When Johnny Thunders jammed with the Replacements

06.07.2019
07:12 am
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Music
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The Replacements
Johnny Thunders

The Replacements and Johnny Thunders in the late 1980s.

In the spring of 1989, Johnny Thunders opened a couple of shows for the Replacements. For those of you who don’t know, Thunders was a founding member of one the best glam bands, the New York Dolls, and when he and drummer Jerry Nolan quit the Dolls in 1975, they promptly formed the proto-punk unit, the Heartbreakers. Both groups influenced the Replacements, but it was the Heartbreakers’ rousing blend of energy, attitude, slop, and catchy tunes that impacted the ‘Mats’ early development the most—perhaps more than any other group. The Heartbreakers only released one studio album, the essential L.A.M.F., but it was another record of theirs that made the biggest impression on the young Replacements. When the Replacements were experiencing their first hint of mainstream success in the spring of 1989, it made sense they’d invite Johnny Thunders to be their opener and then bring him up on stage with them—but it nearly didn’t happen.

In late 1979, Paul Westerberg brought a handful of records to the first rehearsal of the band that would eventually be named the Replacements, including the New York Dolls’ debut and the recent Heartbreakers release, the rowdy and fiery Live at Max’s Kansas City ‘79. During this initial jam session, the new four-piece played “I Wanna Be Loved” and “All by Myself,” which they learned from the Heartbreakers live album. On July 2nd, 1980, the first Replacements gig took place; their eighteen-song set contained three Heartbreakers covers.

The young ‘Mats blazing through “I Wanna Be Loved” in 1981:

By the dawn of the 1980s, Johnny Thunders was already a legend, but not always for the right reasons. His loose guitar playing style had loads of character, and he wrote some good songs, but he was also a notorious drug addict, who frequently appeared out of it on stage. In late July 1980, Thunders came to Minneapolis for a couple of gigs with Gang War, the group he formed with Wayne Kramer from the MC5. The Replacements really wanted to open the shows, but the slots went to Hüsker Dü. The night of the first concert, Westerberg and ‘Mats drummer Chris Mars were in the audience. When, after a delay, Thunders finally came out, he was obviously a wreck, and Westerberg took notice.

[Westerberg:] “The moment he walked on . . . I saw it.”

The look on Thunders’s face—imperious and desperate all at once—struck Westerberg: “He was frightening and beautiful and mean at the same time,” he said. “Like a child.”

Physically struggling through the show, while battling an audience hurling brickbats, Thunders had been rendered a prisoner of his own addictions and cult infamy. “When Johnny was playing, it looked like he was walking dead,” recalled Westerberg. “It was pitiful, like watching a guy in a cage.”

That image of Thunders lingered with him. The following morning Westerberg sat at home with his guitar, rejiggered the chords to the Heartbreakers’ “Chinese Rocks,” and turned out a haunting ballad, a requiem called “Johnny’s Gonna Die.” (taken from Bob Mehr’s Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements)

“Johnny’s Gonna Die” was included on the Replacements debut album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash.

The Replacements, first publicity photo session.

In early 1989, the Replacements’ seventh studio record, Don’t Tell a Soul, was released. When the DTaS tour began on March 10, the LP’s first single, “I’ll Be You,” was climbing the Billboard charts, and it was looking like the ‘Mats might have their first Top 40 hit (it’d peak at #51 in May). One of the songs the group worked up for the tour was the Heartbreakers’ “Born to Lose” (a/k/a “Born too Loose”), and they played it nearly every night. At the end March, the Replacements had two shows scheduled for the Beacon Theatre in New York City; they asked Johnny Thunders to open. While still under the sway of drugs, Thunders had refined his stage act, which now included a saxophonist and back-up singers. His most recent album, Copy Cats, a covers record with Patti Palladin, came out in 1988.

Thunders initially passed on opening for the Replacements—claiming he had never even heard of them—but then changed his mind. The first Beacon Theatre show took place on March 30. Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson didn’t like what he saw in Thunders’s set and didn’t hold back. More from Trouble Boys:

After watching Thunders’s set the first night, Tommy Stinson threw a purist’s fit. When Thunders stuck his head into the dressing room to say hello, Stinson gave him both barrels. “Hey, fucker—what the hell are you doing?” he said. “You need to play all the hits, and don’t suck. This is a good gig and I know you ain’t getting many like this anymore. And lose Jessica Rabbit,” he added, meaning [Alison] Gordy [one of the back-up singers], before slamming the door on Thunders.

Despite Stinson’s uncouth criticisms, Thunders stuck around to join the Replacements for a very loose blues jam. ‘Mats diehards will note it includes elements of the band’s rarity, “Hear You Been to College.”

The following night, Thunders played past his allotted time, and someone cut the power. Towards the end of the Replacements’ set, Thunders was back for spirited versions of Chuck Berry’s “Around and Around,” and (after a rough, false start) “Born to Lose.” Thunders brought along members of his band this time, and it’s been reported that he brazenly attempted to take over the stage. Regardless, the performance is raw, exciting, and fun.

Backstage at one of the Beacon shows, Westerberg told Thunders about “Johnny’s Gonna’s Die,” and recited some of the lyrics, but Thunders didn’t have much of a reaction. “Well, everyone’s gonna die eventually,” he said in a subsequent interview, telling the reporter he still hadn’t heard the song. “I guess I’ve been misunderstood,” he added. “I’m sure if I stayed straight for 50 years, people would still write that I’m stoned.”

On April 23, 1991, Johnny Thunders died in New Orleans under mysterious circumstances. He was 38 years-old. At the time, the Replacements were in the midst of their final tour (for a couple of decades, at least). When I saw the Replacements in Ann Arbor during February of ’91, Paul Westerberg was wearing a Johnny Thunders t-shirt.

The Heartbreakers, 1977.

Twin/Tone Records professionally filmed two Replacements sets at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis on September 5, 1981. The below YouTube clip kicks off with “Johnny Gonna’s Die,” followed by two additional songs from Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash: