johnny dident steal this song , or anything else.... he allways had other people do work for him . i bet you wish you were bad enough to have an M.O. like johnny's. you moly tech faggit.
hahahahaha...that's gold. They would've sold a helluva lot more records if Petty was the lead...
Fuck Tom Petty and his middle-american, middle of the road view of life. Him and Springsteen are a blight on humanity, let alone American culture...what a prick. Fucking Travelling Wilbury's, they're a blight on humanity too...
Roy Orbison is beyond reproach though. A gentleman and an extraordinarily talented singer...
here's the straight story from 'End of the Century'
Dee Dee wrote the song, Johnny Ramone said they couldn't record it cause the Ramone's didn't sing about dope, so DD gave it to Richard hell who wrote the line "digging a chinese ditch" then RH and thundersy played it in original heartbreakers, Richard left, Thunders recorded it on LAMF, and so Johnny Ramone bitched out Dee Dee for the letting the song go, and Dee Dee said it was Johnny's fault but DD still felt humiliated.
Johnny Thunders basically stole this song- it was actually written by Richard Hell and Dee Dee Ramone. The Ramones were going to use it on their Rocket To Russia album, but Joey got flak from their record co. over what were determined to be "controversial drug oriented lyrics"...
Nobody understands the young people! Damn the man! He's always trying to keep a brother down! Fight the power! Doody in the establishment's underpants!
Was anyone more revolutionary or copied since in some way or another? Nope. From KISS to Motley to any band on earth today, Johnny led the way & rocked 'em all!
Long Live Don Letts! He's the Director of 'The Punk Rock Movie', from which these scenes are taken out. A great Movie of the young british punk scene ( with the Heartbreakers as the only american support ), go and watch it, youngsters!
Sorry to bring you down but punk was just an image! I like punk but it will never be more than a fashion! Most punk singers knew this themself but they wern't gonna give it up, and thank god they didnt im just saying that people read too much into punk.
It like any music "revolution", there's an element of art to it and a tiny bit of ideology thrown in, but its mostly about selling clothes and records. Almost all involved were just following the trend. Its basically people under 25 tossing about because they have fuck all else to do. All music is pop music.
"Following a trend?" WTF are you talking about? These guys (along with the Sex Pistols in the UK) were SETTING the trends! Besides, why would these guys be interested in selling clothes and records when they didn't even have contracts!!! They never made a single penny from their music other that from touring and a sliver of publishing rights...next time, educate yourself FIRST, then make idiotic comments like that. This way, you don't look like a total idiot...
I said that ALMOST all involved in the punk scene were just following the trend I didnt single out this band. Most of them did have contracts and were only interested in selling records and mucking about. I am sure there were a few purists who started it off and were just about the music. But the whole punk movement was just a glorified marketing campaign. Maybe you should read my comments properly next time. That way you can avoid looking like a total idiot
I think what you saying about punk becoming a fashion is true past '75 but from 73-75 (period of Dolls, Stooges and beginnings of Ramones) punk was no trend - it was largely underground.
I think that I pretty much said all that in my previous post. My gripe was the idea that the "punk movement" (which didn't really exist until post 1975) was anything more than a bunch of posers mucking about.
See, but that's where I disagree. Yes, 75 was the explosion, and at 76 it was a trend everyone wanted to copy. But before this, NY Dolls, Richard Hell, Patti Smith, The Stooges and other were belting their stuff from 73-75 ( Richard Hell was already wearing safety pins & the like). At lower levels, Punk was a huge bunch of garage bands not recording anything. You can still argue from 75-77 that there were authentic bands but past 77, I would agree most were poseurs following the fashion.
Again, I'm noy enitrely sure what your disagreeing with! Like I said, i'm sure there were a few purists in the beginning.
I accept that punk had its origins in the early 70s, but when we talk about the punk "movement" we're really talking about the mass appeal of punk during the late 1970s. None of the artist that you have mensioned considered themselves to be "punk" until 75/76.
were you there? I don't think it was just an image. they had fashion but they we're playing some kick ass music too. I think your confusing the music scene posers around today with the real McCoys.
I think you're kind of right about that, Kikyo, I read some passage about them in "England's dreaming" also, I, too, had this video the punk rock movie purchased it in 1994 at Tower Records. Stupidly, I lent it to someone and never saw it back again.
Johnny definately had the "it" factor. No phony, bullshit, wannabe jazz. You can see and hear it without trying. Love the dolls but Johnny and I guess syl were the real draw for me. Pistols? Packaged horseshit. Thank you and good fucking day to all.
Actually it was Johnny who was the little guy. Great things come in small packages though and he is missed now just as much as when he died. Sid V. was a joke.
Personally i prefer the ramones (but then again i prefer the ramones over anyone!)and anyway are you saying you've nver wanted to be like someone? I realise ill probably get thumbs down for this comment but hey.
Dee dee wanted to write a song about drugs, like "heroin" from Lou Reed, then he wrote 'Chinese rocks' with Richard Hell.. Is not great as Heroin but..
However, he and hell didn't write anything else than the lyrics and the chrods. Johnny, Walther Lure and Jerry Nolan wrote the fill ins, solo and the drumbeat.
They deserve just as much credit as hell and Dee Dee.
Amazing song...anything involving Johnny Thunders has to though doesn't it! Loved The Dolls and this is amazing. Just one question...is this the original or was the Ramones version original? I think it was RAMONES but can someone clear it up please?
@DressSmartLookHard i guess i just don't "get" johnny thunders completely. and i never have for twenty years, though i'm attempting to do so now. he was an interesting but erratic guitar player. yet he apparently has been quite influential. he's an acquired taste but many people seem to have acquired it. (yes, i know that he was of historical importance to the punk movement and even to the glam rock movement. i'm just trying to figure out how he became that important.)
@DressSmartLookHard ....Dee Dee wrote it but Johnny did not want The Ramones doing a drug song so he gave it to Richard Hell who was in The Heartbreakers at the time and then Johnny Thunders stole it...
What I love most about JT is that he (as far as I know) he didn't talk shit about other bands. Or at least he tried not to. 'London' was a RESPONSE to the Pistols 'New York.' But there is an interview somewhere on You Tube where he says he doesn't like to dump on other musicians.
The tragedy of JT is that his catalog and history would have certainly carried him forward to mucch greater success.
One hopes what he left behind will generate a decent stipend for the family he left behind.
it was tommy ramone who said that chinese rocks was NOT a ramones song and refused to do it because he said the ramones were NOT about drugs, but then of course i guess dee dee must have felt like thunders stole chinese rocks.
nevertheless whose song it was, it was and is a fucking great song. and to the guy below who thinks this isn't good music, seriously, if you don't get it, you don't get it, don't knock it til you've tried it.
i beg to differ that there's no one like johnny now a dayz yes very few still live on amongst us but im keeping it alive and any one that likes real punk does too!!!
Awesome- Johnny Thunders is a goddamn genius, I can't get enough of his music. Practically every punk band of the late 70s ripped him off, and you'd be hard-pressed to name one glam / hair band of the 80s that didn't have at least 1 Johnny clone in it.
I used to be a huge Thunders junkie (excuse pun) when I lived in lower NY, but now the thing I like best about him is his hair. If you ever make it to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, they have a huge Thunders collection -- a lot of his guitars, lyrics he wrote by hand, etc.
A Dee Dee song yes, but this is classic Johnny Thunders. BTW, I've heard, even by people supposedly "in the know", how Johnny "couldn't play guitar". This is idiotic. He had a great sense of melody and verse, instead of "Clapton-like" precision, he approached the guitar with an almost disdainful chaos. What people see, or hear as "not being able to play", is a guy channeling all his artistry and talent through an energy and attitude that would eventually become to be known as "Punk".
Dee Dee wanted to be Johnny in a lot of ways when Dee Dee went solo... he covered a lot of Thunders songs. The best Dee Dee ramone line up was in 1994, you can see it on youtube by punching up Dee Dee Ramone Time Bomb. Great, true punk rock music.
wow, I'm a big replacments fan and never made the connection with that song. I saw hem in n.o. on the "tim" tour. Bob stinson was so drunk they got somebody from the audience to fill in on guitar.
"ditto" i have seen them twice myself,with bob in the early eighties and without bob later on,bob was true to form.{rip}.may the legion of the MATS. live on
did he die? from overdose? or is still him alive ?I am not rally sure..anyway Im with you coolest junkie ever after bill burroughs of course..daddy of heroin usage people!!
its all about money, if you have lots you always are able to repair your mistakes...look at r.stones, lou reed, bowie... homeless junkies are destinied to fall apart
I went "Dancin' With Mr.D" for nine freaking glorious years on the lower east side and got out alive. And my soul is all the better because of it. And you know what? I wouldn't change a thing. The highs were way high, and the lows were beyond words. You know what I call that? LIVING, that's what. The relationships, friendships, and bonding I took from the social scene down there was freaking incredible. Didn't kill me, babe. I'm all the better because of it. I'm a soulFUL. Knowledge=Power. NYC.
