Cheetah Chrome, the guitarist known for his work with pioneering punk bands, has died at 71.

Chrome is most closely identified with the Dead Boys, the band he performed with in 1978 — a period captured in a photograph of him on stage that circulated with the announcement of his death. His playing with the group placed him among the guitarists who defined the American punk sound at its rawest and most aggressive.

The news confirms the death of a musician whose career traced the first wave of punk. Chrome belonged to a generation of guitarists who built the genre's vocabulary: fast tempos, distorted chords, and a refusal of polish. As a member of bands described in the announcement as pioneering, he occupied a position at the music's foundations rather than at its commercial margins.

For listeners, the 1978 image of Chrome performing with the Dead Boys now carries a documentary weight. It fixes a moment when the band was active and touring, and it stands as a visual record of a player whose influence outlasted the era's brief commercial visibility.

Chrome's death at 71 removes one of the remaining links to punk's founding years. His recorded work with the Dead Boys remains the primary testament to his musicianship, available to new audiences discovering the genre's origins.

How the surviving members of his bands, and the wider punk community, mark his passing will determine the shape of his formal tributes in the weeks ahead.