Richard Hell Part 2

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 History  Part 1 

A short liaison with ex Dolls Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan in The Heartbreakers kept Hell busy through to 1976 but sheer incompatibility meant that Hell was on the move again after just 9 months leaving behind one song Chinese Rocks that became a permanent fixture in their set.

"...it was just that the music was too brutish for me. It was clear that it wasn't gonna have any kinda musical ambition except to stomp out rock'n'roll, which I like, but I wanted to be able to extend it more."  Please Kill Me - McNeil & McCain

"Richard Hell was probably one of the great geniuses of his generation, but he was just too smart for his own good. He couldn't get along in a band. He couldn't get along with Tom Verlaine when he was in Television, and he couldn't get along with Johnny Thunders." Punk  - Colgrave & Sullivan

The ill fated Heartbreakers with Richard Hell. Photo Chris Stein
Richard Hell - Bass & Vocals Johnny Thunders - Vocals & Guitar
Walter Lure - Guitar Jerry Nolan - Drums

Hell, Julian, Bell.& Quine

 This time it was to form the Voidoids with just one front man. Hell explains the band selection...

Bob Quine - Guitar
"Bob was a guy I'd known for years. I used to go over to his house...where he had a fantastic record collection and listen to records."

Mark Bell - Drums
"He'd just left Wayne County...and asked if we should get together and immediately I said yes."

Ivan Julian - Guitar
Picked randomly from a list of guitarists seeking bands to play for one night. "..it was right immediately that night."

Quotes Richard hell Sounds 23.4.77
At last you are the undisputed leader of your band. So how do you fancy to have been in two seminal punk rock bands, defined a generation with a look and song and then find yourself cramped in a little car touring with The Clash starting their set with I'm so Bored With The USA and getting covered with spit. To top it all your record company doesn't even release your album to coincide with the tour.

"I was strung out and not knowing how to cop...I'd been where the Clash and the Sex Pistols were 4 years before...the British audiences were just horrific."
Of course it wasn't helped by the de rigeur heroin habit Hell was enduring. Returning to New York Hell extricated the Voidoids from their Sire deal and waited for a big label to come and claim their prize in. Sadly it never happened. Hell moved to just singing. Marc Bell departed for The Ramones. By October 1978 they recorded Kid With The Replaceable Head for Radar Records as a taster to an album and  supported Elvis Costello. The Radar records deal fell through and that was that for the band returning to New York
There is an argument to say that Hell era Television and Heartbreakers both hit their peak with him in the band and that The Voidoids never really hit those peaks. For Hell, some 5 years after originally writing the tunes, that first album was a catharsis and following it he questioned himself whether he even wanted to be in rock'n'roll giving up the bass.In the end he recorded infrequently throughout the eighties with different personnel several times.

 History  Part 1 

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