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Jumping over to Jolly Old Blighty!

Cherry and I wanted something more outrageous! Remember, we had worked to make Bowie seem outrageous, but we needed the real thing!  And the British Punk scene was more theatrical, and we really loved that! We both come from theatrical backgrounds anyway. So mix that with Rock and Roll and there you have it! The NYC scene was as dull as a dishrag, but the music was more diverse! But I like the more rougher, rock sound like the Ramones or Pistols. I went before Cherry did, and I can*t remember the dates on that! But needless to say when I got to London, I fitted more in there than I did on the NYC scene! In NY they were much too too serious! I was an outrageous freak, so to speak, and I immediately felt right at home in London!  The kids really did it right! Dressing up and all. Blood down their white shirts, with rips everywhere! The spikey Richard Hell hair cuts, and of course the Pogo! I read back then that the Pogo originated with Patti Smith, cause she did that on stage all the time. The same with the spitting! I heard that when she went there, the audience were copying her on stage at her gigs, and it soon spread and before you know it, a new dance was born. The Pogo! Not since the Twist had we had such a fun dance! I detested all that fucking spitting! I used to spit also and stick out my tongue do fake farts on stage.

Kiss saw me do all that when they played their first ever gig with me in NYC back in 1972! I got copied a lot always have. I guess that comes with always being ahead of everyone else. I was never afraid to try new things, on stage or off!!! Anyway, I was totally accepted by the British Punks. They knew my history and knew I had been doing all that shit for YEARS!!! And I got so much more respect in Britain and Europe! I felt truly appreciated, and that is the utmost important for an artist!

Leee felt the same way as I did. The Hearbreakers rocked out and we were fed up with all the arty farty bull shit in NYC. The Heartbreakers went down a storm in London! And of course, everyone knew Johnny a the guitar player from the New York Dolls. The London Roxy bands all rocked out! Fast paced, raw energy, and attitude. Johnny  liked it because the audiences there in England really loved and understood the more raw, rockin, shit. They could jump up and down and have FUN!!! Fun was something the Arty Farty bands had forgotten about!  The only reason that I would jump up and down at a Television or Talking Heads concert would be to wake myself up!!!  Television get the credit for opening up CBGB*s. but that is one big fat LIE!!!  It was Wayne County*s *Queen Elizabeth* who did that. They and their cohorts have tried to re write NYC music history with their lies and  deceit!!! Wayne County played  FOUR WHOLE MONTHS before Tellalievision did!!! Tell A Lie Vision! Transphobic assholes

The Heartbreakers and Leee Black Childers were on top of the world  in 1976, 77, London!  Not since Swinging London or the Glam movement had they had such a good time! Track records recorded them but paranoid, junky Jerry Nolan fucked up the mixes something horrible!!! I LOVED Jerry to death. He was in my band Queen Elizabeth before he went to the Dolls! He was an amazing drummer and human being! But he was a paranoid, fucked up junky! And he would be the first to admit it!!!

But saying all that, the Heartbreakers were one of the best Rock and Roll outfits around. It was Johnny*s attitude that gave it a more *Punk* attitude.  In AmeriKa, Punk could mean different sounding bands, but in England, most of the bands were of the Ramones ilk. I don*t think that Punk was as much the music as it was the fuck you attitude!