I felt just overwhelmed by input: the Vietnam war and the collapse of the '60s and the proliferation of media' it just felt like everything was too much to handle and you just tuned out.

They also built the club's first stage. [citation needed] Hell's best known songs with the Voidoids were "Blank Generation" "Love Comes in Spurts" "The Kid With the Replaceable Head" and "Time". After one show Walter Lure joined The Heartbreakers as a second guitarist.

Since the late 1980s Hell has devoted himself primarily to writing publishing two novels and several other books. Malcolm McLaren manager of the Sex Pistols has credited Hell as a source of inspiration for the Sex Pistols' look and attitude as well as the safety-pin and graphics accessorized clothing that McLaren sold in his London shop Sex. Hell was in several important early punk bands including Neon Boys Television and The Heartbreakers after which he formed Richard Hell & The Voidoids.