Johnny Thunders’ Guitars:

Johnny achieved his unmistakable tone from playing vintage guitars very loud and clean.

The natural speaker distortion of an overdriven amplifier and his R 'n' R attitude provided more than enough beef. On top of other addictions Mr. Genzale will always be known as a late 50's Gibson Les Paul T.V. junkie, not to be confused with the more common Les Paul junior of the same period. From the middle days of the New York Dolls to the final gigs before his untimely death in 1991, it is believed that he played just two main Les Paul T.V.s.  

His first Les Paul T.V. which he first acquired while playing in the New York Dolls was stolen in late 1979 early 1980 while he was touring with Gang War. Another one was purchased towards the end of 1980 in New York to replace his original. The "T.V." denoted the color of the guitar (a beautiful honey yellow) which was assumed to show up better on black and white television sets. Both guitars were the double cutaway versions which means they were produced between mid 1958 and 1960.

It is my opinion that these guitars were 1958's due to the more squared off horns on each cutaway (the later 59's and 60's horns were a bit smaller and more rounded). The production totals of the Les Paul T.V. were 429 in 1958, 543 in 1959, and 419 in 1960. Gibson electric guitar aficionados will classify these years as the golden years of guitar making. These are now considered rare and collectible guitars. On top of it all, Johnny's guitars had the rarer tortoise shell pick-guard instead of the more common black pick-guard. His only modification he did to the guitar was to put on modern Grover tuners (good idea). It is funny to hear people talking about Johnny always playing slightly out of tune. The "primitive" bridge set up of these guitars made it impossible to intonate perfectly. The imperfect tone was more a function of the guitar and his heavy handed playing. One of Johnny's T.V. guitars hangs proudly in the New York Hard Rock Cafe. It is a miracle that it was recovered after his death.

Ramblin' Matt

Correction: As our friend HeySuchandSuch rightly pointed out, this post contains a lot of information from another post about JT's guitars on Thunders.ca. Thanks, mate!

Whatever Happened to: New York Dolls by Morrissey - Look At The Time issue #1 (1977)

Hi-Res, click to enlarge

Hi-Res, click to enlarge

Scans by Jake - Thanks for sharing 

Various Artists - "Born To Lose - A Tribute To Johnny Thunders" (3xCD, Skykrebs Records - 2009)

Oops, here I am again!
How many tribute albums have you bought people and how many of them are worthy of your hard earned spent money? Not much right? OK, let's make it easier. How many tribute albums have you downloaded so far and you've been bored to death for the time you spent on 'em hearing? Not so much, again, am I right?
Well, for some very strange reason this one even though was probably of the best around and surely the best on our beloved Johnny Thunders, never got the credit. I mean, even fuckin' Discogs doesn't have it on (wtf)! And if the producer had it reduced to a single disc it would have been the ultimate, but what the hell, the more Genzales the better, right? RIGHT!
And thanks to the old pal of the blog, Steve, came to my own hands too a couple of years behind. Here's the story: I was looking for material The Waldos haven't had anywhere else and I came across this. Three tracks man! The Waldos on "Jetboy", Walter on "Short Lives" and Tony Coiro with "Blame it on Mom"! I remember myself searching for it for quite a lot but I wasn't able to track it down in a reasonable price, cause you know they weren't many places have it on their vault. So I asked Steve if he was sitting on and the reply was a link with full scans and 3 CD rips! The tags was a mess but who cares, do something for yourself you lazy prick and so I did! The performances doesn't go below good and the names are at least underground scene thugs. My beloved Devil Dogs with a rip-roaring version of "I Wanna Be Loved", Blanks 77 with "London Boys", The Stiffs take on "Crime of the Century" (with a lil bit of Sex Pistols...) or Nine Pound Hammer ("Let Go") and New Bomb Turks ("Bad Girl"). Impressive, huh? Except for the Waldos familia, there are plenty of other people who knew and played with Johnny over the years (Buddy Bowzer, Jeff Magnum, Andy Shernoff, Alison Gordy etc) or people with more maintream creds (Jesse Malin, New York Loose). And oh, there are also a few surprises (listen for yourselves for 'em) and many a guest star if you read the extensive liner notes carefully. In other words people, this boxset is a must for anyone who is a fan of Thunders or The Dolls or The Heartbreakers.

Cheers!
 

I said it's like thunder... It's like lightning... A summarize of an already good year for all Johnny Thunders fans!!!

Hey there! The good guys over at Chatterbox forum reminded (and in some cases actually, informed me, about some of the following Johnny Thunders goodies! So it's my turn to spread the word and summarize an already good year for all us Thunders' acolytes:

Easy Action Records put out some shit, with some more in the pipeline!

• A Comprehensive and remastered In Cold Blood, with all of Johnny's studio recordings from 1982 (on Double-CD and vinyl)  
• A remastered version of some old Dolls' gigs under the Butterflyin' name (waiting from day to day for this to come in my mailbox).
• A 10" vinyl Critic's Choice/So Alone single (I suppose the Chesterfield Kings backed recordings)
• A 7" vinyl In Cold Blood single

Remarquable Records is going berserk on The Heartbreakers/Johnny front:

• 10" vinyl Daddy Rollin' Stone EP (27 Nov 2015)
• So Alone Double-LP (remastered from the original tapes) with the LP + non-album tracks (29 Jan 2016)
• JOHNNY THUNDERS:1978 - 2CD + Book (still in pre-production, but rumors say it will include all of the tracks from RBL1 + RBL2 10" EPs + even more previously unreleased tracks) 

Cleopatra Records released recently a (supposed) unreleased live recording of The Heartbreakers at a 1977 Village Gate gig, when they were hot as hell and they were firing in all cylinders!!! Look for it under the L.A.M.F. – Live At The Village Gate 1977, title. It reminds me a few well known old boots but the sound's definitely better (way better in fact) and the packaging an awesomeness! Walter Lure got involved with this in one way or another, so go ahead... 

Last but not least, a reminder on the special RECORD STORE DAY Jungle Records double vinyl release of the now legendary, Live At Max's Kansas City Volumes 1 & 2.

Keep 'em coming!!!

Little Richard and Buster Poindexter (David Johansen) to present Grammy for the Best New Artist... (1988)

 

See the full Video 

New York Dolls - "One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This" (LP, Roadrunner - 2006)

At the time of "One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This" release, I had with my buddies still the zine and I got in contact with Kevin K for an interview. Among the other stuff we discussed, I couldn't resist myself to ask him 'bout the new then New York Dolls line up and album... He answered to have a listen to it before proceed, but it was good one though even if he doesn't liked the idea of a "New York Dolls" stamp on it without Johnny, Jerry and Killer Kane. "A Las Vegas Dolls title it would have fit more I think..." Kevin told me and I laughed quite loudly as I remember.
I have bought the CD a few weeks before the concert with the Sex Pistols here in Greece and it was very good indeed just as good they were on stage and for sure better than Johnny Lydon's sad caricatures...
So, after all these years I'm having the same opinion about it: A very cool record, perhaps the better one of the many comebacks we witnessed at the time (do you remember the crappy Stooges' "Weirdness"..?) and definitively equal with the Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang" for instance which I though of it as a descent record too. But just like in Stones case, adds nothing to the myth both the bands have.
Anyway, so why we bother posting it? Because it sounds superlative on vinyl, especially if the rip comes from Jean Philippe's hands and it contains as well the last recorded music by Bo Diddley, no less... Dig!