‘Johnny’s Gonna Die’: when Johnny Thunders jammed with The Replacements
In 1968, a small, independent New York label called Callia released a big song by Johnny Thunders. ‘I’m Alive’ roars into life with huge, fuzzy guitars and Thunder screaming the title line and opening verse. While Bob Dylan described the song in 1970 as “one of the most powerful records I’ve ever heard” and grounded it in a rhythm and blues rhythm, the raucous, over-driven guitar was a portent of the punk style and movement that was soon to sweep the city.
One such punk player who came to fame not long after was the similarly named Johnny Thunders. First with the New York Dolls and then The Heartbreakers, Thunders was famed for his loose guitar playing and mysterious, seemingly dangerous, stage presence. Looking the part of a true rock star in his leathers and boots, with big hair and eyes that could bore right through you, Thunders also sadly succumbed early on to one of the major pitfalls of a true rockstar: drugs.
Thunders had developed a heroin habit even before any of his bands had first released an album. Despite his addiction, he managed to get a recording career off the ground. After cutting two records for Mercury, Thunders’ band, the New York Dolls. He quickly formed a new group alongside former New York Doll Jerry Nolan and recruited Television bassist Richard Hell. Together as The Heartbreakers, they would only release one album, ‘L.A.M.F.’, which was well received by critics and highly influential among the burgeoning New York punk scene.
When the band dissolved, Thunders decided it was time to go it alone. His debut solo album, So Alone, is his most well-known work. The record featured a fine array of musicians, including bassist Phil Lynott, drummer Paul Cook and guitarist Steve Jones, with guest appearances from Chrissie Hynde, Steve Marriott, Walter Lure, Billy Rath and Peter Perrett.
While his career seemed to be taking off, things in his personal life were breaking down. Thunders’ reliance on drugs had begun to affect his marriage and eventually caused his long-time partner Julie Jordan to take the kids and go.
In 1980, Thunders performed a couple of shows in Minneapolis, MN, with his new band, Gang War. As huge Johnny Thunders fans, The Replacements desperately wanted to open the shows, but the slots went instead to Hüsker Dü. Making do with a place in the audience, Replacements front-man Paul Westerberg remembers seeing his hero live with mixed feelings. “The moment he walked on, I saw it. He was frightening and beautiful, and mean at the same time. Like a child.”
“When Johnny was playing, it looked like he was walking dead. It was pitiful, like watching a guy in a cage.” The Replacements had been massively influenced by Johnny Thunders’ loose, characterful guitar playing, even incorporating a few covers of his songs into their early setlists, but this show gave Westerberg a new inspiration.
The day after the Minneapolis concert, Westerberg sat down with his guitar and started playing ‘Chinese Rocks’ from The Heartbreakers’ L.A.M.F. album and put his own set of lyrics to the song. “Johnny always takes more than he needs. Knows a couple chords, knows a couple leads,” he started. “Johnny always needs more than he takes. Forgets a couple of chords, forgets a couple of breaks.”
The song ‘Johnny’s Gonna Die’ was released on The Replacements’ 1981 album Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, and before long, the band were a bigger draw than Thunders had ever been. In 1989, they were booked for two nights at New York’s prestigious Beacon Theatre.
After he initially turned down their request to open for them at the shows on the grounds that he’d “never heard of them,” Thunders eventually accepted, and for the second time, the band had a less-than-desirable encounter with their hero.
His set on the first night didn’t contain any of his well-known songs; instead, he focused on his most recent record and shared the stage with a saxophonist and troupe of backing singers. On the second night, in a back-to-his-roots rock band set, Thunders went on too long and had to have the power cut on him to get him to stop playing.
On both nights, he sat in during The Replacements’ set, joining them for a long bluesy instrumental on the first night and playing Chuck Berry’s ‘Around and Around’ and his own song ‘Born to Lose’ with them on the second.
Just two years later, Thunders would be found dead in his hotel room in New Orleans at the young age of 38 from a suspected overdose of both cocaine and heroin. There were a little over ten years between Johnny Thunder singing ‘I’m Alive’ and The Replacements singing ‘Johnny’s Gonna Die’. In just over ten more years, Johnny Thunders really was gone.
