Johnny Thunders - Musical Tributes

Musical Tributes

Thunders has had numerous bands paying tribute or mentioning him in their songs, while he was alive and after his death.

• The Clash mentioned Thunders in the lyric from their song "City Of The Dead", singing "'Don't you know where to cop?'/That's what New York Johnny said/'You should get to know your town/Just like I know mine'"
• Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks covered "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" on his first solo LP called Nights Are So Long.
• Alison Gordy of Blonde and Blue (and former backup singer for Johnny) recorded "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory" on their CD Mad As Hell.
• Giant Sand covered "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" on their 1986 album Ballad Of A Thin Line Man.
• Recently, Gibson.com ranked Thunders #2 on its "Punk Rock's 10 Mightiest Guitar Gods" list.
• Then-Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan wrote the song "So Fine", which was dedicated to Thunders. The song appears on the album Use Your Illusion II. Also, in 1993, Guns N' Roses covered Thunders' song "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" on their cover album, "The Spaghetti Incident?", with McKagan performing vocals and playing all instruments.
• Willy DeVille wrote a song called "Chemical Warfare" which appeared on his 1992 album Backstreets of Desire. "Chemical Warfare" was dedicated to Johnny Thunders with whom DeVille shared a long-time friendship. DeVille was first to arrive at the hotel the day of Johnny's death.
• At their reunion shows, the New York Dolls have been performing "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory", with member Sylvain Sylvain singing the lead vocal and sometimes changing the title lyric to "I can't put my arms around you, Johnny."
• On the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds double album, Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus, Johnny Thunders is mentioned in the song "There She Goes my Beautiful World", singing "...And Johnny Thunders was half alive when he wrote 'Chinese Rocks'"(although Johnny performed and recorded 'Chinese Rocks' it was written by his friend and fellow punk rocker Dee Dee Ramone).
• English rock band the Dogs D'Amour released a song about Thunders titled "Johnny Silvers" on their ...More Unchartered Heights of Disgrace album.
• The Replacements included a song about Johnny Thunders, "Johnny's Gonna Die", on their first album. The Mats also had a song called "Dose of Thunder" on their "Tim" album.
• Alex Chilton in his song "Bangkok" sings the lines "I'm not living on Chinese rocks, I'm in Bangkok." A small tribute and allusion to Johnny Thunders.
• Die Toten Hosen paid tribute to Johnny Thunders by including the line "So lange Johnny Thunders lebt, so lang bleib ich ein Punk" ("As long as Johnny Thunders lives I'll stay a punk") in their song "Wort zum Sonntag". After his death Die Toten Hosen changed the lyrics to "Hey, Johnny kannst du uns grad' seh'n, wir vergessen dich nicht - wir werden überall von dir erzählen damit dein Name ewig weiterlebt." ("Hey, Johnny can you see us right now, we won't forget you - we'll tell everywhere about you for your name 'll live on eternally.")
• The Murder City Devils named a song "Johnny Thunders" on their album Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts.
• Iggy Pop wrote a tribute song for Johnny entitled "Look Away" on the album Naughty Little Doggie. It also involves his love affair with Sable Starr.
• "Everything I Wanted" by Australian band Wallspace features the line "Don't you wish you had a name like Johnny Thunder".
• Spanish label Munster Records released Again ... This One's For Johnny in 2001, a tribute record which includes bands as Ramones, Ronnie Spector, Nikki Sudden or Atom Rhumba
• Vic Godard & the Subway Sect had a single titled "Johnny Thunders" which was released in September 1992 by Rough Trade records.
• Napalm Beach played on at least two bills in the 1980s with the Heartbreakers in Portland in Seattle. Three days before Thunders died, the band had breakfast with Thunders in a Berlin hotel, where Thunders autographed bandleader Chris Newman's passport "all my love and admiration." In 1993 Napalm Beach released a cover of "Chatterbox" for a Johnny Thunders Tribute compilation put together by Tim Kerr Records. The single featured a photo of the autograph next to a photo of a guitar Napalm Beach bassist Otis P. Otis had gotten from Thunders in an earlier trade. The last meeting with Thunders was alluded to in the Napalm Beach song "Longtime Johnny" on their 1993 album, Curiosities.
• Slaughter & the Dogs had a track titled "Johnny T" allegedly about Thunders which was the b-side to their single "Dame to Blame".
• In the "Call of the Yeti" episode of "The Mighty Boosh" Naboo tells Vince "Vince, you're a punk, stay punk! Think of Johnny Thunders, Mick and Keith!" when they are threatened to be raped by Hippy yetis.
• Paul Westerberg released an album in August 2008 entitled "49:00" which contains a track about Johnny entitled "Devil Raised A Good Boy".
• Anarcho punk band Kronstadt Uprising became more influenced by Johnny Thunders (and glam rock generally) later in their existence.
• Chinese punk rock band Joyside's "Neptune Child" is in tribute of Stiv Bators and Johnny Thunders.
• When doing their cover of The Rolling Stones song Dead Flowers. JB Beverley and The Wayward Drifters substitute the line, "and another girl to take my pain away", with, "with my Johnny Thunders records taking all this pain away".
• American label Skykrebs Records Limited released Born To Lose: A Tribute To Johnny Thunders in 2009, a 3CD Boxed Set of various artists featuring 51 songs and a 36 page full color booklet. Guest stars include Richie Cannata (saxophone player from Billy Joel), Steve Holley (drummer from Wings), Buddy Bowzer (saxophone player from The New York Dolls), Andy Shernoff (bass player from The Dictators) and Jeff Magnum (bass player from The Dead Boys).
• John Waite references Johnny in his song "Downtown" from his Temple Bar CD. In the song, the lyric "Johnny Thunders on the Radio, ah You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory".
• The Schizo's, an infamous Dutch punk-rock band played several covers from Thunders. For them Thunders was one of their main influences.