Johnny Thunders is a true punk rock legend. He shot to stardom as a founding member of the iconic NEW YORK DOLLS. After a stint with the Dolls he then went on to for his own band Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers. Thunders sadly lost his life in 1991 aged just 38, but his legacy lives on to this day. Thunders was one of the true Godfathers of the US Punk scene.
On March 22nd Golden Robot Records / Die Laughing Records will release a live single Chinese Rocks, which is taken from the upcoming live album; Cosa Nostra: Live At The Mudd Club 1983 Gothenburg, which will be available as limited edition vinyl and on all streaming platforms.
Chinese Rocks is as you expect! Raw, dirty, sweaty, full of swagger and Punk as all hell.
Cosa Nostra: Live At The Mudd Club 1983 Gothenburg, is previously a unreleased live show, extremely rare, direct from the Johnny Thunders estate and totally exclusive to Golden Robot Records.
Born in Queens, NY in 1952, he fell in love with rock ‘n’ roll at a young age and turned his back on a potentially successful baseball career to start the legendary New York Dolls; the band that spawned hundreds of other hopeful rock ‘n’ roll bands.
When the New York Dolls folded, JT and drummer Jerry Nolan went back to New York’s budding punk rock scene to start the Heartbreakers; an iconic band if there ever was one.
Their raw, wild and ‘dirty’ sound became engraved in the minds of all those young punks and it’s fair to say they were more than a major influence on the London punk scene.
Over the years the Heartbreakers toured on and off and they always kept that magic from the early days. Everybody remembers ‘Chinese Rocks’, ‘Born to lose’ and other gems embedded in our hearts and minds forever.
Solo, Johnny Thunders showed a vulnerable, deeply sensitive and poetic side to his rocker persona, with masterpieces like ‘Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory’, and ‘So Alone’.
Whatever his personal circumstances and demons he had to fight, he never lost his love for rock ‘n’ roll, his unique personal sense of style or signature sound; that influenced so many.
JT just can’t leave anyone indifferent, and that continues to this day, even after his untimely passing, at age 38, in New Orleans, a sad day for music.
