Johnny Thunders

The 11 Best Fictional Bands of All Time

Who the hell needs real bands when there are so many great fictional ones? Here's some of the best -- our list goes to 11, of course: See also: Top 10 Concert Films to See Before You Die

Seven More Famous Songs About Pleasuring Oneself

I can't get enough of these, for some reason. The following are from The Official Book of Sex, Drugs, & Rock 'N' Roll Lists: 1. "Homemade," Sebadoh No, it's not about jam. Or is it?

Ex Cops' Brian Harding Outs Bandmate Amalie Bruun Love of Black Metal

Brooklyn's ace pop stylists Ex Cops have it all: the badass moniker, the underground cred (they were 4th Street record shop institution Other Music's first signing to its fledgling label), the swanky veneer and slick, ubiquitous poptones to match. On its debut True Hallucinations, melodious ear cand ... More >>

Too Much Johnny Business: 14 New Punk Combos Pick Their Favorite Tracks By Birthday Boy Johnny Thunders

So many years later, and still most musicians in the trashy rock'n'roll underbelly can't shake that Ramones rush. In fact, there has been a Rockaway Beach-like surf rolling in for the past couple years; boffo bands from all over have their debt to the four leather-clad lads instantly assessed, in th ... More >>

Q&A: Pizza Punkers Little Seizures On Their Old Bands, Good Parties, And The Power Of Vietnamese Sandwiches

Little Seizures are a one-yearish-old band populated by roughly 80%, uh, wizened local punk veterans. Their howling and chutzpah heave out like a bunch of brats, though, and it's especially evident on their brand-new 7" "Pizza Punk," which bounces around with Johnny Thunders-like riffs, Angry Samoan ... More >>

'Max's Kansas City Alumni Reunion'

Q&A: Wussy's Chuck Cleaver And Lisa Walker On The Cincinnati Scene, Playing Music With Your Ex, And Shaking The "Critic's Band" Tag

It's high time Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker, the core of Cincinnati crust-stained yet dreamy jangle-pop heroes Wussy, get uttered in the same breath as holier-than-thou lady/dude combos like John Doe & Exene, Ira & Georgia, Mac & Laura, and Thurston & Kim. The rough-and-tumble, whiny disposition of ... More >>

Q&A: Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon On Mark Ronson, His Band's First American Tour, And New York City Then And Now

​The ageless glam gods of Duran Duran descend to Madison Square Garden Tuesday night, not long before wrapping their North American tour in support of All You Need Is Now, the band's 13th studio album. The record, which they made with Mark Ronson, might more accurately have been titled All You ... More >>

Use Your Illusion Zero: Celebrating The 20th Anniversary Of Guns N' Roses' Two-Disc Opus By Editing It Down To One Disc

​Over the weekend, a key album that came out in 1991 celebrated the 20th anniversary of its release date: Guns N' Roses' double-disc, piano-laden Use Your Illusion was released on September 17, 1991, giving late-'80s arena rock what was probably its last gasp of commercial supremacy/artistic o ... More >>

We Want The Airwaves, Baby: 10 Songs About The Ramones

Joey Ramone would have been 60 years old on May 19. This week, in celebration of the birthday of the Queens-born gone-too-soon punk legend, Sound of the City will run a series of features on his life and his legacy. ​Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery--and whose style has been ... More >>

Live: Cheetah Chrome, Bob Pfeifer, Mike Hudson, And Eric Davidson Look Back At Cleveland's Fiery Punk Scene

Stephen SlaybaughBob Pfeifer. ​ Cleveland Confidential Book Tour, moderated by Luc Sante and featuring Cheetah Chrome, Mike Hudson, and Bob Pfeifer plus Eric Davidson powerHouse Arena Saturday, April 9 Better Than: Watching the East River burn while sitting in a swank DUMBO loft. There must ... More >>

Q&A: New York Dolls Guitarist Sylvain Sylvain On His Twin Fascinations With Bo Diddley And Michelle Obama

"We live in the present. And we're digging it." Sylvain Sylvain (left) and David Johansen, actually requesting "Pills," not pills, for once. PIc by Anna Victoria.​Sylvain Sylvain is an enchanting mix of contradictions. He's a founding member of wildly attired proto-punks the New York Dolls, a ... More >>

Q&A: East River Pipe On His Sweet Merge Records Deal, Not Falling Off The Wagon, And How Working At Home Depot Is The Shit

"There are always exceptions -- black swans, lone wolves, whatever. And I'm one of those exceptions." Pic by Barbara Powers​As the rest of the indie-rock throng find success by getting in the van, crashing on icky floors, and playing an endless string of shows from one coast to the other, the ... More >>

The Mosaic Man Benefit

The New York City Record Store Year-End Roundup

​In 2009, we began the weekly Local Top 10, a series we hoped would prove that New Yorkers were far too stubborn to let the record store go. The series ran until last month, when we literally ran out of stores to cover--not the best sign for the future of music retailing in New York City. Befo ... More >>

Thanksgiving Playlist 2009: 100-Plus Songs Better Than Your Grandma's Lumpy Squash

Two years ago, William Bowers compiled this playlist. Any further additions? This holiday's abstract mandate can be sorta barren for us patriotically-challenged atheist vegetarians who maintain cosmic equidistance from our bloodkin. The term for it is even weird: "Thanksgiving" is a syntactical c ... More >>

The Top 10 Records Sold Last Week at Bleecker Bob's in the West Village

In 2009, the traditional practice of exchanging physical copies of records for money is a trade that might best be called quixotic. But New Yorkers are stubborn people, and the record store is not dead. Below, the top ten records that sold in the last week at a store near you. Brian Dube​When ... More >>

Bassist Duff McKagan Loves New York City and He Would Personally Like To Tell You Why

You may know bass player Duff McKagan from his work in Guns 'N Roses, Velvet Revolver, or Neurotic Outsiders. Next Tuesday, May 19, he brings his band, Loaded, to the Gramercy Theater for their local debut. In honor of this milestone, Duff asked us if he could share some of his New York experiences ... More >>

A Thanksgiving Playlist

SALEN ON: An Unsung Hero of NYC Punk Gets an Old-School Sendoff

The Slow Blackout of Amy Winehouse

How a troubled r&b mega-talent's breakout hit turned against her

Provincializm #16: Thank-Rock Playlist

Mourning Hilly Kristal Part II

Bludgeoning Riffola, Suitable For When Fucking the World

She Wolves's Mach One: The Early Days

Downer at the Rock and Roll Club

As CBGB takes its victory laps, a lifer reminisces about the death of an era

Sensualistic, Polytheistic

Miraculously, after 32 years, the New York Dolls do it again

Into the Wall

Old Frisco punks crashed through foundations, killed Dad

Or Give Me Death

Self-titled Libertine Carl Barât battles his junko partners—Pete Doherty and the brown

Jump on the Grenade

Boy, Those Hard Rock Kiddies Can't Play Guitar

Letters

Music

Planet of the Apes

Down-and-Out Deities

Grandpa’s Hands

A Time to Refrain From Embracing

Oozing Pus, Monster Trucks, Bleeding Brains, Broken Glass, and Beaver

Pretty Snide (For Some Orange Guys)

Easy Listening

Making Sense Out of the Musical Mayhem

Getting Over; Going Underground

Unveiling a Uniplex in the East Village

Slices of Life

Death Rock 2000

We Love the Nightlife, Baby

Roto-Roots Rock Flushes Your Troubles Down the Drain

Wanna Love It, But I'm Getting Blown Away

Swingle White Males

Rock's Living End

Sharks and Jets