Brian also did a New York Dolls piece for this site some time back and I did threaten that unless he wrote something else about the Heartbreakers then Cherry Vanilla would get more coverage and that did the trick!

So here you go a Heartbreakers history written in Brian's own inimitable style..enjoy!!

Meanwhile back in the Dolls camp our increasingly beleagured heroes had been gearing up for that last ditch ‘make or break’ 3rd LP but progress had been stymied by internecine band feuding and bickering fuelled by increasing levels of substance abuse and rampant ego mania. To put it mildly, things were not looking good..
At this point in their career geeky gingo habadasher and wannabe Dolls groupie cum manager Malcolm McLaren entered the picture. Talcy Malc’s half assed brainstorm of dressing our all American boys in ‘red patent leather’ and having ‘em play under hammer and sickle flags backfired spectacularly, turning their few remaining media buddies dead against ‘em - and a hastily arranged comeback tour belly flopped disastrously leaving our former press darlings stumbling thanklessly around the backwaters of Florida playing for chump change in the local redneck bars and holing up in a trailer park owned by Jerry Nolan’s Mum! Flat broke and busted, frustration turned to desperation for certain band members who were finding it impossible to cop..and when frazzled frontman Johansen quipped snidely ‘no one in this band is irreplaceable’ Johnny Thunders and his trusty sidekick ‘Needles’ Nolan finally decided it was time to split for good , returning post haste to New York City where they could score in peace..

Somewhat prophetically, Syl and Davey Jo carried on with various permutations of ersatz Dolls/Dollettes for the next few years – but they weren’t really fooling anyone - apart from our friends in Japan who welcomed ‘em with open arms and wallets..gawd bless em! It’s worth noting however, that much of the material performed by these latter days Dolls was drawn from the cache of songs which had been earmarked for the Dolls third album and was absolutely first rate, later providing the backbone for Johansen’s highly acclaimed solo debut and Syl’s hugely under rated Criminals.

Returning home to scuzz city central Johnny and Jerry started looking for likely candidates for their new band. As fate would have it, fellow junkfiend Richard Hell had only recently been bounced from egghead scenesters Televison – ostensibly due to his rudimentary bass technique. The truth was more straightforward. Quite simply, Hell, already sporting his trademark spiked crop and ripped tee shirts, had been getting far more attention than wimpy frontman/geek Verlaine – a situation Verlaine’s ginormous ego just couldn’t tolerate any longer. Though hardly the world’s most dextrous bassist, Hell was an enormously charismatic singer and wordsmith, with several future classics like ‘Blank Generation’ already under his belt. And so our three junkie heroes united under ‘The Heartbreakers’ banner, cobbling together a mighty impressive set in a very short space of time, as all three band members (Jerry too!) were mighty talented songwriters and Thunders and Hell both had a ready backlog of killer songs to pick and choose from. Thunders bringing such ex Dolls gems to the party as ‘Pirate Love’ and ‘Endless Party’ and Hell not to be out done with early versions of the aforementioned ‘Blank Generation’ and ‘Love Comes In Spurts’.

Debuting as a three piece in May ‘75 the Heartbreakers were a major hit right off the blocks – with such chequered pasts and ill concealed drug habits, many people expected to see ‘em fall flat on their faces – but our unholy trinity confounded all expectations and really kicked ass onstage - as live tapes from the time fully attest. Somewhat amazingly their set was made up of feisty, hugely intelligent, spunky and abrasive three minute hook filled proto punk anthems. All the more remarkable when ya pause to consider that this was early 1975 and the rest of the US of A was gripped by the disco hustle, lame prog rock and cheesy AOR slop. You’d best believe me too when I say this was (and is!) truly revolutionary stuff. Typically, more
than a few folks were studiously taking notes which they would later put to very good use..(McLaren, The Brudders Ramone, Debbie Harry etc etc..).

To beef up the onstage sound various folks were considered as second guitarist. NY scenster Eliot Kidd and future Real Kids mainman John Felice were possible contenders – but the addition of feisty ex Demon Walter ‘Waldo’ Lure on second guitar/vocals was a particularly inspired choice as not only was Lure was a real talented singer/songwriter in his own right but also a pretty damn mean lead guitarist too…(Even to this day Johnny Thunders gets credited with a lot of the spiffy guitar manglin’ that was played by bug eyed Waldo – an unfortunate fate shared by Syl back in the Dolls heyday..oh and Waldo later played lead on a handful of Ramones albums too fact fans!)

Constant gigging honed their chops and within months The Heartbreakers had built up a truly formidable rep as the hottest live band in New Yawk - able to wipe the floor with any band on their home turf and churning out hot new material like there was tomorrow – again, studio demos and live tapes from the time
		more than back this up…this truly was one hot combo! Taking his cue from Hell,Nolan and Lure, Thunders even lopped off his Dollsy trademark flowing locks, the band looking more and more like a 50s street gang every day. ‘Catch ‘em while they’re still alive’ boasted the posters and check out the famous publicity photos where our heroes are all holding what looks like blood spattered exploding hearts – in reality melted chocolate bars! Ultra cool or what!

Word spread quick and it wasn’t long before reports began to filter back across this side of the pond – here was a new band who truly was a force to be reckoned with and again, tapes and video footage from this time show a band almost single handedly defining what later became the blueprint for punk rock as we would come to know and lurve it….and that’s a plain historical fact bub! Like it or lump it! Soooo..Now hugely popular and revered in their hometown all the Heartbreakers needed was record deal. A mere formality for such a hip’n happenin’ outfit you’d have thunk? Tellingly, US labels steered clear - frightened by the bands no holds barred image and still reluctant to touch any ex members of the notoriously troublesome ex Dolls with the proverbial bargepole – no matter how many big apple column inches they garnered.

Disappointingly too, Hell had decided that he had enough of sharing the spotlight with the volatile Mr Thunders hatching an ill fated plot to oust JT. Disgusted at this ego fuelled ultimatum, Hell’s erstwhile bandmates presented him with his marching orders instead - electing to stick with Johnny T.!(A real dumb pity in my book – imagine just how truly awe inspiring a studio record a Thunders/Hell powered line up coulda unleashed…punk rock with brains and balls! Aw well..t’was not to be!!)

Thunders & Rath -  Photo R.Stevenson

For his part, Thunders had simply had enough of playing second fiddle and mid 76 saw a hastily revamped Heartbreakers with Johnny officially assuming the role of frontman with new recruit (and self confessed ‘ex gigolo’ ) Billy Rath taking over bass duties. A more surefooted and solid rock’ n’ roll rooted bassist than Hell, Rath allowed our scuzzball heroes to shift up another couple of gears and with the increasingly confident Lure now co writing with both Thunders and Nolan and sharing guitar and vocal duties the ‘new’ ‘breakers were tighter and tuffer than ever…still playing to packed houses and destroying the competition - but still unable to snag that record deal..

Hell meanwhile moved on to the Voidoids – one of the finest, most influential, intelligent, provocative and most criminally under rated acts anyplace, any time, anywhere…but that’s another story for another time..Starting to get frustrated at going nowhere fast Thunders and co were highly amused when their erstwhile ‘habardasher’ chum ‘talcy’ Malcy McLaren got in touch with newly installed manager Leee Black Childers and begged ‘em to fly to the UK to join the ‘Anarchy In The UK’ Tour he was setting up to plug his new combo – one ‘Sex Pistols’. At long last the lessons he had learned from the Dolls were getting put to good use..