The Dead Boys - Classic US Punk

Dead Boys - History 2

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The band were on a roll. Mid 1977 their first album was released -Young Loud & Snotty. While containing a fair smattering of punk classics they found, like the Ramones, that they received no commercial success. The media - press and radio - were scared of punk rock and while the outrage could be used as publicity in the UK the US was a different story and just didn't want to know..

At the end of 1977 the Dead Boys toured in England supporting The Damned who had supported them at CBGBS. Sadly for our punk rebels the label pulled the strings and demanded a more commercial album.

To that end Felix Pappalardi was brought in to marshal the sound and attitude. It was a disaster. If they disliked the first albums production they hated We Have Come for you Children.

"The record was awful. No bass, and you couldn't hear the guitars." Jeff Magnum Please Kill Me

"He (Cheetah) would be on the phone to James Williamson from The Stooges, like, 'Please will you come here and rescue this album? They're destroying The Dead Boys.' Gyda Gash Please Kill Me

With another flop the band were called in off tour. Seymour - head of Sire said " ..We want you to change your image, change your style of music and change the name of the band."
Cheetah - Please Kill Me.

At the same time luck and the real world finally caught up with the band as Johnny the drummer was stabbed multiple times and put into intensive care. Sire records then added to their woes by dropping them from their label.

The end came when Cheetah skating with rock pals Mick Jagger and Richard Lloyd fell over and sprained his hand. He was ousted from the band and the Dead Boys were no more. Well almost. Periodically they would meet up for reunions. Finally to finish off their commitments to Sire they recorded a live album Night Of The Living Dead Boys with Stiv giving the label the middle finger by singing off mike ensuring the album could never be released without his help.

It could be argued that The Dead Boys were up there with the punk greats. This site doesn't make that claim. The important thing was they left there mark if not fulfilling the promise they had.

History Part 1