bull. I bet he was doing heroin, and oded, or however you would spell it, and the guy with him said shit! Wait, hes got some stuff. And he robbed him. Its that easy.
the plants are fallin of the wall/ my girlfriends cryin in the shower stall/its hot as a bitch/ i shoulda been rich/ but im just diggin a chinese ditch!
ya i heard about that... johnny thunders and richard hell mention dee dee in the first verse of the song. the ramones changed the name of the person in the song from deed dee to ollie
Great shots on his video!!!!!!!!! this and Born to Lose are Johnny thunders at his best... there is much better produced versions of this song . THE 12" 45 vinyl is the best if you can find it.
that song was originally by the ramones and dee dee wrote chinese rocks but he didnt write most of the ramones songs joey did. so the electrichobo can shut his mouth
Hehe The boy looked at jhonny, but yeah jhonny was a great artist, dee dee wrote that song but not many songs more, neither for the ramones, great bassist though. Too bad they both killed themselves with drugs.
There's a Hell-era Heartbreakers version of the song (see Hell's "Time" compilation), with Hell singing, which includes this black humour added verse!...
"When they checked me in at dawn
I heard they thought my pulse was gone
I found that I was happy to die
And Chinese Rocks is the reason why."
If only those R&R junkies had switched to poppy (opium) tea for ye olde junk effect, they'd all still be here, happier and richer, with fewer regrets!
Right you are! It's inexpensive, it's safe, it's quasi-legal (I've never heard of a criminal conviction for poppy tea), and I'll go so far as to say it's beneficial too!
Thanks Rich, Thanks Dee Dee and Walt. Tell walter I got a ton of prints for him from their last gig at CB's in October. Oh, By the way Patty sucked like a black hole again!
johnny dident steal this song , or anything else.... he allways had other people do work for him . i bet you wish you were bad enough to have an M.O. like johnny's. you moly tech faggit.
TBOMBURBOOTY 1 year ago
Andy mc coy wanted the band to be called Chinese Rocks, but Michael Monroe said Hanoi Rocks.
aivopark 1 year ago
Thank God Tom Petty took over lead :)
norrisonthespot 1 year ago
@norrisonthespot
hahahahaha...that's gold. They would've sold a helluva lot more records if Petty was the lead...
Fuck Tom Petty and his middle-american, middle of the road view of life. Him and Springsteen are a blight on humanity, let alone American culture...what a prick. Fucking Travelling Wilbury's, they're a blight on humanity too...
Roy Orbison is beyond reproach though. A gentleman and an extraordinarily talented singer...
adolfGoooglification 7 months ago
here's the straight story from 'End of the Century'
Dee Dee wrote the song, Johnny Ramone said they couldn't record it cause the Ramone's didn't sing about dope, so DD gave it to Richard hell who wrote the line "digging a chinese ditch" then RH and thundersy played it in original heartbreakers, Richard left, Thunders recorded it on LAMF, and so Johnny Ramone bitched out Dee Dee for the letting the song go, and Dee Dee said it was Johnny's fault but DD still felt humiliated.
mimesis6mime 1 year ago
Johnny Thunders basically stole this song- it was actually written by Richard Hell and Dee Dee Ramone. The Ramones were going to use it on their Rocket To Russia album, but Joey got flak from their record co. over what were determined to be "controversial drug oriented lyrics"...
polytech44xyz 1 year ago
Nobody understands the young people! Damn the man! He's always trying to keep a brother down! Fight the power! Doody in the establishment's underpants!
CircaCertainty 1 year ago
swearing isnt cool but this video sure is:)
tekjansenn 1 year ago
The Heartbreakers version is easily the best. The Ramones even thought so.
GnarButter90 1 year ago
Last time I saw Thunders live he had tokeep leaving the stage to bang up, he came staggering back on with blood pouring down his arm, not nice.
dortyhoor 1 year ago
Was anyone more revolutionary or copied since in some way or another? Nope. From KISS to Motley to any band on earth today, Johnny led the way & rocked 'em all!
jeromesshow 1 year ago
Johnny Fucking Thunders And The Heart Breakers ! What a legendary, fuckin' great band . Totally .
68Strut 1 year ago
Johnny Thunders my arse...
su0rtin 2 years ago
I understand that Dee Dee wanted to be in this band because they were his heroin buddies.
dcarr84 2 years ago
yeah, he was friends with Walter Lure and Richard Hell. Thunders and Dee Dee didn't get along at all.
zepps88 2 years ago
True...Dee Dee wrote this song (Richard Hell did most the lyrics) but the Ramones wouldn't play it because its about dope
jkerouac02 1 year ago
HERION!!!! YAH!~! POSTER BOYS!!
opioded 2 years ago
yeah, we're still playing you down here, johnny.
RamonesBrat 2 years ago
Walter!
Ah...I remember them well.
mrblifil 2 years ago
Is Dee Dee home?
88skisupreme 2 years ago 3
fuckin' heroin man...
BlackChamber99 2 years ago
you probably never tried it.
coldironhands1 2 years ago
July15-birth of a legend...Johnny Thunders
penthouse10 2 years ago
Loved them all ..so very sad..only David & Sylvain left...
sunswept5 2 years ago
Long Live Don Letts! He's the Director of 'The Punk Rock Movie', from which these scenes are taken out. A great Movie of the young british punk scene ( with the Heartbreakers as the only american support ), go and watch it, youngsters!
MicRidget 2 years ago
D.Letts has loads more unreleased stuff as well as what is in the movie. Shame he won't release it, "copyright reasons" he said.
dortyhoor 2 years ago
Johnny was offed by some creeps. Atleast
that's what I believe.
Byrontheone 2 years ago
i wish he didnt have to be dead
blechtman 2 years ago 2
Great song. no doubt it took some collaberation
mescal31 2 years ago
Yes it did!!....my partner Daniel Secunda co produced it & the album LAMF....
sunswept5 2 years ago
whos the blonde girl?? 0:08
PandaPistol77 2 years ago
long live Dee Dee Ramone.
up2space 2 years ago 8
Bunch of sleazy junkies playing sleazy raunchy rock n roll. I love it.
filramil 3 years ago 2
Sorry to bring you down but punk was just an image! I like punk but it will never be more than a fashion! Most punk singers knew this themself but they wern't gonna give it up, and thank god they didnt im just saying that people read too much into punk.
Titchymouse1 3 years ago
It like any music "revolution", there's an element of art to it and a tiny bit of ideology thrown in, but its mostly about selling clothes and records. Almost all involved were just following the trend. Its basically people under 25 tossing about because they have fuck all else to do. All music is pop music.
direweasal 3 years ago
"Following a trend?" WTF are you talking about? These guys (along with the Sex Pistols in the UK) were SETTING the trends! Besides, why would these guys be interested in selling clothes and records when they didn't even have contracts!!! They never made a single penny from their music other that from touring and a sliver of publishing rights...next time, educate yourself FIRST, then make idiotic comments like that. This way, you don't look like a total idiot...
closer71 2 years ago 2
I said that ALMOST all involved in the punk scene were just following the trend I didnt single out this band. Most of them did have contracts and were only interested in selling records and mucking about. I am sure there were a few purists who started it off and were just about the music. But the whole punk movement was just a glorified marketing campaign. Maybe you should read my comments properly next time. That way you can avoid looking like a total idiot
direweasal 2 years ago
I think what you saying about punk becoming a fashion is true past '75 but from 73-75 (period of Dolls, Stooges and beginnings of Ramones) punk was no trend - it was largely underground.
nblumer 2 years ago
I think that I pretty much said all that in my previous post. My gripe was the idea that the "punk movement" (which didn't really exist until post 1975) was anything more than a bunch of posers mucking about.
direweasal 2 years ago
See, but that's where I disagree. Yes, 75 was the explosion, and at 76 it was a trend everyone wanted to copy. But before this, NY Dolls, Richard Hell, Patti Smith, The Stooges and other were belting their stuff from 73-75 ( Richard Hell was already wearing safety pins & the like). At lower levels, Punk was a huge bunch of garage bands not recording anything. You can still argue from 75-77 that there were authentic bands but past 77, I would agree most were poseurs following the fashion.
nblumer 2 years ago
Again, I'm noy enitrely sure what your disagreeing with! Like I said, i'm sure there were a few purists in the beginning.
I accept that punk had its origins in the early 70s, but when we talk about the punk "movement" we're really talking about the mass appeal of punk during the late 1970s. None of the artist that you have mensioned considered themselves to be "punk" until 75/76.
direweasal 2 years ago
What about the Ramones?
pbot2029 2 years ago
were you there? I don't think it was just an image. they had fashion but they we're playing some kick ass music too. I think your confusing the music scene posers around today with the real McCoys.
up2space 2 years ago
you are dead wrong
these fools lived the songs they wrote
they really were junky freaks
this isnt a joke song
they died the life they sung about
RUBBISH NOISE!
kikyogirl98 2 years ago
I think you're kind of right about that, Kikyo, I read some passage about them in "England's dreaming" also, I, too, had this video the punk rock movie purchased it in 1994 at Tower Records. Stupidly, I lent it to someone and never saw it back again.
Khultan 2 years ago
Johnny definately had the "it" factor. No phony, bullshit, wannabe jazz. You can see and hear it without trying. Love the dolls but Johnny and I guess syl were the real draw for me. Pistols? Packaged horseshit. Thank you and good fucking day to all.
bucubiotchs 3 years ago
Actually it was Johnny who was the little guy. Great things come in small packages though and he is missed now just as much as when he died. Sid V. was a joke.
Chuckjagermeister 3 years ago 4
Dee Dee wanted to be just like Johnny Thunders, but they rejected him. Plus this version is a shit load better then the Ramones one
Hudstrummer999 3 years ago 2
Personally i prefer the ramones (but then again i prefer the ramones over anyone!)and anyway are you saying you've nver wanted to be like someone? I realise ill probably get thumbs down for this comment but hey.
Titchymouse1 3 years ago 8
Dee dee wanted to write a song about drugs, like "heroin" from Lou Reed, then he wrote 'Chinese rocks' with Richard Hell.. Is not great as Heroin but..
yvicious 3 years ago 3
However, he and hell didn't write anything else than the lyrics and the chrods. Johnny, Walther Lure and Jerry Nolan wrote the fill ins, solo and the drumbeat.
They deserve just as much credit as hell and Dee Dee.
Bjarnarr 3 years ago
Richard Hell only wrote one verse I believe, Dee Dee said that in an interview.
phailez 2 years ago
Oh, I guess Richard Hell had a hand in writing it...but I don't like Richard Hell as much as Dee Dee, so I gave Dee Dee credit. Oops.
michellestmarie 3 years ago
Dee Dee wrote it. That's why they sing, "Hey is Dee Dee home?" Dee Dee was a very prolific songwriter and the coolest Ramone.
michellestmarie 3 years ago 3
Amazing song...anything involving Johnny Thunders has to though doesn't it! Loved The Dolls and this is amazing. Just one question...is this the original or was the Ramones version original? I think it was RAMONES but can someone clear it up please?
DressSmartLookHard 3 years ago
Hi,
take a look to the first comments.
Cheers.
denimdemon 3 years ago
this is the original version even though dee dee wrote it. the ramones recorded it later.
griffin324 3 years ago
@DressSmartLookHard - The Original Is Johnny Thunders version.They mention Dee Dee in the song.
Blackwaterrecords 1 year ago
@Blackwaterrecords Dee Dee wrote it with Richard Hell. The Heartbreakers recorded it first though.
JohnSmithAprilMay 1 year ago
@DressSmartLookHard
This IS the original!!!
brineb58 11 months ago
@brineb58 Cheers
DressSmartLookHard 11 months ago
@DressSmartLookHard i guess i just don't "get" johnny thunders completely. and i never have for twenty years, though i'm attempting to do so now. he was an interesting but erratic guitar player. yet he apparently has been quite influential. he's an acquired taste but many people seem to have acquired it. (yes, i know that he was of historical importance to the punk movement and even to the glam rock movement. i'm just trying to figure out how he became that important.)
jonbecker03 6 months ago
@DressSmartLookHard ....Dee Dee wrote it but Johnny did not want The Ramones doing a drug song so he gave it to Richard Hell who was in The Heartbreakers at the time and then Johnny Thunders stole it...
giglio33012 4 months ago in playlist Classic punk.
Best ever all the rest can fuck off..........
Lowbrow13 3 years ago
just listen to the guitar... thats all ;;;
Caffeinejones 3 years ago
you got it, my friend. That guitar gots some major balls. pussy wimps beware.
up2space 2 years ago
What I love most about JT is that he (as far as I know) he didn't talk shit about other bands. Or at least he tried not to. 'London' was a RESPONSE to the Pistols 'New York.' But there is an interview somewhere on You Tube where he says he doesn't like to dump on other musicians.
The tragedy of JT is that his catalog and history would have certainly carried him forward to mucch greater success.
One hopes what he left behind will generate a decent stipend for the family he left behind.
Quickstoptim 3 years ago
johnny lived the life he wanted to - rock and roll and drugs (reverse order)- can you say the same?
maida1982a 3 years ago
R.I.P Johnny.16 years today.
jack911brown 3 years ago 2
16 fuck'n years of pain!
denimdemon 3 years ago
Pain? To you, I think. Im sure he's much happier now and free of any "links"....
SettleForNothing 3 years ago
... for us!
denimdemon 3 years ago
Fantastic!
Quickstoptim 3 years ago
it was tommy ramone who said that chinese rocks was NOT a ramones song and refused to do it because he said the ramones were NOT about drugs, but then of course i guess dee dee must have felt like thunders stole chinese rocks.
nevertheless whose song it was, it was and is a fucking great song. and to the guy below who thinks this isn't good music, seriously, if you don't get it, you don't get it, don't knock it til you've tried it.
SaintViki 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
So? what? Is this suppose to be good music?
stagleap07 4 years ago
This Is PUNK. If you want to hear good music visit Celine Dion's latest video. Cheers.
denimdemon 4 years ago
haha. thank you for voicing the words in my head.
SaintViki 3 years ago
i beg to differ that there's no one like johnny now a dayz yes very few still live on amongst us but im keeping it alive and any one that likes real punk does too!!!
PrEtTyiNpUnK360 4 years ago
skronnyrotten has said it quite well!
ginoricca 4 years ago
who cares? fuck heroin, but Thunders was a true rock star. Nobody like he nowadays.
bambas45 4 years ago 3
who gives a shit who wrote the song! it fukkin rocks no matter.....
skronnyrotten 4 years ago
I love this song, but it was stolen from
Dee Dee Ramone...
tempo529 4 years ago
it was given away
benballen 4 years ago
Nope...wrong Dee Dee said they could do it...not record it & change the lyrics... :)
tempo529 4 years ago
as you say dee dee gave it to them beacuse the romanes would not use it.
benballen 4 years ago
Yeah Johnny & Joey didn't like songs about drugs...finally did it on End of the Century
But Dee Dee said they never really had the right "feel" for the song...
tempo529 4 years ago 2
really excellent track !! lots of raw energy happening !!!!
waltprez 4 years ago
unfortunatly i never got a chance to meet him. rock in peace johnny rock in peace
skatepunkstyl 4 years ago
Awesome- Johnny Thunders is a goddamn genius, I can't get enough of his music. Practically every punk band of the late 70s ripped him off, and you'd be hard-pressed to name one glam / hair band of the 80s that didn't have at least 1 Johnny clone in it.
RIP Johnny!!! You're truly missed.
StevieRotten 4 years ago 3
Dee dee wrote it. Check out DEE DEE RAMONE TIME BOMB on u tube.
tinabees 4 years ago
cool!!!
EMYBOWLER 4 years ago
this song is fxcking awesome!
x
XxbrokenxXxangelxX 4 years ago
I used to be a huge Thunders junkie (excuse pun) when I lived in lower NY, but now the thing I like best about him is his hair. If you ever make it to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, they have a huge Thunders collection -- a lot of his guitars, lyrics he wrote by hand, etc.
DrElizabethButters 4 years ago 2
A Dee Dee song yes, but this is classic Johnny Thunders. BTW, I've heard, even by people supposedly "in the know", how Johnny "couldn't play guitar". This is idiotic. He had a great sense of melody and verse, instead of "Clapton-like" precision, he approached the guitar with an almost disdainful chaos. What people see, or hear as "not being able to play", is a guy channeling all his artistry and talent through an energy and attitude that would eventually become to be known as "Punk".
GregTuco 4 years ago 2
Johnny Thunders INVENTED punk guitar!!! Nobody does it better LAMF, RIP
LadyAdoryan57 4 years ago
ruthless
theultimateG 4 years ago
I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU JOHNNY
NONA505 4 years ago 2
Yes, I suppose that's true too!! Lamentably, I wasn't there to see it!!
denimdemon 4 years ago
Yes, that's true - the Ramones initially didn't want the song but Johnny was pissed when Dee Dee gave it away.
donnaperrault 4 years ago
Dee Dee wanted to be Johnny in a lot of ways when Dee Dee went solo... he covered a lot of Thunders songs. The best Dee Dee ramone line up was in 1994, you can see it on youtube by punching up Dee Dee Ramone Time Bomb. Great, true punk rock music.
kaylah927 4 years ago
first of all. this song was written by dee dee.
thetum 4 years ago
No doubt - as Dee Dee said - the Heartbreakers really "felt" this great early punk song.
donnaperrault 4 years ago
This is not exact. The problem was that The Ramones didn't want to play a song about drugs.
denimdemon 4 years ago
Written by Dee Dee. 1975. He gave it to the Heartbreakers - they changed a lyric or two and took partial credit. DD felt betrayed.
