The Heartbreakers

Following the New York Dolls' 1975 breakup, guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan quickly assembled the Heartbreakers, a unit unrelated to Tom Petty's group of the same name. Former Television bassist Richard Hell completed the original lineup.

The band performed regularly across New York City and embedded itself in the emerging CBGB punk milieu. Thunders handled vocals, steering a sound rooted in the gritty rock approach the Dolls had established, yet nearly every number centered on either sexual pursuit or narcotics. All members struggled with severe hard-drug dependency, prompting Thunders at one point to float the idea of retitling the group "the Junkies."

Hell departed after a brief stint once it became evident that Thunders controlled direction and that space for Hell's own material would remain limited. Hell soon resurfaced fronting Richard Hell & the Voidoids. Bassist Billy Rath took his place, and second guitarist Walter Lure joined shortly afterward.

Although still without a recording contract, the Heartbreakers received an invitation to participate in the U.K.'s fall 1976 Anarchy Tour alongside Sex Pistols, the Clash, and the Damned. Most dates were canceled amid widespread public apprehension toward punk, but the outing generated overseas interest that secured a deal with Track.

The resulting debut, 1977's L.A.M.F.—an abbreviation for "Like a Mother F*cker"—failed to match the commercial success of other Anarchy Tour acts, yet it later achieved classic status within punk, highlighted by the drug-abuse anthem "Chinese Rocks," co-written by Ramones bassist Dee Dee Ramone.

The quartet's relentless hard-living soon precipitated a split, though reunions occurred periodically until Thunders' drug-related death in 1991; Nolan followed his longtime bandmate the next year. Numerous live albums have appeared since, among them Live at Max's Kansas City '79, Live at the Lyceum Ballroom 1984, What Goes Around, and the remixed L.A.M.F. Revisited, plus many others. A video and DVD titled Dead or Alive documented a 1984 reunion concert in England.

Guitarist Walter Lure died of cancer on August 22, 2020, at age 71.