Cheetah Chrome, the Dead Boys, and the Word Joey Ramone Put In at CBGB in 1976

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:31:05 +0000

Cheetah Chrome died on September 13 at 71. The obituary is short. The better story is a basement room on the Bowery, and the favor from a friend that got a band from Cleveland onto its stage fifty years ago this fall.

What the band said, and what they did not

The news came from the Dead Boys’ own Instagram account on Sunday, September 13. Cheetah Chrome, born Eugene Richard O’Connor, guitarist and co-founder of the band, was dead at 71. No cause was given, and I am not going to guess at one. The statement called him “a true original, an architect of the punk rock movement,” as Consequence reported.

Cheetah Chrome on Real Rock Lab

Cheetah Chrome, the Dead Boys, and the Word Joey Ramone Put In at CBGB in 1976

What the band said, and what they did not