The Heartbreakers

They had a mixed reputation in the States, not least on account of The Doll’s chequered past. Able to draw the crowds, but unable to secure a record deal, they watched as peers such as The Ramones and Patti Smith got deals. In 1976 Hell jumped ship (or pushed depending on the viewpoint) to form the Voidoids and Billy Rath joined. 

Jerry Nolan He wasn’t happy playing the kind of rock’n’roll we were into. He’s into the Television/Patti Smith vein, and we had to cater to him a lot…when he left we got better quickly. Zigzag #71, April 1977

The Heartbreakers (with Richard Hell) – Chinese Rocks (Live at CBGB’s 1975)

Immediately the band began ramping up the tunes that would be their set. Hearing of the nascent punk scene in the UK and McLaren (ex manager of the New York Dolls and now Sex Pistols manager) no doubt glad to have a living legend in Thunders on his package invited The Heartbreakers (subtitled ‘ex New York Dolls’) to join the ill fated Anarchy Tour.

Walter Lure We love that sort of craziness – PA columns being pulled over. People jumping up and down bouncing their heads off the ceiling, getting into fights. Its great: all those people going out of their minds! We have a mutual admiration society with our audiences. Zigzag #71, April 1977

Once in the UK they received a rapturous reception playing gigs like The Roxy and Vortex and slotting perfectly in the emerging punk scene. They brought with them, attitude, professionalism, a heap of catchy punky tunes and legends in Nolan and Thunders. They also brought hard drugs and Nancy Spungen with them which was later to have such disastrous effects on the punk scene, Sid Vicious in particular and The Sex Pistols.

Roxy Club flyer and Anarchy In The UK Tour Poster

By March 1977 they had signed with Track Records releasing an album LAMF and three singles produced by Speedy Keane (ex Thunderclap Newman and producer of Motorhead’s first album). At the time it was unsure what they would be called, as Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers had begun to make a splash, and to avoid confusion the name they were going to choose was…The Junkies!

Jerry Nolan Trouble? We thrive on it. We can afford to call ourselves the junkies because we are not Junkies…we just like the name. Its strong and dramatic like the music. Zigzag #74, July 1977

As of 2023 all of Heartbreakers are dead including manager Leee Black Childers.

April 1975 and the once mighty New York Dolls were well and truly on the skids…Although their first two albums had snagged acres of critical acclaim, sales had been sluggish and their record label were losing patience rapidly. To add insult to injury a heap of no talent copycats (Kiss/Aerosmith etc.. yaaaawn!) were knocking the sharp edges off the Dolls original blueprint and preparing to rake in big bucks with watered down AM friendly radio crap…

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 that 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 underrated 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 Television – 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..).

1975 The Heartbreakers Performing Chinese Rocks at CBGB, New York

To beef up the onstage sound various folks were considered as second guitarist. NY scenester 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!)

1975 The Heartbreakers Performing Blank Generation at CBGB, New York

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!!)

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..

Unknown to the Heartbreakers, McLaren had originally asked fellow New York punk pioneers da brudders Ramone to co headline the tour – but they pulled out at the last minute supposedly suspicious of McLaren’s motives. Astutely McLaren wooed the Heartbreakers instead –realizing that the cachet of having a band with 2 ex Dolls on the bill would really pull in the paying punters. What he didn’t realize was that these upstart New Yorkers would also blow their UK counterparts offstage at each and every opportunity.

Still, it coulda been worse – the press generated was awesome and punk rock finally went overground in a big big way (uh..whoopee doo!). Check out the whole thrilling episode in Don Letts (less than) imaginatively titled ‘Punk Rock Movie’ and a zillion bootleg videos/DVDs…. Tellingly, almost to a man (and woman) the UK punk elite rushed to prostrate themselves at the Heartbreakers feet – awed by the presence of 2 real livin’ Dolls in the flesh! Better still McLaren/ The Pistols and EMI were picking up the tab and when they did get to play our New York chums comprehensively pulverised their UK tourmates onstage – an embarrassing fact confirmed by every eyewitness account of the times – but later deliberately glossed over in shamelessly revisionist UK punk literature.

Despite the limp hysteria of the Pistols ‘New York’ the selfsame band could be found night after night at the side of the stage picking up tips…though some after show habits picked up from their big apple compadres proved to be somewhat less savoury and the Heartbreakers were (perhaps inaccurately?) credited with introducing heroin to the London punk elite – Jerry Nolan famously claiming to have given Johnny Rotten his first real fix. Sadly, poor Jerry also got the blame for encouraging ‘Nauseous Nancy’ (Spungen) to pack her bags and head for London – and we all know what devastation followed in her wake (and if ya don’t, you really are on the wrong website, chum..). Ho hum…

Holed up in London after the Anarchy Tour the Heartbreakers were finally getting the major label attention they craved as the record companies realized there was gold in them thar punk rock hills and rushed headlong to sign up their very own exponents of this brand new sound. Rooted in 50’s bad boy rock’n’roll and already skilled musicians and songsmiths, Thunders crew were much more accessible and readily understood by the record company A+R folks who still remained sceptical and kinda bewildered by this unholy punky waver racket.

