Three Punk Love Poems and a Song of Despair

Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, "Pirate Love" (from L.A.M.F., 1977). Johnny Thunders started out in the New York Dolls, the archetypal glam-rock band. When they broke up after being mismanaged by Malcolm McLaren (who became more famous managing the Sex Pistols), he floated around for a while until forming the Heartbreakers with former Television guitarist Richard Hell, who promptly quit when he discovered that his new bandmates were more interested in drinking and overdosing on drugs than in rehearsing. This album was dead upon release, partly because the record company folded, and partly because the original mix was atrocious. This is from a 1994 remix, three years after Thunders died of an overdose.

Dead Boys, "Flame Thrower Love" (from We Have Come for Your Children, 1978). The Dead Boys were one of the angrier New York punk bands of the late 1970s. They were pretty nihilistic; their debut album Young Loud and Snotty was filled with screeds about hate and abuse and anger, all delivered in frontman Stiv Bators's rasp. I don't have their second album: I got this song off a compilation. I'm told the second album isn't as good, but this song is pretty great. Stiv Bators was once stabbed in the chest by a mobster during an argument. He survived until 1990, when he was run over by a car in Paris.

Stiff Little Fingers, "Barbed Wire Love" (from Inflammable Material, 1979). Dubbed "The Irish Clash," Stiff Little Fingers were a really great punk band. On their first album, they sounded rather Clash-like: much straightforward punk rock with political messages, with the occasional reggae-influenced song and some oddball flourishes, like on this song. From a melodic beginning, the song goes downright Beach Boys, with admittedly raspy, doo-wop influenced harmonizing in the catchy break. I don't think anyone from this band has died.

The Psychedelic Furs, "Pretty in Pink" (from Talk Talk Talk, 1981). The John Hughes movie of the same title ruined the Psychedelic Furs, who had been one of the best post-punk/proto-New Wave bands around. Before Hughes, their sound was darker; keyboards added to the sound, instead of defining it. This version is the original. They rerecorded it for the 1986 soundtrack, taking the edge out, layering it with unimpressive keyboards, and sapping it of its darkness. These guys are all alive too.

(Post title adapted from Pablo Neruda's poetry collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair).