The Dead Boys

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The Dead Boys
Origin Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Genre(s) Punk rock
Years active 1976 — 2005
Label(s) Sire Records
Associated acts Rocket From The Tombs
Pere Ubu
The Lords of the New Church

The Dead Boys are a defunct punk rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1975.

Contents

[edit] Formation and 1970s punk rock heyday

The Dead Boys evolved out of the band Rocket From The Tombs and were originally called Frankenstein. When the band members relocated to New York City in July 1976, they adopted the name by which they are best known.

Moving to New York City at the encouragement of Joey Ramone, the Ramones' lead singer, the Dead Boys quickly gained notoriety for their outrageous live performances. Lewd gestures and profanity were the norm. On more than one occasion, lead singer Stiv Bators slashed his stomach with his mic stand. They frequently played at the legendary rock club CBGB and in 1977 they released their debut album, Young, Loud and Snotty, produced by Genya Ravan. Their song "Sonic Reducer" is often regarded as one of the classics of the punk genre, with the All Music Guide calling it "one of punk's great anthems."[1]

Sire Records pressured the group to change their look and sound to appeal more to the U.S. mainstream (which had yet to embrace punk on the level seen in the UK) and this contributed to Dead Boys breaking up in 1979.[2] A few months after the breakup the band had to reunite to record a live album and thus fulfill their contractual obligations. To exact revenge on the label, Bators purposely sang off mic and the resulting recording was unusable. When the material eventually surfaced on Bomp! Records, Bators had re-recorded the vocals in a studio.

[edit] Bators' subsequent career

Bators recorded a solo album, Disconnected, on Line Records. Bators later formed Lords of the New Church with Brian James from The Damned and Dave Tregunna from Sham 69. They released several albums on IRS Records, including the keyboard-laden hit single "Open Your Eyes" and a twisted cover of "Like A Virgin."

[edit] Reformation

The Dead Boys reformed for several gigs in the 1980s. They re-released their first album as Younger, Louder and Snottier in 1989, mastered from a cassette tape, of rough mixes, attributed to a young Bob Clearmountain, a studio assistant at the time.

In 1990, Bators died in France due to injuries sustained after having been hit by a laundry truck. In September of 2004, the remaining members of the band re-formed for a one-off gig in Cleveland. In 2005, they played a benefit show for CBGB and another reunion show on Halloween.

[edit] Members

  • Vocals : Stiv Bators (Steve Bator).
  • Lead guitar : Cheetah Chrome (Gene O'Connor).
  • Drums : Johnny Blitz (John Madansky).
  • Bass : Jeff Magnum (Jeff Halmagy).
  • Rhythm guitar : Jimmy Zero (William Wilden).

[edit] Discography

The Dead Boys only had two official full lengths, however many labels have released rough material and outtakes in the years following their breakup.

  • Later Releases
    • Night of the Living Dead Boys - Bomp! Records 1981
    • The Return of the Living Dead Boys - Revenge 1987 (Import/France)
    • Liver Than You'll Ever Be - Various Labels 1988 (Import/Various)
    • Younger, Louder and Snottier - Bomp! 1997
    • Twistin' on the Devil's Fork - Hell Yeah / Bacchus 1998
    • All This and More - Bomp! 1998
    • 3rd Generation Nation - Bad Boy Production 1999
  • 7" Singles
    • Sonic Reducer - Sire Records 1977
    • Tell Me - Sire Records 1977
    • Search and Destroy - Revenge 1977 (Import/France)
    • Buried Gems - Cold Front 2000
    • Paul Sherry goes Back - The Paul Sherry Sessions 2007
  • 12" Singles
    • All The Way Down/Nights Are So Long - Relativity 8165 (1987)(never on CD)

[edit] External resources

[edit] References

  1. ^ Prato, Greg & Erlewine, Stephen Thomas, Dead Boys: Biography, All Music Guide, <http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:iifjzfaheh8k~T1>. Retrieved on 12 October 2007 
  2. ^ McNeil, Legs & McCain, Gillian (1997), Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, New York, London: Penguin Books, pp. 335-336, ISBN 0140266909 

[edit] Sources