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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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“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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On the back cover of this LP there is a review and history, of sorts, by Alternative Press Magazine’s Tim Stegall. He writes of Thunders, “[he] had gained a rep as THE prototype Seventies garageslop guitar slop player, lifting Keith Richard’s wasted, cig-dangling persona and most Berrychucked riffs and charging ‘em with the attitude and rocketfuel of the MC5′s Kramer/Smith tag team (which was easier to capture than their fretboard dexterity!).”

The album contains one track that would eventually go on to appear on The Heartbreakers only studio album “L.A.M.F.” – “Pirate Love.” However, many other classics appear like“Stepping Stone” as well as “Love Comes in Spurts” and “Blank Generation” (later recorded by Richard Hell and the Voidoids).

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