The Tragic and Legendary Life of Punk Rock’s Johnny Thunders

There was no one out there quite like Johnny Thunders. He first became a solo legend with the release of Hurt Me in 1984, but his career didn’t just start there. Back in the early 1970s, he made a name for himself as a core part of New York Dolls.

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Thunders understood what young people were interested in musically. He said himself that “rock ‘n’ roll is simply an attitude,” and he certainly embodied that. Few musicians produced what we now consider proto-punk quite like Thunders did. He embodied that energy as part of New York Dolls, as a soloist, and as part of The Heartbreakers. But he also embodied the stereotype of a troubled rock star, complete with a hard drug habit that he wanted to break but couldn’t.

“I’m gonna try to be cured,” Thunders once said. “I’ve been on heroin eight years, and I want to try a different style of life. It made me split up from my wife. It ruined a lot of things for me.”

Johnny Thunders’ Tragic and Mysterious Death Casts a Shadow Over His Legacy

Eight years after the release of his iconic solo effort Hurt Me, Johnny Thunders’ body was discovered at the St. Peter Guest House in New Orleans. The official account notes that he died as a result of drug intoxication. However, plenty of his contemporaries and fans do not agree. Rumors of foul play have been circulating about his death for years. 

Dee Dee Ramone allegedly took a call from Stevie Klasson, who was Thunders’ guitar player at the time of his death.

“They told me that Johnny had gotten mixed up with some bastards […] who ripped him off for his methadone supply,” said Ramone in his autobiography. “They had given him LSD and then murdered him.”

There is also allegedly conflicting information from the coroner’s report of his death.

Regardless of what the real cause of Thunders’ death was, one can’t deny that his sad end was particularly tragic, even for a rock star. Due to the odd circumstances of his death, his passing seems to cast a shadow over his electric career. It’s a shame, considering Johnny Thunders was so much more than his untimely death.

Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images

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