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Jones was one of the few photographers documenting the punk and new wave scene in Milwaukee in the 70′s and 80′s. Sadly most of his work was destroyed in a fire. When we got the photograph of Johnny Thunders signed, we asked Jones to tell us a bit about the picture. It was a show at The Starship (I think, or it was The Palms) and clearly Thunders was stoned out of his mind, about to smoke his cigarette wrong-way-around. Thunders was also not happy about getting his picture taken and was a real asshole about it. What I love about this photo is that his expression – dark circles under eyes and cheeks – clearly tells you everything about Thunders’ mindset (or lack thereof) and health but also you can feel and even smell the “artist lounge” at the club: the gross 70′s plaid couch that reeks of stale smoke through the glossy paper.

“Chinese Rocks” and “Born to Lose” are two of my favorite Heartbreakers songs. Both tracks appeared on their only LP L.A.M.F.  “Born to Lose” is by Thunders but “Chinese Rocks” was written by Richard Hell and the Ramones’ Dee Dee Ramone (though there is some dispute about Hell’s contribution to the track; Dee Dee probably is responsible for most, if not all, of the song).

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The Neon Boys tracks are from much earlier, back when Tom Verlaine and Hell were still together (along with drummer Billy Ficca) but before Television formed (adding Richard Lloyd on guitar into the mix). The classic early punk track “Love Comes in Spurts” was recorded by the Neon Boys in ‘73 (probably “That’s All I Know (Right Now)” was as well). The tracks are raucous and raw, more garage rock than punk but with a definite snotty attitude. It’s especially interesting to hear the earliest version of “Love Hurts” – the guitar and brightness have a more 60′s psychedelic flavor than the more well-known later version of the song that appears on Blank Generation.

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From Allmusic: “No one ever accused Richard Hell of being the hardest working man in rock & roll, and not only did it take him five years to get around to making a follow-up to his first album, the remarkable Blank Generation, but he didn’t even bother to come up with a full LP’s worth of new material for 1982’s Destiny Street; the opening song, “The Kid With the Replaceable Head,” first appeared as a B-side to a single in 1979, and three of the album’s ten tunes are covers, which hardly speaks well of his productivity. But if it’s hard to imagine why it took five years to come up with Destiny Street, there’s little arguing that Hell’s second album is nearly as strong as his first. While the covers might seem like padding, the interpretations of the Kinks’ “You Gotta Move” and Them’s “I Can Only Give You Everything” are wildly passionate and overflowing with ideas and energy, and Hell’s dour, jagged take on Dylan’s “Going, Going, Gone” nearly surpasses the original. Robert Quine’s guitar work on Blank Generation staked his claim as one of the most interesting and intelligent guitarists to emerge from the New York underground scene, and if anything, he was in even stronger form on Destiny Street, while new members Naux (on guitar) and Fred Maher (on drums) give him all the support he needs. And though Blank Generation made it clear Hell was among the brainiest members of punk’s first graduating class, the handful of new originals here show he’d actually grown since his debut; on “Downtown at Dawn” and “Ignore That Door,” Hell subtly but implicitly rejects the dead end of night-life decadence, “Time” is a meditation on mortality that’s unexpectedly compassionate, and the title cut proved Hell had not only begun to recognize his own faults, but had even learned to laugh at them. Destiny Street sounds looser and more spontaneous than Hell’s debut, but it’s just as smart and every bit as powerful, and it’s a more than worthy follow-up.”

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“End of the Century” is the Ramones fifth studio album and produced by the infamous Phil Spector, which created a bit of disconnect between the band’s punk lo-fi sensibilities and Spector’s legendary use of high production techniques like overdubbing and, you know, quality (”End of the Century” was the most expensive album of the Ramones’ career). Spector also used less high end techniques like the threat of violence during the recording sessions – he allegedly held the band at gunpoint to get them to continue to work into the wee hours of the morning. The result is a more pop orientated and higher grade sound but a “watered-down” version of the Ramones, according to Johnny. It even contains a cover of The Ronettes’ “Baby I Love You” that Johnny claimed the band didn’t even perform: just Joey and studio musicians.  The album did well though, charting at #44 on Billboard and #14 in the UK. Our vinyl went through a punk rock blender: this copy is scraped to all hell and in places barely playable.

My favorite track is “Chinese Rock,” which Dee Dee wrote in 1976 and Richard Hell/The Heartbreakers recorded with lyrical revision in 1977. There remains contention over the writing credits: on “End of the Century” the song is credited to D.D.Ramone/R.Hell. However, it later appeared on the CD rerelease credited to the Ramones as a whole, with no mention of Richard Hell. According to Dee Dee in ‘97, the credits to Hell were false. He wrote, “Johnny Thunders ranked on me for fourteen years, trying to make out like he [Hell] wrote the song. What a low-life maneuver by those guys!”

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“Blank Generation” is Richard Hell & The Voidoids debut LP; its nihilistic yet catchy title track Richard Hell had previously performed with Television and the Heartbreakers.  The songs, while generally slower tempo than most 70′s NYC punk tracks, are snotty, sneering, messy and abrasive. Also hilarious and adolescent – particularly “Love Comes in Spurts.”

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