Dead Boys co-founder and guitarist Cheetah Chrome dies at 71

Cheetah Chrome, the co-founding guitarist of the Dead Boys and an important figure in early American punk, died on September 13 at age 71. The Dead Boys announced his death the same day, remembering him as an original voice whose guitar work helped define the band's feral attack. No cause of death was announced.

Born Eugene Richard O'Connor, Chrome first played in Cleveland proto-punk group Rocket From the Tombs before forming the Dead Boys with Stiv Bators and Johnny Blitz. After moving to New York, the band became closely associated with CBGB and released Young, Loud and Snotty in 1977; Chrome co-wrote songs including the enduring punk standard Sonic Reducer.

His influence sits at the point where Cleveland proto-punk fed directly into the faster, harsher American punk sound that followed. Chrome later returned to Rocket From the Tombs, made solo music and documented his life in the memoir Cheetah Chrome: A Dead Boy's Tale from the Front Lines of Punk Rock.