People always remember Johnny Thunders but his band The Heartbreakers helped shape the sound of one of the greatest album released in the seventies and rightly so.  The Heartbreakers consisted of one Jerry Nolan on drums thunders pal from his time with the Dolls. Out of the four members of the band, only Walter Lure is still with us and with it being the 14th of #january the day Jerry passed away we wanted to celebrate his time with us by championing his work and remembering Jerry Nolan. A powerhouse of a drummer who was old school and didn’t go for being flash and played the song.  If there needed to be silence or no drums then that’s what you got.  He had style and managed to look fantastic behind his kit he was a real showman without being flash for the sake of being flash.RPM is gonna champion those forgotten men (and women) who got taken way to soon and what better place to start than in the engine room with the one and only Jerry Nolan, May 7, 1946 – January 14, 1992.

First up is former New York Doll and Heartbreakers drummer  Gerard “Jerry” Nolan.

Jerry passed away on this day in 1992.  Jerry was born in Brooklyn on 7th May 1946 which makes him just 45 when he passed away in Manhatten at St Vincent’s after suffering a stroke. 2018 saw Jerry get some much-deserved limelight with the release of his excellent biography ‘Stranded In The Jungle’ penned by Curt Weiss available here.

Outside of his work with Thunders be it in the Dolls or The Heartbreakers Jerry only managed one 7″ single ‘Take A Chance With Me’ and the posthumously released EP with the Profilers both bearing his name, there were a few other bits here and there as he recorded in Sweden with Pilsner and there was his stint with The Idols that managed one single – not a lot for someone so talented but what we do have is well worth tracking down for one of a few really influential drummers of his generation.  Jerry RPM salutes you and raises a glass in your honor as we remember.

Other notable things happened on this day – This was the day in 1978 when the Pistols played Winterland in San Francisco and the last time Sid would play with the band. They did, however, reform in 96 for a stack of cash.  another pistols fact for this day is they sued Malcolm and were awarded a cool One million pounds (seems like chicken feed these days).

It’s also the very day in ’77 that Bowie released ‘Low‘ and the birthday of David Eric Grohl

Born this day in 1969 Happy Birthday Mr Grohl.