Johnny Thunders: Featured Evolutionist 1-09

Johnny Thunders "Sad Vacation" from Live in Cold Blood (1982)






Johnny Thunders "Born To Lose"



"Music shouldn't be competitive. You like this music and I like that music. I love the Sex Pistols, they're a great band, I loved touring with them."

-- Johnny Thunders





Johnny Thunders obituary on MTV




New York Dolls "Chatterbox" 1973 at Club 82, New York




As we continue the Foundation's research project entitled "Therapeutic Value of Punk Rock", one name popped into mind. Johnny Thunders. While you may not consider Johnny Thunders a success story, one thing that keeps arising in the discussion of punk and underground music is: how it helps young people gain self esteem and courage. And Mr. Thunders and his New York Dolls and Heartbreakers did a lot in that field.

Sure the New York Dolls sang some gay theme tunes. More importantly though, they were rebels. While they proudly paraded their campy satirical routine, the message young outcasts got was this: "It's Okay to Be You, Fuck the Judgmental Jerks".


To feel like you're an abnormal human mistake is horrible. But when you hear a song that smirks about being "different", that's happy to be weird, that's boasts about how oddness is the spice of life, suddenly you don't feel like it's you against the entire world.

Someone else feels the same! Someone else is getting kicked around by society! Someone else is angry at the fascist governments of the world. Someone else is doing something about it, through music and poetry!

Now to this month's Featured Evolutionist: Johnny Thunders.






Speaking of oddness, even this pick is strange.


He hated the word "punk" and boldly claimed "I never made punk music".

Definitions aside, Johnny Thunders has had one of the biggest influences in rock and punk music, in his old band the New York Dolls and later in his band The Heartbreakers. He carved out a path for what you might call "art punk", trash rock, or dirt pop.

A theatrical style, when done with imagination, exaggeration, or absurdity, can add great excitement and differentiation for a band. Johnny Thunders and the New York Dolls changed their look and stage routines often, always in stark and vivid contrast to the blase plaid shirt and farmer bluejeans all the other bands were wearing.

They were almost a parody of the Rolling Stones, like their poorer but angrier step-cousins.

Glamor. Shock. Controversy. Raves. Misunderstandings. Under-valuations. Promotional negligence. Isolation. Self-destruction. The historic trend of many innovative musical groups in all genres.







As Nina Antonia remarked in 'Dead End Kid", discussing her Johnny Thunders bio to Chris Parcellin:

The early 1970s were an abysmal time for rock'n'roll. The radio airwaves were dominated by limp folkies like James Taylor and progressive rock phoneys like Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes.

With only The Rolling Stones and a few cult groups like The Stooges and The MC5 pumping-out great hard rock sounds the stage was set for a revolution.

It came in the form of The New York Dolls. Blasting out of the gutters of NYC with more attitude and snarling aggression than had been seen before, the Dolls personified rock'n'roll decadence. Unfortunately, due to industry indifference, bad management and a lack of promotion--the Dolls went over like a stinkbomb at the senior prom.

But their charismatic lead guitarist, Johnny Thunders, stood out in a band that included snot-voiced lead singer David Johansen and talented songwriter Sylvain Sylvain.

When Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan quit the band due to drugs and ego problems, Thunders was free to front The Heartbreakers and record solo albums like the stunning "So Alone" (1978).

Johnny Thunders Interview Pt. Nighthawks







Johnny Thunders "Joey"





From "Memories of Johnny Thunders" by Kris Needs.

Johnny Thunders had a tattoo on his right upper arm. A big heart and dagger, emblazoned with the words 'Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die'. Even
when he covered his lower arms with cut off t-shirt sleeves to hide his erm, track marks, the tat was still given breathing space.

...........

First time I clapped eyes on Johnny Thunders in the flesh was in early '74. The New York Dolls were opening a place called the Rainbow Room restaurant, which was situated on the top floor of Biba's department store in Kensington High Street.

Biba's was ultra-hip, very expensive - like a Harrods for the glam era. There were a lot of sequins. Obviously such an extravagant venture didn't last long but, if nothing else, it'll be remembered for that Dolls gig.

Bear in mind that in '74 most 'serious' groups, apart from glam-rockers like Slade, wore denim and plaid shirts. They were not only boring to look at but astoundingly tedious to listen to. You really had to dig for gold in those days - which is exactly why punk rock needed to come along in full force the following year.

But here were the Dolls with every member a larger-than-life personality - Jagger-preening vamped-up caterwauler David Johannsen; archetypal inscrutable bass mountain Arthur Kane; livewire hoodlum rhythm guitarist Sylvain Sylvain [with cowboy holster]; powerhouse drum-demolishing hitman Jerry Nolan...and Johnny Thunders, the lead guitarist.

At the time he was described as a cartoon Keef, with his hair an exploding exaggeration of the patented Richards rooster coiffure. But his look was more a startling hybrid of street-gang cool and street-tart back-room.

What's more, it looked like half his outfit had been nicked during the Dolls' little shopping trip around Biba's ladies department that afternoon. [It had!]

The next time I saw Mr Thunders, he was fronting a different band – the Heartbreakers. This band had come over to play on the Sex Pistols' ill-fated 'Anarchy' tour in '76 - and stayed.

They'd been booked for the tour by Malcolm McLaren, who'd managed the Dolls for a stint the previous year, just before they split up. The Heartbreakers bowled everyone over in the first few months of '77, including myself.

The punk movement had been going strong for barely six months. I was totally immersed in the escalating momentum around The Clash, the controversy about the Pistols and the new bands that kept springing up.

But the Heartbreakers were different and special. They were from New York - the place that had spawned the original punk rock attitude [and I'd been into it since the Velvet Underground ten years earlier, anyway].

In Spring '77, the Heartbreakers were a joy to catch as they played everywhere in London - the Music Machine, Vortex, Roxy, Marquee and Speakeasy. They had the same New York attitude as the Ramones – play anywhere if people wanted to see you, make some dosh and blow them away in the process.

For a few months it worked and I managed to catch them at this peak.

Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers "Chinese Rock"





Johnny Thunders "Do You Love Me?" (old Dave Clark 5 hit single)

Michael Davis MC5 Evolutionist of the Month

MC5 "Come Together" live NYC March 1969




Michael Davis (born 5 June 1943 in Detroit, Michigan) is a bass guitarist, singer, songwriter and music producer.
He replaced original MC5 bassist Pat Burrows when singer Rob Tyner and guitarist Wayne Kramer decided that they liked Davis' style and wanted him in the band.
MC5 comprises:

* Michael Davis, bass,
* Wayne Kramer, guitar,
* Fred "Sonic" Smith, guitar,
* Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson, drums, and
* Rob Tyner, vocals, .

Together they were the hardcore of the late 1960s musical revolution that began in the American Midwest. Formed in the fall of 1965, the MC5 created an explosive sound that put them at the forefront of the radical social and political scene in their native Detroit.

The MC5 are the proud forefathers of banned albums and censored lyrics and liner notes. As a result of this and their irreverence and anti-government messages, they brought on the ire of concert promoters and the police.

Davis spent seven years with Destroy All Monsters, penning the underground punk hits "Nobody Knows", "Meet the Creeper" ,"Little Boyfriend", "Rocking The Cradle" and "Fast City" among others. The band recorded and released on Cherry Red Records, toured the U.K., and then broke up.

Davis then moved to Arizona, where he played in Blood Orange, and then Rich Hopkins and Luminarios, the latter taking him back in to the studio to record several albums for Germany's Blue Rose Records. In the spring of 2003, Davis reunited with fellow surviving members Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson to play a show at London's legendary 100 Club as part of a promotion for an MC5 inspired line of apparel for Levi Strauss Vintage Clothing. This spawned a 200 city world tour and a trip back into the studio to write new songs.

Following a serious motorcycle crash on a Los Angeles freeway in May 2006, Davis along with his wife Angela Davis, launched a non-profit organization called the Music Is Revolution Foundation to support music education in public schools.

Volunteers Jake Cavaliere (The Lords of Altamont), Handsome Dick Manitoba (The Dictators), Steve Aoki (Dim Mak Records/Kid Millionaire), Pro-Skater Corey Duffel, Pennywise bassist Randy Bradbury and Obey Giant's Shepard Fairey work alongside Davis. Their goal is to raise funds and to increase public awareness about the values of music education.

Few people realize how music has been proven to increase cognitive ability and test scores, reduce absenteeism and drop-out rates, Music education also helps people be more tolerant toward those who are "different". Musicians and performing "stars" have often been eccentric, misunderstood, and victims of violence and deception.

Music is Revolution Foundation hopes to inspire a new generation of future voters to learn about other cultures and other times, develop greater understanding of the world around them, and express themselves through music.

After all, as a general rule, it's better for young people to join a band than a gang. Suicidal kids have described being snapped out of their depression, and their acute sense of total isolation, when they hear some punk band sing about the exact same shit he or she's going through.

When you discover that ancient, classical, and modern composers and music performers share many of the same feelings, dreams, and struggles, across both history and geography, you're bound to feel much better.

Davis also produces records for garage and punk bands, including The Mothers Anger (on Dionysus Records), the Lords of Altamont, Dollhouse, Tokyo Sex Destruction, and OJM. Mike Davis produces records for The Lords Of Altamont, and on August 20th, 2007 joined The Lords Of Altamont as their new bassist. He currently lives in Oregon.

It is my great honor to welcome Michael Davis as the Evolutionionist of the month for December and deliver this interview to all his friends ands fans. Very few people ever show as much dedicated love for art and music as Michael has. Those who have known him have truly been blessed.

Now, KICK OUT THE JAMS MOTHER FUCKER!!!






Featured Evolutionist
INTERVIEW
with Michael Davis




NYC PUNK ROCK EVOLUTION FOUNDATION: What are you proudest of...?



MICHAEL DAVIS: In my music career, creating something totally unique and original.



NYC PUNK: Any regrets?


MICHAEL: Hundreds, but that’s water under the bridge. You can’t redo what’s already happened.



NYC PUNK: What do you still look to accomplish?



MICHAEL: Art; my painting career is just beginning again. I’m juiced to show what I can do with a brush and canvas. I was at Wayne State University on a fine arts scholarship when I dropped out of school to join the MC5. It’s cool to be back at the easel.



NYC PUNK: Any advice to the young artists?



MICHAEL: Keep your eye on your own ideals. Don’t let fashion dictate. Everyone is waiting to see what has never been seen.



NYC PUNK: Any thoughts on the government bailouts?



MICHAEL: I certainly wouldn’t want to see our way of life destroyed completely. So, there are traditions that are dear to me, but where excesses have ruled, we need to get a grip. Of course if the government wants to bail me out, then I am all for it.




NYC PUNK: I understand that you are trying to help bailout school music programs. How is that going?



MICHAEL: Slow. I wish I could wave a magic wand over the system and show people how important it is for a kid to experience music. It might be the greatest healing force we could hope for. Music reaches beyond racism, sexism, and discriminatory thinking. It creates pure freedom and joy. We share it or keep it to ourselves. It has value on all levels. My dream is to have a regular Lollapalooza or Ozzfest type tour, the M.I.R. Caravan, to raise the money to help all of the teachers who have applied for mini-grants. Think of how much good we could do.




NYC PUNK: Who or what is the love of your life----



MICHAEL: Me. Or let me say this; I love my life, and that gives me a good platform to love everything else.



NYC PUNK: Name one Instrument, one 8-track, one kind of food, you'd want to have on a deserted island.



MICHALE: An acoustic guitar, Supertramp’s "Breakfast in America" [album], and New York Pizza. When does the ship sail?




NYC PUNK: Who was the coolest musician you ever knew?



MICHAEL: That’s easy; Fred “Sonic” Smith.



NYC PUNK: Who do you miss the most?



MICHAEL: My parents. It’s funny because when they were alive, I was in a hurry to get away from them. Now that they are gone, I can’t tell them what I’m thinking.



NYC PUNK: What was the lowest point in your life?



MICHAEL: The day I learned my daughter had died from an overdose.



NYC PUNK: What was the highest point in your life---



MICHAEL: My wife telling me YES.



NYC PUNK: Thank you so much Michael for all you have done. And we wish you all the best in your future endeavors. You truly are an evolutionist.

MC5 "Looking At You" live 1970

Featured Evolutionist November 08

Villager photo by Jefferson Siegel

John Holmstrom, finding inspiration at the punk haven Manitoba’s, at 99 Ave. B.

The rebirth of Punk: John Holmstrom’s fanzine returns

By Orli Van Mourik

In 1975, a 21-year-old former art student named John Holmstrom decided to start a magazine that married his two favorite art forms: Punk rock and comics. So he rented a rat-infested storefront in Chelsea, recruited his friends Ged Dunn and Eddie “Legs” McNeil to help out, and set to work.

Holmstrom’s fanzine was crude, but it was also cool. And, in the end, it attracted so much attention that it galvanized a movement, making bands like The Ramones, Blondie and The Sex Pistols famous in the process. Now, some 30 years later, Holmstrom has decided to re-launch Punk, and re-energize New York’s rock scene. The Villager sat down with him last week to talk about the past and the new Punk magazine.

