Stiv Bators was an unlikely rock star. Starting out in local bands around his native Youngstown, Ohio, he later achieved his first brush with fame with the Dead Boys, a band once described in Creem magazine as “lovable little scumbags”. Relocating to New York, out of all the CBGB based bands they embraced the punk style of the Sex Pistols by pushing everything past the limits and outrage was their calling card. After they broke up Stiv started a pop band and moved to Los Angeles where he signed to Bomp! Records and put out some singles. He toured as Stiv Bators’ Dead Boys mixing the punk songs with the new pop tunes and when this ran its course he moved to England where he would achieve real fame with Lords Of The New Church. He wasn’t the handsomest guy and didn’t have the greatest voice but through pure drive he managed to reach his goals.
This documentary has satisfied many but left some cold. While there is some fantastic footage of Stiv’s early bands including the pre-Dead Boys band Frankenstein, the filmmaker left some key people and events out of the story he tells. Jimmy Zero of the Dead Boys gets a lot of screen time but Cheetah Chrome is nowhere to be found as a talking head. One of Stiv’s major coups was hooking up with Playboy playmate and singer Bebe Buell. She had an impressive list of rock star boyfriends and was with Stiv for a good amount of time but she is not in the film. Stiv also enjoyed film fame in the John Waters’ film Polyester but nothing is mentioned about his film appearances.
That being said this is a really fun documentary and look at the life of an odd guy. Let’s face it, all three of Stiv’s musical phases; Punk, Pop and Goth/New Wave would make interesting featuring films. His life was epic considering that he died at the young age of 41. The film makes it clear he put himself through a lot of pain in his performances and Zero claims that Stiv was broken and thinking of retiring from music towards the time of his death. It is also made clear that Stiv thought if he died young it would preserve his legacy and make him a legend. It appears he achieved this goal also. Stiv’s fans will want to see this regardless of what was left out and it is an enjoyable film. Maybe he led a life that was too much to contain in one documentary.
