Night of the Living Dead Boys

The Cleveland-bred, Manhattan-transplant band Dead Boys lived from 1976 to 1979 and took rock ’n’ roll cues from The Stooges, Alice Cooper, and The New York Dolls. Their positively wonderful, hook-filled racket was sometimes cartoonish, sometimes dreadful, and sometimes passed-out-in-the-curb real. They never got respect in their day, even as they recorded two Sire studio albums—but history has been (rightfully) kind. This set, recorded live in 1979 at New York’s CBGB, is a rousing testament to a band too unruly to be the next Alice Cooper Group. Here, we get worthy live versions of band staples, as well as songs from their less-adored second album (minus the sellout production and ’70s studio blandness)—such as “Catholic Boy,” “Ain’t It Fun,” Jimmy Zero’s great “I Won’t Look Back,” and the then-timely, should’ve-been-big “Son of Sam.” This set is recorded well enough to hear why Dead Boys influenced Guns N’ Roses and counted John Belushi among their fans. And even beyond the antics of gifted frontman Stiv Bators, you can hear how great (and under-recognized) guitarists Zero and Cheetah Chrome are.