However, spirits were still high when the band went in to record their vinyl debut and when Chinese Rocks’ b/w ‘Born To Lose hit the racks in May 1977 in spiffy 12” and 7” formats, hopes were high and it literally flew off the racks. However, the omens were ominous – Track had hugely underestimated demand and while waiting for the records to be repressed our heroes missed out on major chart action – though they did top the ‘indie’ charts for weeks on end. More worryingly, despite the luxury of a 12” pressing the record still sounded muddy and rumours began to emanate from within the Heartbreakers camp of heated arguments during the mixing. After their disappointment with the mix of both Dolls albums Thunders and Nolan musta had an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Somewhat predictably, given the subject matter, airplay was less than forthcoming but nevertheless, the record continued to shift by the bucketload and tour dates lined up to promote the release saw ‘em on top form.

But the logistics (and continued hassle from the home office over their work permits) eventually ruled it out…a real pity as things were getting waay out of hand – moronic identipunk idiots had even kicked the crap out of ‘breakers manager at Camden’s Music Machine Lee Black Childers for sporting a suave quiff!

Interestingly, Childers later managed the mercurial and hugely influential proto rockabilly rebels Levi Dexter and the Ripchords/Rockats who JT frequently jammed with on and offstage. Another hugely influential band who could only watch with horror as lesser acts broke big by replicating their unique formula almost note for note…Thunders too was disgusted by the idiot punk mentality that was becoming increasingly de rigueur – even as late as October 78 he could be found mercilessly lambasting the cretinous goons who barracked him over the failure of Pistols Cook and Jones to appear at his Lyceum showcase – reputedly another petty thankless McLaren stunt – winding ‘em up by storming through original punk Gene Vincent’s Be Bop A Lula on the anniversary of his tragic demise.

But, as with so many things in the Heartbreakers story, things just didn’t go to plan. Fer starters, swelling egos saw the band demanding the use of increasingly expensive studios – but as Track were footing the bill nobody was unduly worried and the recording itself went down smoothly enough. Knowing that they had to get it dead right this time mixing began in May 77 dragging on and on as certain band members squabbled incessantly over the results.

Things got so bad that Jerry Nolan threatened to quit the band (again!) – only returning on the proviso that he was allowed to remix the album himself!! Continued problems with work permits forced the band to return to the Big Apple in mid 77 where they headlined packed shows, returning as conquering hometown heroes..

A second single, a taster for the long awaited album, was unleashed in September 1977 combining longtime live favourite One Track Mind with Nolan’s Can’t Keep My Eyes On You and a spunky run through of the old Contours smash Do You Love Me? on the flip… Again predictably airplay was negligible but sales were hugely encouraging.

The eagerly anticipated album finally emerged in October 1977. Typically the HB’s played up their bad boy image to the full, glowering menacingly out of a NY alleyway on the cover and titling it L.A.M.F. after the New York street gang tag D.T.K.L.A.M.F. (‘down to kill like a motherfucker’), though several gullible teeny mags were assured straight facedly that the title was short for ‘let’s all make friends’ in interviews. Initial sales and reviews were mighty encouraging but apart from one spin of ‘It’s Not Enough’ on the OGWT, radio and TV, airplay was minimal – undoubtedly due more to the contentious subject matter (er..drugs, drugs and more drugs…with a couple of Thunders trademark tender love songs thrown in for good measure) than the quality of the songs.

Tellingly though, most every review commented on the sloppy sound. For an album that promised SO much it just didn’t deliver sound wise – the songs were great, the performances were truly great too – but the finished product just sounded kinda lame. Mysteriously, cassette copies sounded much better – a weird anomaly that wasn’t explained until much later!

Thunders and Nolan were utterly distraught – they’d been through this once with the Dolls and just couldn’t understand it. The mixes sounded great in the studio too – but they just didn’t cut it on vinyl. To add insult to injury many of the bands who had been comprehensively shut down onstage by the ‘breakers were now releasing albums that sounded focussed and punchy in comparison. And so relations between the band deteriorated further as the blame game started up for real.

Ironically the real reason the album sounded so poor didn’t some to light until recently – the fault apparently a result of inherent flaws in the vinyl mastering process used by Track. Dozens of different mixes were committed to tape as the band struggled to perfect the mix – and mastered correctly on modern equipment they all sound great!..Go figger! Thankfully Jungle Records have made several of these remastered ‘original’ mixes widely available recently – go get ‘em!

