Rock Legend Dead At 82

Music legend Larry Tamblyn, a founding member of the 1960s-era band The Standells, has passed away at 82, his family announced.

Tamblyn’s death was shared by his nephew Dennis Tamblyn on Facebook on Friday.

“My uncle Larry Tamblyn passed away today. I have very fond memories of him and his family over the years,” Dennis wrote.

“He lived an incredible life. He was in a band called The Standells, whose hit song ‘Dirty Water’ is still played to this day whenever the Red Sox or the Bruins win a home game. They also played on an episode of ‘The Munsters,’” the post continued.

Dennis went on, “A few years ago, The Standells played at Hotel Congress here in Tucson and Larry stayed with me. It was so great to hang out with him and catch up. He was still making music well into his later years.”

“You will be missed, Uncle Larry,” Dennis added.

No news about the cause of Tamblyn’s death has been released.

The Standells were a formative presence in the early punk rock scene. Their 1966 hit “Dirty Water” has become an unofficial anthem for Boston and is frequently played during long stretches of Red Sox games and in between periods of Bruins matches.

One of the musician’s neighbors shared on social media, “Sad news I’m afraid. My friend and neighbor, Larry Tamblyn, passed away this morning. He was the founding member of The Standells. It was totally surreal that a member of the 60s garage punk band my 80s garage band used to cover, moved just around the corner from me in rural GA,” the post read.

Born February 5th, 1943, Tamblyn was surrounded by entertainment talent in a family of stars. His older brother Russ Tamblyn, 90, was for decades a stage presence on Broadway and in Hollywood’s musical films. Tamblyn was also the uncle to actress Amber Tamblyn.

The Standells first came together in 1962 with Tamblyn as the group’s leader, backed by fellow members Tony Valentino, Jody Rich and Benny King. Though the quartet was only together for a few years, a rotating cast of new members, notably Dick Dodd, kept The Standells alive and performing for decades.

Off the strength of “Dirty Water” and hits that made their way into film scores and the Billboard Hot 100, The Standells continued to tour and, in 2009, re-formed with Tamblyn and former bassist John Fleck, along with guitarist Paul Downing and veteran drummer Greg Burnham, to play in Las Vegas and parts of Europe.

Their garage-band style of grizzled blues-rock is believed to have inspired some of the defining sounds of punk rock, including the Sex Pistols and Ramones.

In previous interviews, Tamblyn has said the group drew its timbre and aesthetics from the early Beatles mania.

“We were one of the first groups to have long hair in 1963. We had seen photos of The Beatles in London before they became big here and we grew our hair out,” he recalled, the NY Post reported. “When they started to break here, we had the long hair and we were doing the same schtick at this club called The Peppermint West. They had a big sign out in front saying Beatlemania. That was us.”

Describing how he came up with the band’s name, Tamblyn said, “Believe it or not, I got the name from when we first formed we were just a bunch of young guys and didn’t have any work lined up. We spent a lot of time standing around booking agents’ offices, trying to get work. You know, stand, standing, Standells. That’s how the name came about.”

He was inducted into the California Music Hall of Fame by his brother Russ in 2023.