Unknown to the Heartbreakers, McLaren had originally asked fellow New York punk pioneers da brudders Ramone to co headline the tour – but they pulled out at the last minute supposedly suspicious of McLaren’s motives. Astutely McLaren wooed the Heartbreakers instead –realizing that the cachet of having a band with 2 ex Dolls on the bill would really pull in the paying punters. What he didn’t realize was that these upstart New Yorkers would also blow their UK counterparts offstage at each and every opportunity. With perfect timing Thunders and chums flew into London the very same night in December ’76 as the infamous Bill Grundy TV episode. Punk and The Pistols were now

front page news and the media backlash/witch hunt started up in earnest with horrified local councillors and the blue rinse brigade calling for the return of national service, demanding the banning of all punk rock gigs and gleefully advocating punk bashing at each and every opportunity. And so the legendary Anarchy Tour stumbled haplessly round the UK…the bands spending their days holed up in hotels and B+B’s and being driven up and down the motorways – only eventually getting to play a handful of gigs.

Still, it coulda been worse – the press generated was awesome and punk rock finally went overground in a big big way (uh..whoopee doo!). Check out the whole thrilling episode in Don Letts (less than) imaginatively titled ‘Punk Rock Movie’ and a zillion bootleg videos/DVDs…. Tellingly, almost to a man (and woman) the UK punk elite rushed to prostrate themselves at the Heartbreakers feet – awed by the presence of 2 real livin’ Dolls in the flesh! Better still McLaren/ The Pistols and EMI were picking up the tab and when they did get to play our New York chums comprehensively pulverised their UK tourmates onstage – an embarrassing fact confirmed by every eyewitness account of the times - but later deliberately glossed over in shamelessly revisionist UK punk literature. Despite the limp hysteria of the Pistols ‘New York’ the selfsame band could be found night after night at the side of the stage picking up tips…though some after show habits picked up from their big apple compadres proved to be somewhat less savoury and the Heartbreakers were (perhaps inaccurately?) credited with introducing heroin to the London punk elite - Jerry Nolan famously claiming to have given Johnny Rotten his first real fix. Sadly, poor Jerry also got the blame for encouraging ‘Nauseous Nancy’ (Spungeon) to pack her bags and head for London - and we all know what devastation followed in her wake (and if ya don’t you really are on the wrong website, chum..). Ho hum…

Holed up in London after the Anarchy Tour the Heartbreakers were finally getting the major label attention they craved as the record companies realized there was gold in them thar punk rock hills and rushed headlong to sign up their very own exponents of this brand new sound. Rooted in 50’s bad boy rock’n’roll and already skilled musicians and songsmiths, Thunders crew were much more accessible and readily understood by the record company A+R folks who still remained sceptical and kinda bewildered by this unholy punky waver racket. Sardine packed gigs at all the hip London watering holes upped the ante and The Heartbreakers coulda and shoulda had their pick of several major deals. Nevertheless, Lady Luck musta been looking the other way the day they elected to sign on the dotted line with Track Records – a decision that was to haunt them forever. Still, I s’pose to our New Yawk chums Track was a respected hip label – the Carnaby Street based home of Jimi Hendrix and the Who. Little did they know that by 1977 this once proud imprint was on its last legs, tied up in contractual knots, losing money hand over fist and rapidly going down the tubes.

However, spirits were still high when the band went in to record their vinyl debut and when ‘Chinese Rocks’ b/w ‘Born To Lose’ hit the racks in May 1977in spiffy 12” and 7” formats, hopes were high and it literally flew off the racks. However, the omens were ominous - Track had hugely underestimated demand and while waiting for the records to be repressed our heroes missed out on major chart action – though they did top the ‘indie’ charts for weeks on end. More worryingly, despite the luxury of a 12” pressing the record still sounded muddy and rumours began to eminate from within the Heartbreakers camp of heated arguments during the mixing. After their disappointment with the mix of both Dolls albums Thunders and Nolan musta had an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Somewhat predictably, given the subject matter, airplay was less than forthcoming but nevertheless, the record continued to shift by the bucketload and tour dates lined up to promote the release saw ‘em on top form.

NME 24.9.77

Amazingly too, Thunders and his scuzzball chums even tried to do their best to defuse the punk – teddy boy hostilities that were becoming increasingly frequent and vicious by lining up co-headlining dates with fellow Track recording artist Shakin’ Stevens and The Sunsets (then a well regarded rockin’ combo - long before Shaky sold his soul to MOR..) but the logistics (and continued hassle from the home office over their work permits) eventually ruled it out…a real pity as things were getting waay out of hand – moronic identipunk idiots had even kicked the crap out of ‘breakers manager at Camden’s Music Machine Lee Black Childers for sporting a suave quiff!

 Interestingly, Childers later managed the mercurial and hugely influential proto rockabilly rebels Levi Dexter and the Ripchords/Rockats who JT frequently jammed with on and offstage. Another hugely influential band who could only watch with horror as lesser acts broke big by replicating their unique formula almost note for note…Thunders too was disgusted by the idiot punk mentality that was becoming increasingly de riguer – even as late as October 78 he could be found mercillessly lambasting the cretinous goons who barracked him over the failure of Pistols Cook and Jones to appear at his Lyceum showcase – reputedly another petty thankless McLaren stunt – winding ‘em up by storming through original punk Gene Vincent’s ‘Be Bop A Lula’ on the anniversary of his tragic demise.

A second single, a taster for the long awaited album, was unleashed in September 1977 combining longtime live favourite ‘One Track Mind’ with Nolan’s ‘Can’t Keep My Eyes On You’ and a spunky run through of the old Contours smash ‘Do You Love Me?’ on the flip… Again predictably airplay was negligible but sales were hugely encouraging.

Thunders and Nolan were utterly distraught – they’d been through this once with the Dolls and just couldn’t understand it. The mixes sounded great in the studio too – but they just didn’t cut it on vinyl. To add insult to injury many of the bands who had been comprehensively shut down onstage by the ‘breakers were now releasing albums that sounded focussed and punchy in comparison. And so relations between the band deteriorated further as the blame game started up for real.

Ironically the real reason the album sounded so poor didn’t some to light until recently – the fault apparently a result of inherent flaws in the vinyl mastering process used by Track. Dozens of different mixes were committed to tape as the band struggled to perfect the mix – and mastered correctly on modern equipment they all sound great!..Go figger! Thankfully Jungle Records have made several of these remastered ‘original’ mixes widely available recently – go get ‘em!

Nevertheless the damage had been done. Characteristically Thunders reaction was uncompromising and direct – to avoid confusion with albino popster Tom Petty’s ersatz crew JT seriously advocating changing the name of the his band to the Junkies to show that they were the ‘real deal’ – no holds barred bad boys. Poor Jerry Nolan, who had invested countless man hours mixing and remixing the album was more visibly upset and quit the band yet again – on the eve of a major UK Tour lined up for October 77 to promote the album. Ironically ex Pistol Paul Cook was lined up as substitute skins man and even got to play as a temporary ‘breaker as the tour kicked off -u ntil Nolan was eventually persuaded to return ‘as a hired musician, on a temporary basis’ for the remainder of the dates.

After the tour Nolan quit as promised, returning to New York where he hooked up with ex Doll Arthur Kane in the short lived Idols.Ex Clasher Terry Chimes stepped in to replace Jerry as the band headlined a brace of shows in December ‘77 at the Vortex. Track, in their wisdom, elected to issue the radio friendly ‘Its Not Enough’ on 45 the same month. Hardly a spectacularly inspired move as fans already had both sides of the 45 on the album this desperate last ditch attempt to snag chart success stiffed when the label folded with only a handful of copies ever having been made available – making it one of the all time punk rarities, vinyl junkies! Track meanwhile folded ignominiously – though amazingly Childers and the gang were able to break into their Carnaby Street offices in the dead of night and ‘liberate’ their master tapes in the confusion. Rumours of a proposed deal with CBS came to naught and the ‘Breakers imploded messily at the end of the year, Childers quitting and Lure and Rath flying back to the big apple. Only Thunders elected to remain over this side of the pond, gigging with various liggers and hangers on under the banner of the Living Dead until finally landing a well deserved solo deal with Real Records in Spring 78 - with whom he would shortly release arguably his finest records later the same year….but that, as they say, is another story for another time..

'Walter Lure came from the USA' sang Eater in 'Thinking Of The USA' and he went right back there!

And that was that…or shoulda been…But over the years since their demise the Heartbreakers (or a reasonable facsimile thereof )reconvened regularly for occasional live gigs – usually when money was short! Even though they rarely rehearsed, the old spark was always there – and even on an off night these guys truly had no equal! Again, check out any of the zillions of hastily assembled live albums and pirate videos fer proof!More rewardingly, once Thunders signed up with Jungle Records in the mid 80’s, those dusty L.A.M.F. tapes were dusted off and remixed / reissued in a dizzying array of formats. As mentioned earlier the original mixes of LAMF have now been remastered too - Overkill fer sure! But hugely enthralling and truly compulsory listening for anyone even remotely interested in classic punk New York Style…After all, The Heartbreakers did it first..and best!
And doncha dare forget it !

Brian Young - May 2005