Cheetah Chrome, Guitarist for Rocket From the Tombs and Dead Boys, Dead at 71
Cheetah Chrome, guitarist for revered underground punk bands Rocket From the Tombs and Dead Boys, has died, his PR company announced Monday night.
The punk-rock underground legend, whose real name was Eugene Richard O’Connor, died Sunday in Nashville at age 71, according to Reprobate Media.
The PR firm issued a press release that stated the following:
“Eugene Richard O’Connor — Cheetah Chrome to everyone who ever plugged into a Marshall and meant it – died Sunday, September 13th, in Nashville. He was 71.
“Born in Cleveland, Chrome was standing at absolute ground zero of American punk. Rocket From the Tombs in 1974 — the proto-punk wrecking crew that also spawned Pere Ubu. Then the Dead Boys, CBGB, Young Loud and Snotty, and songs like ‘Sonic Reducer’ and ‘Ain’t It Fun’ that still sound like a fist through a window fifty years on.
“At a time when punk was getting mannered and art-schooled on both sides of the Atlantic, Cheetah Chrome was the genuine article – a guitarist who played like his amp was on fire and couldn’t have cared less who was watching. The Dead Boys weren’t performing danger. They were it.
“He never stopped. Solo records, a creative director role at Nashville’s Plowboy Records, and his 2010 memoir A Dead Boy’s Tale From the Front Lines of Punk Rock – a book that reads exactly like he played. Loud, honest, no filler.
“He is survived by his wife Anna and son Rogan.”
Cherie Currie, leader of punk-rock legends The Runaways, posted the following on Facebook yesterday:
Memorial services do not appear to have been announced yet. The Bad Penny extends our condolences to Cheetah Chrome’s family, friends and fans.
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