THE HEARTBREAKERS
The Heartbreakers, also known as Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers to distinguish them from Tom Petty’s band, were an American punk rock band, formed in New York City in May, 1975. The band spearheaded the first wave of punk rock. (More from Wikipedia)
Robert Mulrooney recalls: “My first thought was, ‘What happened to all the fun rock ’n’ roll bands, like the Flamin’ Groovies or even Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers?’ I used to make up silly nicknames for myself all the time. One was ‘Surfer Bootsey’ as a joke because you’d never see any funky brothers surfin’ . . . and the name just caught on. We were Bootsey and the Banshies at first — we misspelled it that way just to piss off all the serious Goth fans around Detroit at that time. And then one night, I drove by a strip club and saw on the marquee: ‘Featuring Reggie the Love Master!’ I just thought that sounded cool.”
(March 2016)
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In seemingly no time, the music scene was crowded with top bands and artists whose work has held up well over the decades since, among them Patti Smith Group (whose debut album, Horses came out before Ramones, in December 1975), Television, Richard Hell, the Heartbreakers (the punk band not Tom Petty’s group, though he was a part of the scene as well), Talking Heads, the Dead Boys, Blondie, the Clash, the Cars, Elvis Costello, Pat Benatar, Joy Division, the Specials, the Go-Go’s, the Police, etc., etc., etc. There were so many that rock critics and others began distinguishing bands in the safety-pin set as “punk” and others that were less confrontational as “new wave”.
After New York Dolls broke up in 1977, David Johansen released the well regarded “Animals Medley” and later reinvented himself as Buster Poindexter. Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan left New York Dolls in the spring of 1975 and formed the punk rock band the Heartbreakers with future Voidoids frontman Richard Hell,
(December 2016)
