Want to know the coolest thing about being the Editor in Chief of Rocker Magazine? It's the people you get to meet along the way. Exhibit A: Marty Thau, founder of the seminal Red Star Label, record industry insider, and manager of notorious glam-punk pioneers The New York Dolls. How pleased were we when Thau offered to share his first person account of his time as the manager of one of the most important bands in musical history? Words fail us of course. Thankfully, they didn't fail him. ___ Rocker: [...]
Jethro Fox. It gladdens our bitter and blackened hearts to hear yet more talented musicians coming from Liverpool keen to explore different musical avenues and happy to leave the jejune revivalists trapped in their own musical cul-de-sac, drowning in a well of dreary nostalgia. Of course everybody is influenced by something, but it's what you do with those influences that really matters. Jethro Fox take his which he lists as ranging from 60s sunshine-pop bands such as The Hollies [...]
With the release of the New York Dolls' DVD Looking Fine on Television , I went back to check out some of the Dolls/Thunders releases that I've missed over the years. These first of the discs that I dropped on was Johnny Thunders Who's Been Talking which is a live DVD of one of Johnny's last concerts. This show was filmed at Club Citta in Osaka, Japan on April 3, 1991 and this is the last known recorded show that Johnny played as he was found dead in New Orleans on April 23rd. The [...]
" The legendary and infamous New York Dolls at their best! Amazing rare live clips and interviews filmed by Bob Gruen and Nadya Beck in the heady days of the band's ascension in the 70s. Footage from early shows in NYC all the way to the TV studios, clubs and swimming pools of Los Angeles. Black and white film was never so colorful! Includes ripping versions of "Personality Crisis," "Who Are the Mystery Girls?" "Babylon" and more. See the incredible early days of the band that influenced generations of punks and rockers. " -- Press Release I'm the [...]
I'm a Replacements fanatic. I've got every album, bootleg, and cover. I even own the oral biography, (though I haven't yet watched the new documentary ). And the more you listen to and learn about Paul Westerberg and the rest of the 'Mats, the more you appreciate the band's two major influences: Alex Chilton and Johnny Thunders. Thunders—born John Genzale and later renamed after the DC comic book hero when he joined the New York Dolls—was one of those talents that burned bright, but for a tragically short period of time. Recently, I've become particularly enamored with [...]
Michael Monroe Shows NYC Crowd He's Not Fakin' It.
What could be cooler than having a band write a song about you in tribute? Well, as long as the song is complimentary of course. Here's some toonage that fits the subject! Toonage: "Grant Hart" - The Posies "Strummerville"- Stiff Little Fingers "The Replacements" - Tommy Womack "Johnny's Gonna Die" - The Replacements (live July 1982)
Following the split of his Punk Rock group Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers after the recording of their L.A.M.F. album, Johnny Thunders (real name Anthony Genzale Jr.) recorded his first solo effort with Steve Lillywhite producing. For this effort Johnny showed off his own style of heroin soaked Blues and Rock music. It blended elements of 60s Rock, Doo Wop, Soul and Punk, in Johnny's unique sloppy fashion he pulls off not only one of the best releases in his musical legacy, but also one of his most focused. The album featured reworkings of songs originally by The [...]
Johnny Thunders would turn 59 Friday (7/15) and his birthday is being celebrated tonight (7/14) at D-Generationer Jesse Malin's LES club Bowery Electric . There will be a number of artists performing including Heartbreaker Walter Lure's The Waldos , Oddball Alison Gordy , Pillbox who are apparently reuniting, and many others that are listed below. There will also reportedly be some special guests including ex- Dead Boy Jeff Magnum (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH JEFF MANGUM OF NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL), [...]
Ah, July 4th weekend. It's finally here. I've been thinking about this moment for at least…three or four days now. Pretty much since I wrote out my rent check and realized, "Oh. It's July. Well how about that!" I'm sure you all have really exciting Independence Day plans, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this website. [...]
The second in a five-part series that features covers of every single Bob Dylan song, in alphabetical order. Today's installment goes from F through J, for a total of over 50 more covers.
Johnny Thunders "Dead Or Alive"
I would say 98% of the United States is blissfully unaware of Record Store Day. But to the other 2%, Record Store Day is a national holiday - time to step away from the computer (oh the irony as I sit at my desktop PC typing this), take out the earbuds, power down the ipod and head out to your local record store... provided you are still fortunate enough to have a local record store. There will be plenty of collector cool but hardly music essential Record Store Day releases [...]
"Johnny always takes more than he needs. Knows a couple chords, knows a couple leads."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NlMTa I5FIY John Carpenter 's drummer Joe Albanese happens to be a Youtube connoisseur and general master of music entertainment. He can engage a group of people for days on Facebook in a race to name bands with the word "black" in the their names. Today he sent over a link to the video seen above, "Old Electric Boogie," a Youtube gem, inspiring us to launch a new L.A. RECORD weekly blog column. IT'S ALL FOR YOU, TUBE will feature a Youtube Mixtape contribution from someone really cool who [...]
Just noticed that BLEEDIN OUT hit it's 4th year anniversary. 300,000 hits over that period. Not bad. Considering that I started this thang to exorcise; and quite often, exercise my demons; it's been a long strange trip. Or something. 4 years of (as someone once so aptly described it) of 1/3 music, 1/3 bitching about the government and 1/3 whining about my life. On the bright side, I've cyber-met some great people. I've also been able to write... which back in college was supposed to be my vocation. And, I have [...]
Some friends attended this City Winery show of Tommy Stinson and Jesse Malin over the weekend, and said it was downright amazing. And yes, as you'll see in the video, Billie Jo Armstrong stopped by... I'm kicking myself for not making the trip. Subscribe in a reader
After watching a drunk and drugged Johnny Thunders stumble his way around on stage, insult the audience, and eventually pass out, then 18-year-old audience member Paul Westerberg went home and wrote the song "Johnny's Gonna Die." The song—one of two Westerberg would write about his idol Thunders—was a rare unhurried moment on The Replacements' otherwise racing 1981 debut Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash . The wildly influential Thunders—a member of punk pioneers the New York Dolls in the early 1970s and then leader of the Heartbreakers—died ten years later from drug-related circumstances . Thunders' cult [...]
Johnny Thunder - as in the former singer of The Drifters, not the dearly-departed Johnny Thunders from the New York Dolls - cranks out his freakbeat/garage take on this Tommy James and The Shondells original. He absolutely KILLS it with glorious fuzz guitar that could saw through brick, and a wild vocal that'll blow your house in. Definitely a 45 for the want list. Johnny Thunder - I'm Alive [ click ]
Johnny Thunders feeds on lightning " The Heartbreakers blew everyone away, for no more reason than that they were just more experienced -- they had their roots in R&B and rock 'n' roll. They were able to go onstage and draw on all that, whereas these kids ( The Damned , Clash , and Sex Pistols ) couldn't draw on anything yet. Real rock 'n' roll would start to happen and there's no fighting that, no getting around that. No matter how anarchic an audience thinks it is, [...]
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I’ll Just Leave This Here #161
BAND OF HORSES – The Funeral (Sound Remedy Remix)
K-Holes - "Frozen Stiff"
Angger Dimas – Ribon Dooh (Preview)
