drinking?
Johnny had a simple idea that he cheers throughout the chorus - “Help the homeless! Give ‘em a place to stay, help the homeless…” Maybe easier said than done but at least he was saying and promoting it. Johnny’s last tour manager Mick Webster, who was with Johnny in Germany just before he flew to New Orleans, tells this story in the documentary Born To Lose: The Last Rock N’ Roll Movie (Version 5) around the 01:31:00 timecode; “When we got to Cologne, we checked into the hotel and went for something to eat, and Johnny was just uh, every homeless person that he passed, he gave them some money, and… he was buying pictures, religious pictures…”
They Talk While Music’s Playing, They’re Quiet When The Music Stops
“Some Hearts” aka “Birdsong”
Johnny recorded this acoustic ballad in New York City in 1990, along with seven other songs intended to be his next album. The session has been repackaged with different artwork and titles many times. In 2011 the European record label Lilith issued a vinyl pressing titled Some Hearts: The Last Album (1990).
The lyrics present Johnny addressing an old friend in the present tense. The lines reference the title of a classic New York Dolls original: “My friend, I thought you knew, that I care. Maybe you’re still looking for a kiss, but remember I’m still here…”
Who else could he be talking to in this song than his estranged bandmate, David Johansen? Thunders was still friends at the time with Jerry, Arthur and Syl. Listen and decide for yourself. Extra credit goes to Jamie Heath, a member of Johnny’s later period backing band The Oddballs, for playing the delicate and mournful saxophone parts.
SAINT PETER AND SAINT JOHNNY
Maybe it was fitting that Johnny’s soul moved on when he stayed at St. Peter’s Guest House. In the Bible verse Matthew 16:13 - 19, Jesus proclaims that Peter is the rock unto which “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…”
Peter is always named first when the twelve apostles are listed individually in the Gospels and the Book of Acts. In Catholic symbolism Saint Peter is represented by twelve different things. One of these symbols is a rock jutting out from the sea, as his devoted efforts led to him being recognized as a main character in early Christianity and metaphorically the rock upon which the church was built.
Johnny Thunders was given the keys to the kingdom of Rock N’ Roll music. Like the two keys that symbolize St. Peter, Johnny had two important keys; his sound and his style. They were complimentary elements that a whole new church of music was built upon. This church doesn’t fit well under any one name of genre, yet you can clearly hear and see the many apostles and disciples that followed in Thunders’ influence, the most famous being bands like The Sex Pistols, Motley Crue and Guns N’ Roses. Multiple hundreds of millions of albums sold worldwide and still counting.
Countless black leather jackets and TV yellow double-cutaway Gibson Les Paul Junior guitars have been sold and worn with pride in his honor. They are Johnny’s symbols in Rock Mythology. He wasn’t the only guitar player to ever wear a leather jacket, but he wore them with a grand flair and star quality panache.
Thunders was a man of extremes. He once told fellow musician and friend Nikki Sudden: “Many people love me, many people hate me - there’s nobody in between. That’s the way I prefer it…”
Johnny’s records never hit Number One on the charts, but his songs always hit the heart.
*Xtra special credit and thanX to Tomme for curating the website Johnny Thunders Rocks. The majority of images in this article are sourced via his incredible collection and credited to the photographers as listed.