What I am listening to :Gary US Bonds

 I am a huge Johnny Thunders fan. Thunders may be the punk Keith Richards who birthed a million guitarists but his career is largely a shambolic mess, but if you’re a fan, that’s kind of the point.

Weirdly, I have a couple of friends who developed much of the same appreciation unbeknownst to each other.

It’s funny but that’s what happened. A highlight of the Thunders catalog was a cover of Gary US Bonds’s song “Seven Day Weekend” sung by longtime Heartbreaker Walter Lure.

For my friend, that led him to the Waldos, Lure’s other band who didn’t record a major studio album until 1994s Rent Party. (Lure, like latter day Stooges guitarist James Williamson had a very unpunk post Rock career, in Lure’s case on Wall Street)

For me, listening to “7 Day Weekend” led to discovering Bonds, best known for a string of pre Beatles hits, the best known being “Quarter to Three”. The kind of energetic and slightly distorted songs that fall into that category of Rock N Roll Radio that the Ramones loved so much

I was also then tempted to check out 1982’s On the Line which is an album that you might have seen on Greatest Records Ever lists 25 or 30 years ago.

If it no longer makes those lists, it’s understandable why it did. It’s definitely of its time but it has a real Working Class vibe to it, and it’s probably notable to see the names on the credits- Bittan, Clemons, Van Zant, Tallent, Weinberg and Federici.

I suspect many of you should know those names, but if not maybe you would recognize the producer (sharing duties with Steven Van Zant) and songwriter (and uncredited backing vocalist where he could get away with it) Bruce Springsteen

Bonds had another Boss-helmed album that preceded it - 1981’s Dedication which had the song “This Little Girl” a single that would make it to # 11 on the pop charts.

Both records seem like throwbacks to that era with the production values chasing Springsteen’s hits but they are great rock records that harken to the golden days of rock that Springsteen was taking back to the charts. “Out of Work” was the single off On the Line and went to #21.

1984’s “Standing in the Line of Fire” returned Van Zant in the producer’s chair but did not receive much attention.