After the tour Nolan quit as promised, returning to New York where he hooked up with ex Doll Arthur Kane in the short lived Idols. Ex Clasher Terry Chimes stepped in to replace Jerry as the band headlined a brace of shows in December ‘77 at the Vortex. Track, in their wisdom, elected to issue the radio friendly Its Not Enough on 45 the same month. Hardly a spectacularly inspired move as fans already had both sides of the 45 on the album this desperate last ditch attempt to snag chart success stiffed when the label folded with only a handful of copies ever having been made available – making it one of the all time punk rarities, vinyl junkies!

Track meanwhile folded ignominiously – though amazingly Childers and the gang were able to break into their Carnaby Street offices in the dead of night and ‘liberate’ their master tapes in the confusion. Rumours of a proposed deal with CBS came to naught and the ‘Breakers imploded messily at the end of the year, Childers quitting and Lure and Rath flying back to the big apple. Only Thunders elected to remain over this side of the pond, gigging with various liggers and hangers on under the banner of the Living Dead until finally landing a well-deserved solo deal with Real Records in Spring 78 – with whom he would shortly release arguably his finest records later the same year….but that, as they say, is another story for another time.

And that was that…or shoulda been…But over the years since their demise the Heartbreakers (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) reconvened regularly for occasional live gigs – usually when money was short! Even though they rarely rehearsed, the old spark was always there – and even on an off night these guys truly had no equal! Again, check out any of the zillions of hastily assembled live albums and pirate videos fer proof! More rewardingly, once Thunders signed up with Jungle Records in the mid 80’s, those dusty L.A.M.F. tapes were dusted off and remixed / reissued in a dizzying array of formats. As mentioned earlier the original mixes of LAMF have now been remastered too – Overkill fer sure! But hugely enthralling and truly compulsory listening for anyone even remotely interested in classic punk New York Style…After all, The Heartbreakers did it first..and best!

And doncha dare forget it !

Brian Young – May 2005

It’s sad that any discussion about the Heartbreakers recorded output revolves around the supposed murkiness of the mix of LAMF. In my view, this is a red herring. If no one had mentioned it then would anyone really have noticed it?

The sound? Pure 100% authentic classic rock’n’roll. Infectious, simplistic and totally apolitical with lyrics that Thunders described as “love songs for objects”. Substitute ‘heroin’ for objects and you get the picture. Add a few American staples like cars and girls and you’ve got the lot!

---

Chinese Rocks / Born To Lose
(Track May 1977)

The all time classic penned by messrs Hell, and Dee Dee Ramone but appropriated by The Heartbreakers. All time classic riff and ode to the delights of the brown stuff. As if that isn’t enough, you get double delight with the classy loser anthem Born To Lose on the flipside. As close to rock’n’roll single perfection as you can get. Later The Ramones did the song but IMHO this one is definitive. Period!

---

One Track Mind /Can’t Keep My Eyes On You / Do You Love Me (Track Records October 1977)

Another pull of songs from LAMF. Sadly this also got nowhere. Another mid paced gem and more allusions to junk and “tracks up my arms”. The flip side show the bands roots with the sixties style call and response tune of Do You Love Me.

---

It’s Not Enough / Let’s Go
(Track Late 1977)

In a last attempt to wring some more money out of the band, Track released a third single featuring another two tracks (making 50% of the album released on singles) from the album everybody already had without any advertising or fanfare. No surprise it sold poorly and that people aren’t/weren’t even aware of it.

The Heartbreakers – LAMF
(Track Records 1977)

Classic sleeve, classic album. If you ain’t got this you are missing out! Reached #55 in the album charts of the time. To date there are 734 releases of this in different mixes, colours, demos and live and currently three more ready for release. If you stack up those with versions of Never Mind The Bollocks you could fill a small toilet.

On what LAMF stands for…

Jerry Nolan That stands like for “Like A Mother Fucker”, If you wrote the name of your gang on the wall, it was customary to write LAMF underneath it – to show you meant business. If you wrote the name of your gang in a rival gang’s territory, you wrote DTKLAMF which stood for “Down To Kill Like A Mother Fucker”…that let the rival gang know you weren’t scared of them, to show that you didn’t feel intimidated to be on their turf.  Zigzag #74, July 1977

That clears that up then! Here’s a recent review from Amazon and to be honest it says it all.

“(The) Sound on this ..is more of an amphetamine driven Rock “n” Roll, with the swagger of the Rolling Stones, which the Dolls also had, but much faster! There is even a Ramones penned track Chinese Rocks which was a single at the time along with Born to Lose, which were favourites of Sid Vicious. Every track on this album will hit you like a speeding train, Bang after Bang! and is more “Punk” then any of the so called Punk acts of today. Most people will probably not understand this, but the people who know what Punk means will love it!”  Mike Bond. Amazon.co.uk

Strangled Interview (click for larger images)

Moreon Reaction Interview

Negative Reaction Interview