Cheetah Chrome, guitarist for the Dead Boys, has died at 71. His band announced the news in a statement, describing him as “a one-man hurricane tearing up the musical landscape with his feral guitar riffs and manic energy.”
Chrome was central to the Dead Boys’ sound, a direct and aggressive presence that connected Cleveland’s mid-1970s underground to the wider punk movement. His playing gave the band its edge, pairing speed with a harsh, physical attack that never collapsed into empty noise.
The Dead Boys were never built for longevity. They moved through a brief, chaotic run and left behind a reputation that outlasted many of their contemporaries. Much of that weight rested on Chrome’s guitar work: unpolished, confrontational, and immediate.
No cause of death was given. The band’s statement was short, but the description carried the essential point: the force was real, and it is gone.
