Part of the legend that was the
New York Dolls. He was the faux-
Keef to
David Johansen's faux-
Mick. On a good night, he could tap into the essence of
rock and roll and send you careening towards
Valhalla in a hotwired
'57 Chevy. On a bad night, you could call him
Jones, if he showed up at all; he was a perennial candidate in the dead pool, finally dying in
New Orleans in
1991.
Buying a Thunders LP was as iffy a proposition as buying a ticket to a live show. He may have peaked in the 70s, after the breakup of the Dolls - the Heartbreakers band, formed with fellow unemployed legend Richard Hell, somehow came up with L.A.M.F. (though badly mixed at the time), and Thunders solo managed to finish So Alone, his official debut. Beyond that, caveat emptor or suspend your disbelief for an hour, if you get my drift.