A lot of people credit Punk magazine with making punk rock a household word. Did you consciously set out to define a movement?

Yes. Eddie, Ged and I were all really media savvy. Ged used to say, ‘A decade defines itself in the middle, not at the beginning.’ We realized that we were in the middle of the decade and we could define the culture. We were precocious.

Your co-founder Legs McNeil, who went on to write what is widely considered the seminal history of punk music, “Please Kill Me,” claims to have coined the term ‘punk.’ Is that true?

I think he’s backed off that, because so many people have called him on it. It’s been researched. Greg Shaw [creator of the fanzine “Mojo Navigator”] coined the term in the early ’70s.

Punk magazine covered everybody from The Dead Boys and Iggy Pop to Blondie and the Clash. Who were your favorites?

Blondie and The Ramones were our favorite bands on the scene. As people, in addition to their music. They were really fun to hang out with.

We were very close friends with The Ramones. Danny Fields, their manager, credited us with enabling them to get their first record contract. The story in our first issue convinced Seymour Stein at Sire Records to sign them and get the record out as soon as possible.

The new Punk magazine came out in December. What prompted you to re-launch it?

When I go to the newsstand, I see a lot of magazines devoted to [punk] culture that seem to be doing pretty well, and I say: ‘Why isn’t that me? I had the idea first.’ It’s sort of like if Hugh Hefner went to the newsstand and saw a lot of imitations of Playboy.

I’m not expecting Punk to be like Rolling Stone. I don’t think we’re going to sell 500 million copies. But I think we can be successful. There’s no Lester Bangs anymore; there’s no more Ramones — there’s no CBGB’s! [But] if there’s a Punk magazine out there, there’s still a thread that connects today’s Punk rock with the past.

With CBGB’s gone, is there really a New York punk scene worth covering?

We’re preparing a special issue on CGBG’s, since you mention it. Someone has to do it. But we are trying to mix it up. We’re covering the original punk rock from the ’70s, some of the hardcore scene in the ’80s, and moving on to the ’90s and new bands.

Which new bands do you think are worth hearing?

Well, they’re not a new band, but I’ve always liked The Bullys. They’ve been around New York for years. We put them on the cover of the last issue. That was a story I really wanted to do, because I knew the leader Johnny Heff. His day job was working on Ladder 11 and he perished on September 11. I really wanted to write something about that. Every time you hear about a rock ‘n’ roll guy, it’s an overdose or a car accident or something sleazy. This was the first time in rock ‘n’ roll history that there’s been a hero who gave his life saving others.

Tell us about the next issue.

Our cover story is about the Sid and Nancy tragedy. Eileen Polk, who was around the scene back in those days and was one of people interviewed in “Please Kill Me,” did the story. There are a lot of pictures of Sid and Nancy that people haven’t seen, so I think [readers] will be interested.

Featured Evolutionist October 08

This month, we award the Punk Rock Evolutionist honor to the following artists, who in much of their work, are keeping an innovative "punk", aggressively wild, and socially radical sensibility.

Listed below, with titles of current shows, works, books:


Jeff Shore and Jon Fisher "Reel To Reel" installation

Francis Upritchard "rainwob i, rainwob ii"

Louise Bourgeois "The Welcoming", "Untitled" aluminum coils, "Molotov Cocktail", "Confrontation"

Michelangelo Pistoletto "New Mirror Paintings"

Keith Haring "The Ten Commandments"

Lucio Fontana "Battle"

Dionisis Kavallieratos "Hell Filter"

Charles Burns "Black Hole", "Big Baby", "Dog Boy", "El Borbah"

John Altoon "Untitled (Hyperion Series 1963-64)"

Tom McCarthy "Black Box"

Miquel Barcelo "Cephalopod Works"

Elizabeth Neel "Make No Bones"

John Beech / Eward Albee "Obscure / Reveal"

Chen Wenbo "Epidemiology"

Daniel Hesidence "1779/Pedestrians"

Peter Saul "Five New Pictures"

Dana Hoey "Experiments in Primitive Living"

Petah Coyne "Vermilion Fog"

Alec Soth "The Last Days of W"

Richard Artschwage "New Etchings"

T.V. Santhosh "A Room To Pray"

John M. Armleder "Over"

Shimon Okshteyn "Dangerous Pleasures"