Johnny Blitz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johnny Blitz | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John Madansky |
| Origin | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Genres | Proto-punk, punk |
| Instrument | Drums |
John Madansky, known as Johnny Blitz,[1] is a punk rock drummer from Cleveland, Ohio, best known as being a member of the bands Dead Boys and Rocket From The Tombs.[2] As a member of the Dead Boys, he helped pioneer the punk rock sound, look and attitude of the mid to late 1970s.
Johnny Blitz met Cheetah Chrome through a classified ad, and together went on to play small gigs in short-lived bands.[3] In early 1975, Blitz and Chrome were recruited to Rocket From the Tombs. The band broke up within the year. After the break up, Blitz and Chrome teamed up with singer Stiv Bators, rhythm guitarist Jimmy Zero, and bassist Jeff Magnum to form a band called Frankenstein. Eventually, the band renamed themselves Dead Boys and recruited James Sliman to be their manager.
A Boston Globe retrospective described a Dead Boys concert with Blitz on drums:
"The first time I saw Stiv Bators and his band, Dead Boys, was at the Rat in 1976, with about 50 other people. At one point, the bare-chested Bators stuck his head inside the kick drum as drummer Johnny Blitz played. Bators followed by jumping to his feet and slashing his chest with a broken bottle."
On April 19, 1978, during his time with Dead Boys, Blitz and a group of friends were in Manhattan's East Village when they became involved in an altercation with a separate group. During the altercation, Blitz was stabbed 5 times. The injury caused him to be hospitalized for months. A four day benefit (Blitz Benefit) was held at CBGB to help with medical bills. Over 30 bands performed and a t-shirt was designed by Arturo Vega.
