"Chinese Rocks" or
"Chinese Rock" is a song written in 1976 by
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
punk legends
Dee Dee RamoneDee Dee Ramone, born Douglas Glenn Colvin, was a German-American songwriter and bassist, best remembered as a founding member of the punk rock band The Ramones....
and
Richard HellRichard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Hell is probably best known as frontman for the early punk rock band Richard Hell & The Voidoids. Their 1977 album, Blank Generation, influenced many other punk bands...
.
Openly discussing
heroinHeroin, or diacetylmorphine , also known as diamorphine , is a semi-synthetic opioid drug synthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. It is the 3,6-diacetyl ester of morphine...
addiction, "Chinese Rock" was first recorded by Hell's former band,
The HeartbreakersThe Heartbreakers, also known as Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, were an American rock & roll band formed in New York in May 1975. The band was part of the first wave of punk rock.-History:...
, and later by Dee Dee's band The Ramones.
Hell and Dee Dee were in agreement that the song was mainly written by Dee Dee. "The reason I wrote that song was out of spite for
Richard HellRichard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Hell is probably best known as frontman for the early punk rock band Richard Hell & The Voidoids. Their 1977 album, Blank Generation, influenced many other punk bands...
, because he told me he was going to write a song better than
Lou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician best known as the guitarist, vocalist and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground as well as a successful solo artist whose career has spanned several decades. The Velvet Underground gained little mainstream attention during their career,...
's "Heroin", so I went home and wrote 'Chinese Rocks'," Dee Dee is quoted in
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk.
"Chinese Rocks" or
"Chinese Rock" is a song written in 1976 by
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
punk legends
Dee Dee RamoneDee Dee Ramone, born Douglas Glenn Colvin, was a German-American songwriter and bassist, best remembered as a founding member of the punk rock band The Ramones....
and
Richard HellRichard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Hell is probably best known as frontman for the early punk rock band Richard Hell & The Voidoids. Their 1977 album, Blank Generation, influenced many other punk bands...
.
Openly discussing
heroinHeroin, or diacetylmorphine , also known as diamorphine , is a semi-synthetic opioid drug synthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. It is the 3,6-diacetyl ester of morphine...
addiction, "Chinese Rock" was first recorded by Hell's former band,
The HeartbreakersThe Heartbreakers, also known as Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, were an American rock & roll band formed in New York in May 1975. The band was part of the first wave of punk rock.-History:...
, and later by Dee Dee's band The Ramones.
Origin
Hell and Dee Dee were in agreement that the song was mainly written by Dee Dee. "The reason I wrote that song was out of spite for
Richard HellRichard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Hell is probably best known as frontman for the early punk rock band Richard Hell & The Voidoids. Their 1977 album, Blank Generation, influenced many other punk bands...
, because he told me he was going to write a song better than
Lou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician best known as the guitarist, vocalist and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground as well as a successful solo artist whose career has spanned several decades. The Velvet Underground gained little mainstream attention during their career,...
's "Heroin", so I went home and wrote 'Chinese Rocks'," Dee Dee is quoted in
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. "I wrote it by myself, in
Debbie HarryDeborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer–songwriter and actress, most famous for being the lead singer for the New Wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she also performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
's apartment on First Avenue and First Street."
According to Dee Dee, the song was "about
Jerry NolanJerry Nolan was an American punk rock drummer, best known for playing with The New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers.-Career:...
, of
The HeartbreakersThe Heartbreakers, also known as Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, were an American rock & roll band formed in New York in May 1975. The band was part of the first wave of punk rock.-History:...
calling me up to come over and go cop" heroin, a form of which was known in those days as Chinese Rocks. "The line 'My girlfriend's crying in the shower stall' was about Connie, and the shower was at Arturo Vega's loft," where Dee Dee, his girlfriend Connie and
Joey RamoneJoey Ramone , born as Jeffrey Ross Hyman, was a vocalist and songwriter best known for his work in the punk rock group the Ramones. Joey Ramone's image, voice and tenure as frontman of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.-Early life:Joey grew up in Forest Hills, Queens in a Jewish family...
all lived at one point.
Dee Dee wanted to record the song with the Ramones, but bandmate
Johnny RamoneJohn William Cummings , better known by the stage name Johnny Ramone, was the guitarist for the seminal punk rock group The Ramones. He was a founding member of the band, and along with vocalist Jeffrey Hyman, aka Joey Ramone, he remained a member throughout their career...
vetoed it, claiming that the song was too obviously drug-related. Dee Dee then took it to Richard Hell, also with The Heartbreakers at the time. "Dee Dee called me one day and said, 'I wrote a song that the Ramones won't do,'" Hell recalled. "He said, 'It's not finished. How about I come over and show it to you and we can finish it if you like it?'"
According to Hell, "What happened is really clear, and the songwriting credits can all be checked at BMI. The song is by me and Dee Dee, but Dee Dee did 75 percent of it. I mean, all I did was write two verses out of three. Dee Dee wrote the music, the concept was his. He's basically responsible for it. But he brought me the song; he didn't even know Johnny and Jerry, but we were friends and he thought the band was great. And when the Ramones didn't want to do the song he said, 'Look, I've written one verse of this song with the chorus and it's about heroin, how about you write the rest of it and it's yours?'" And that's what he did." Dee Dee similarly recalled, "Richard Hell put that line in, so I gave him some credit."
The Heartbreakers
There were differing recollections about how the song became part of The Heartbreakers' repertoire. Richard Hell said, "I brought it to the next rehearsal, exactly as it was done by the Heartbreakers for all those years. I would sing it because it was a song I brought in." Dee Dee, on the other hand, wrote in his memoir, "When Jerry was over at my place one day, we did some dope and then I played him my song, and he took it with him to a Heartbreakers' rehearsal."
In either case, the song became one of the band's most popular songs. As Hell states, "After I left the Heartbreakers, they kept playing 'Chinese Rocks' and then ended up recording it" for the band's 1977 debut album,
L.A.M.F.L.A.M.F. is the only studio album by the American band Heartbreakers, which included such musicians as Walter Lure, Billy Rath, and Johnny Thunders' New York Dolls bandmate Jerry Nolan. The musical style of the album blends the protopunk rock & roll of Nolan's and Thunders' earlier band with the...
. "And they put all of their names on it, though nothing had changed about the song--they just added their names to it.
Johnny ThundersJohnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. , was an Italian American rock and roll/protopunk guitarist, singer and songwriter....
...had nothing to do with 'Chinese Rocks' at all."
All vinyl pressings
L.A.M.F.L.A.M.F. is the only studio album by the American band Heartbreakers, which included such musicians as Walter Lure, Billy Rath, and Johnny Thunders' New York Dolls bandmate Jerry Nolan. The musical style of the album blends the protopunk rock & roll of Nolan's and Thunders' earlier band with the...
including the 1984
L.A.M.F.L.A.M.F. is the only studio album by the American band Heartbreakers, which included such musicians as Walter Lure, Billy Rath, and Johnny Thunders' New York Dolls bandmate Jerry Nolan. The musical style of the album blends the protopunk rock & roll of Nolan's and Thunders' earlier band with the...
Revisted album continued to credit the song to Thunders, Heartbreakers' drummer
Jerry NolanJerry Nolan was an American punk rock drummer, best known for playing with The New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers.-Career:...
as well as Ramone and Hell. It was only after the deaths of Thunders and Nolan that the credit was changed. However, both the 1994 and 2002 CD reissues of
L.A.M.F. now name the three
Ramones as the writers
JoeyJoey Ramone , born as Jeffrey Ross Hyman, was a vocalist and songwriter best known for his work in the punk rock group the Ramones. Joey Ramone's image, voice and tenure as frontman of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.-Early life:Joey grew up in Forest Hills, Queens in a Jewish family...
,
Johnny RamoneJohn William Cummings , better known by the stage name Johnny Ramone, was the guitarist for the seminal punk rock group The Ramones. He was a founding member of the band, and along with vocalist Jeffrey Hyman, aka Joey Ramone, he remained a member throughout their career...
and Dee Dee -- but not Hell.
"The credits are false," Dee Dee wrote in 1997. "Johnny Thunders ranked on me for fourteen years, trying to make out like he wrote the song. What a low-life maneuver by those guys!" The online databases for both ASCAP and
BMIBroadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
, however, credit the song to just Dee Dee Ramone and Hell.
In the Heartbreakers' live performances of the song, Thunders would often change some of the lyrics to more sexually explicit ones (sample revision: "I'm just fucking a Chinese bitch" instead of "I'm just digging a Chinese ditch" and also "Hey Dee Dee, do you want to go suck some Chinese cock?" instead of "Hey, do you want to go get some Chinese Rocks?").
In his song "There She Goes, My Beautiful World" from his 2004 album
Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus,
Nick CaveNicholas Edward Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and musical styles...
credits the song to Thunders in the line "And Johnny Thunders was only half alive when he wrote Chinese Rocks."
The Ramones
On the Ramones' original recording of the song on the 1979 vinyl album of
End of the CenturyEnd of the Century is the fifth album by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was produced by Phil Spector and was released on February 4, 1980....
, the song is credited to "D.D.Ramone/R.Hell". However, it later appeared on the Ramones' CD rerelease of
End of the Century credited to the Ramones as a whole, with no mention of Richard Hell.
The Ramones' version is called
"Chinese Rock", with no
s on the end. There is another slight lyrical difference between the versions: The Heartbreakers' lyrics begin, "Somebody calls me on the phone / They say hey hey is Dee Dee home", while the Ramones change "Dee Dee" to "Arty", an apparent reference to Arturo Vega, in whose loft the song is set. Vega was a long-time friend of the band and the designer of the Ramones' "presidential seal" logo. However, in live performances after Dee Dee left the band, Joey Ramone sometimes did sing "Dee Dee" instead of "Arty" (as on the Ramones' 1991 live CD
Loco LiveLoco Live is a live album by the American punk band the Ramones.There are two different versions of Loco Live available. The 1991 Chrysalis version contains 33 songs, including "Too Tough to Die", "Don't Bust My Chops", "Palisades Park", and "Love Kills"...
).
Other usage
The song was covered by
Sid ViciousSid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols.- Early life :...
on his album
Sid SingsSid Sings is the title of punk rocker Sid Vicious's posthumous solo album. It was released on December 15, 1979 and peaked at number 30 on the British album charts.The album features the two singles, "My Way", and "Something Else"...
, during his brief solo career after the
Sex PistolsThe Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They are responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
broke up.
The InsaneThe Insane were a UK punk band formed in Wigan in the late 1970s.1979-1986-History:Originally formed as a 5-piece band from Wigan in 1979, there were two bandscalled 'The Insane' for a while when the original band split. This line up...
were also another band to cover it, only in a slightly different style. The Violent Femmes also covered this. Their version was included on the 'Machine' single and features only
Gordon GanoGordon Gano is an American musician. He is most well known for his work as a founding member of the alternative rock band, the Violent Femmes.-Early life:...
singing and playing an electric piano. Another cover can be found on the release "
Keep Laughing- Track listing :- Track listing :- Track listing ::1. Think Positive:2. Ded Teds:3. Life in a Bottle:4. Feelings of Hate:5. Life's a Gamble:6. Beautiful Feeling II:7. Pothead:8. Senseless Violence:9. Unborn Child:10. Love to Hate:11. Passing Time...
" from mid-80s skate punks RKL/
Rich Kids on LSDRich Kids on LSD were a Californian hardcore punk band formed in 1982 in Montecito, California, a suburb of Santa Barbara. They were associated with the "Nardcore" scene that evolved out of nearby Oxnard. Their music expanded over the years from West Coast hardcore to a mix of hardcore with rock...
.
The band
Hanoi RocksHanoi Rocks was a Finnish rock band formed in 1979, whose most successful period came in the early 1980s. The band broke up in 1985 largely due to the death of their drummer, Nicholas 'Razzle' Dingley...
' name is influenced by the song. When brainstorming band name ideas "Chinese Rocks" was one name that popped up, as the band were influenced by
The HeartbreakersThe Heartbreakers, also known as Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, were an American rock & roll band formed in New York in May 1975. The band was part of the first wave of punk rock.-History:...
and
RamonesThe Ramones were an American rock band often regarded as the first punk rock group. Formed in Forest Hills, Queens, New York in 1974, all of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname 'Ramone', though none of them were actually related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring...
. They decided it was too close to the song, and instead settled on the name
HanoiHanoi , estimated population 6.232.940 , is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. From 1010 until 1802, with a few brief interruptions, it was the political centre of an independent Vietnam. It was eclipsed by Huế during the Nguyen Dynasty as the capital of Vietnam, but Hanoi served as...
Rocks.
The song was covered by the band
Prima DonnaPrima Donna is a rock n roll band from Los Angeles formed in 2003 featuring singer/guitarist Kevin Preston , Saxophonist/Keyboardist Aaron Minton, drummer David S...
at live shows throughout 2006.
Chinese Rocks was the name of
Duran DuranDuran Duran are an English rock band from Birmingham, United Kingdom. They were one of the most successful of the 1980s bands and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States. Since the 1980s they have placed 14 in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the...
's keyboard technician from 1981 to 1990.
Nick CaveNicholas Edward Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and musical styles...
mentions the song in his song "There She Goes, My Beautiful World" from the album
The Lyre of Orpheus/Abattoir Blues.
The
CroatianCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a country in southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Zagreb...
punkPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band
ParafParaf is a punk rock and later post punk band from Rijeka, Croatia. They are known as one of the first legendary punk bands in the former Yugoslavia.-Biography:...
recorded its own version of the song on its first single (1979). The song was retitled
Rijeka and featured completely new lyrics in
CroatianCroatian is a South Slavic language which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Croatian minorities in some neighbouring countries, in the Italian region of Molise, and parts of the Croatian diaspora....
that had nothing to do with the drug-related topic of the original. It rather presented a young punk's view of his
home townRijeka is the city and the principal seaport of Croatia, located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea. It has 144,043 inhabitants . The majority of its citizens, 80.39% , are Croats...
. The song was shamelessly attributed to the band leader Valter Kocijančić, which wasn't such a crime within the framework of
punk aestheticsThe punk subculture is a subculture based around punk rock. It includes music, ideologies, fashion, visual art, dance, literature and film. The punk scene is composed of an assortment of smaller factions that distinguish themselves from one another through unique variations...
.