Johnny Blitz
| Johnny Blitz | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John Madansky |
| Origin | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Genres | Proto-punk, punk |
| Instruments | Drums |
| Associated acts | Rocket From The Tombs, The Dead Boys, Slaughterhouse, The Tribe, Raw Dog, The Highschool Hookers, Smash the Hammer |
John Madansky, known as Johnny Blitz, is a punk rock drummer from Cleveland, Ohio, best known as being a member of the bands The Dead Boys and Rocket From The Tombs. With the Dead Boys he helped pioneer the punk rock sound, look and attitude of the mid to late 1970s.
He is not to be confused with Bryan Adams' 1983-84 tour keyboarder Johnny 'Blitz' Hannah.
Johnny Blitz met Cheetah Chrome though a classified ad, and together went on to play small gigs in short-lived bands. 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:
On April 19, 1978, During his time with the Dead Boys, Blitz and a group of friends were outside CBGB in Manhattan's East Village when they became involved in an altercation with a separate group. During the altercation, Blitz was stabbed 17 times. The injury caused him to be hospitalized for months.
After leaving the Dead Boys and New York City in 1980, Johny Blitz moved to Toronto with his wife "B Girl" Lucasta Ross. He joined up with singer/guitarist/songwriter Leo DeLyon (né Leonard Nieberg) and bassist Tommy "Gun" Keating from power punk trio The Blitz (unrelated to Johnny's stage name). Blitz and DeLyon later formed a band called Slaughterhouse with Mark Crosley on bass. The band played Toronto's top clubs and concert venues with a large fan following that guaranteed a packed audience at every gig. Slaughterhouse and Cheetah Chrome's band, Cheetah Chrome and Skells, headlined on Saturday, August 6, 1983 at New York City's CBGB. Dead Boys bassist Jeff Magnum came to the show to see his old bandmates. Later that night, Magnum joined Chrome and Blitz on-stage to play some Dead Boys songs for the show's encore.
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