donnaperrault 4 years ago
the replacements song,"johnnys gonna die" is a tribute to johnny thunders,MAY THE SPIRIT IN GENERAL NEVER DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
gerardtraxel 4 years ago
wow, I'm a big replacments fan and never made the connection with that song. I saw hem in n.o. on the "tim" tour. Bob stinson was so drunk they got somebody from the audience to fill in on guitar.
oustair97 4 years ago
"ditto" i have seen them twice myself,with bob in the early eighties and without bob later on,bob was true to form.{rip}.may the legion of the MATS. live on
gerardtraxel 4 years ago
He really influecned Steve Jones. Too bad he never swore on public televison. He would have been much more popular.
atmwalking 4 years ago
shame he's no longer around, he owes me lots of money. Fuck it it's still great stuff.
pauldbenton 4 years ago
smart english gut
TheWarriors1979 4 years ago
coolest junkie ever!
oustair99 4 years ago
did he die? from overdose? or is still him alive ?I am not rally sure..anyway Im with you coolest junkie ever after bill burroughs of course..daddy of heroin usage people!!
elephantstone67 4 years ago
he died here in new orleans where I live at the St peter house
oustair97 4 years ago
lsd and jazz
rhysdownie 4 years ago
heroin WILL kill you eventually, at least your soul...
LadyAdoryan57 4 years ago
but not with lou reed
yuniergonzalez 4 years ago
its all about money, if you have lots you always are able to repair your mistakes...look at r.stones, lou reed, bowie... homeless junkies are destinied to fall apart
elephantstone67 4 years ago 3
lou reed is he man...uhh yeah...
lizardking182 3 years ago
lou reed updated his blood in a clinic like a car changed his oil in a repair shop. money talks. not commendable.
curroprr 3 years ago
I went "Dancin' With Mr.D" for nine freaking glorious years on the lower east side and got out alive. And my soul is all the better because of it. And you know what? I wouldn't change a thing. The highs were way high, and the lows were beyond words. You know what I call that? LIVING, that's what. The relationships, friendships, and bonding I took from the social scene down there was freaking incredible. Didn't kill me, babe. I'm all the better because of it. I'm a soulFUL. Knowledge=Power. NYC.
pewsterbaby 3 years ago 2
Johnny was murdered in New Orleans.
petercrowley41 3 years ago
Agreed. If you see Born to Lose, the docu on him, it isn't a simple OD but it's an unsolved homicide
billsleazoid 3 years ago 4
bull. I bet he was doing heroin, and oded, or however you would spell it, and the guy with him said shit! Wait, hes got some stuff. And he robbed him. Its that easy.
actionstarskyandhutc 3 years ago
come on now dont be gay
raishe 3 years ago
what about dee dee?
rhysdownie 4 years ago
yea, the Ramones had a great cover version....
gerardtraxel 4 years ago
written by dd and richard hell (voidoids)ca 76 recorded first by rh later by ramones -jt covered it -- not dd-
rhysdownie 4 years ago
dude..you are wealth of information,"thanks".
gerardtraxel 4 years ago
nice johnny vid u cant beat mr thunders rock on
johnnyjakflash 4 years ago
the plants are fallin of the wall/ my girlfriends cryin in the shower stall/its hot as a bitch/ i shoulda been rich/ but im just diggin a chinese ditch!
RKEVYL13 4 years ago
This tune was not written by them, Dee Dee Ramone wrote it.
ecabbott 4 years ago
Ecabbot please read the oldest comments.
denimdemon 4 years ago
fuck yourself
ecabbott 3 years ago
dude no offence but who gives a shit man!
tomosbananas 4 years ago
its plaster not plants
tomosbananas 4 years ago
"I said HIT IT!"
ilcchef2 4 years ago
pure coolness
KIDAmnesiacBends 4 years ago
Todas Estas Bandas de America No Se como Fueron Opacadas Por La Mierda De Musica Disco
mikevicious19 4 years ago
fuckin great riff,,, awesome,,,
better than lame ass u2 and oasis shit !!!
spadge321 4 years ago
Go* dammnit
OneManArmmy 4 years ago
or as waldo would say, "you wanna do suck some chinese cock?"
OneManArmmy 4 years ago
turrtthh
OneManArmmy 4 years ago
Sorry. But this is really a song with lyrics 99.9% by DeeDee Ramone.
jiijiipee 4 years ago
Meh, it's like 80%, hell did write 1 verse.
darkshadyfigure 4 years ago
fantastique!
hopeudid 4 years ago
Johnny lives!! Great song. Dolls play on in his memory!!
skipton1 4 years ago
jelau
powerpoesseh 4 years ago
The song wasn't orginally by the Ramones.
Dee Dee wrote most of it, with one verse by Richard Hell.
Johnny Ramone didn't want to play/record a song about drugs, so Dee Dee gave the song to Hell to play in the Heartbreakers.
It wasn't until after the Heartbreakers released L.A.M.F that the Ramones recorded a version.
TheTollundMan 4 years ago
ya i heard about that... johnny thunders and richard hell mention dee dee in the first verse of the song. the ramones changed the name of the person in the song from deed dee to ollie
tomosbananas 4 years ago
not ollie, Arty!!!->Arturo Vega
punknroII 4 years ago
o whoops! thx i misheard
tomosbananas 4 years ago
R'n'R' ??? but it's exactly THAT!
quundar 4 years ago
esa cancion de los ramones!!!!
theluix098 4 years ago
Great song. Dee Dee wrote most of this song and a shitload of other great songs.
jwwmantis 4 years ago
Great shots on his video!!!!!!!!! this and Born to Lose are Johnny thunders at his best... there is much better produced versions of this song . THE 12" 45 vinyl is the best if you can find it.
billyshots 4 years ago
to thougt to die dee dee ramone we miss you
mikevicious19 4 years ago
that song was originally by the ramones and dee dee wrote chinese rocks but he didnt write most of the ramones songs joey did. so the electrichobo can shut his mouth
idontwannagrowup12 4 years ago
Junked up Johnny!
ChefDeenoh 4 years ago
Primo Heartbreakers! Love this! Thank you so much!
pernicketty 4 years ago
That is fucking awesome!!!
clockwolf 4 years ago
What are you talikn about ElvarPondo? Dee Dee wrote almost every Ramones song.
TheElectrichobo 4 years ago
Hehe The boy looked at jhonny, but yeah jhonny was a great artist, dee dee wrote that song but not many songs more, neither for the ramones, great bassist though. Too bad they both killed themselves with drugs.
ElvarPondo 4 years ago
There's a Hell-era Heartbreakers version of the song (see Hell's "Time" compilation), with Hell singing, which includes this black humour added verse!...
"When they checked me in at dawn
I heard they thought my pulse was gone
I found that I was happy to die
And Chinese Rocks is the reason why."
If only those R&R junkies had switched to poppy (opium) tea for ye olde junk effect, they'd all still be here, happier and richer, with fewer regrets!
Bobjb999 4 years ago
i enjoy thunders singing much more then hell.
SeanXCore138 4 years ago
I love poppy tea and R&R! I grow papaver somn. in my garden and I will use poppy tea till the end of my days...
inn7516 4 years ago
Right you are! It's inexpensive, it's safe, it's quasi-legal (I've never heard of a criminal conviction for poppy tea), and I'll go so far as to say it's beneficial too!
Listen up, heroin shooters!
Bobb9999 4 years ago
Johnny Thunders wsa a fucking god
Charlienmeg 4 years ago
Dee could've done it.. but bassists are slow.. so get over it. Johnny is god
Tozzommi 4 years ago
Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Colvin)! Rules, Johnny Thunders is cool too
DutchRockstar 4 years ago
You fellas know it was Dee dee ramone who wrote this at first? Richard hell was helping a little, and wanted to play it with the heartbreakers.
Then hell got kicked out, and johnny stole the song changed some minor parts of the song and claimed it as his
negergreger88 4 years ago
I feel you. I know a lot of cool stuff about the old days too.
rainbowschild 4 years ago
The boy looked at Johnny....
punk7860 4 years ago
Smack it up....
SmackDabbler 5 years ago
Thanks Rich, Thanks Dee Dee and Walt. Tell walter I got a ton of prints for him from their last gig at CB's in October. Oh, By the way Patty sucked like a black hole again!
Marty Munsch
prrnetwork 5 years ago
i agree
Soutertherocker 5 years ago
Now that is some friggin' kick ass R&R!!!
ilcchef2 5 years ago
I uised to hang out at the speakeasy club ion london and these guys practicly lived there.. we had some mad times with them jamming.
corblimeysue 5 years ago
You met Johnny Thunders?
dreganlove 5 years ago
He was often in the club.. he had a tattoo LAMF stands for like a mother fucker.. I nearly copied him.
corblimeysue 5 years ago
so you met him?
dreganlove 5 years ago
I met them all many times ..they hung out at the same club as me...the famous speakeasy club.
corblimeysue 5 years ago