The original line-up formed at the 1997 Cramps/Guitar Wolf show by Stollsteimer and Marcie Bolen. They went through a variety of member changes and band names, including The Baby Killers, before settling on 'The Von Bondies' in 2000. Don Blum joined the band around 1999 after attending numerous Baby Killers shows, while Leann Banks was picked via an audition. The Von Bondies got their break by playing a New Year's Eve show in Detroit, MI in 2000. In attendance at the show was Long Gone John, owner of the Sympathy for the Record Industry label. This led to Sympathy releasing the band's debut album Lack of Communication in 2001.

In 2003, the band released the live Raw and Rare through Dim Mak Records, which was followed by their 2004 breakthrough release, Pawn Shoppe Heart, on Sire Records. Met with glowing reviews, Pawn Shoppe was produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads and co-produced by singer Jason Stollsteimer.

The album reached a peak of #36 in the UK and #8 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart and stayed in the chart for eight weeks. The big single from this release was "C'mon C'mon," which reached #25 on the Billboard Singles chart and garnered national radio play for the band.

A shortened version of "C'mon C'mon" is the theme song to the TV series Rescue Me and is performed live by the band in Michael Winterbottom's film 9 Songs. MLB Network also uses a brief clip of the song as the opening of their new show 30 Clubs in 30 Days.

In 2008, the band signed with indie label Majordomo Records, joining label mates The Airborne Toxic Event and Earlimart. Their label debut, Love, Hate and Then There's You, was released in February 2009 featuring the single "Pale Bride."

Known as a touring act, The Von Bondies have headlined tours of the United Kingdom/Europe, Australia, and the United States, taking along supporting bands like The Kills, Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand, Modey Lemon, SSM, The Subways, The Stills, Hot Panda and The Donnas. They have also appeared on Late Show with David Letterman, Last Call with Carson Daly and CD:UK.

The Von Bondies song "C'mon C'mon" was announced to appear as a downloadable track for the music video game series Rock Band on March 31, 2009.

In 2000 Jason Stollsteimer attended a concert by Japanese garage punk band Guitar Wolf with Marcie Bolen. At the time, Stollsteimer was working a job as a bowling alley bartender and Marcie as a hair dresser. The performance spurred him to create his own band, The Baby Killers, which toured with fellow Detroit bands The Detroit Cobras, The Go and The White Stripes. After recruiting Lauren Wilcox on bass and Don Blum on drums the band changed their name to the Von Bondies.

While playing a handful of shows in the Detroit area, the quartet recorded singles "It Came From Japan," an ode to Guitar Wolf, and "Nite Train." Jim Diamond produced the Von Bondies' debut album, Lack of Communication, in late 2001. It was recorded in only three days.

Lack of Communication is the band's first album, released in 2001 by Sympathy for the Record Industry, and released in the UK by Sweet Nothing Records. Much darker than subsequent directions undertaken by the band, the album was said at the time to have been produced by Jack White of The White Stripes. However, since a highly-publicized altercation between Stollsteimer and White, the band now says that Jim Diamond was the album's producer. In addition to Detroit garage rock, the album also displayed other influences, such as the jazzy showtune-esque song "No Sugar Mama." The tracks "Shallow Grave" and "Nite Train" both display surf rock passages, amidst their heavy pummeling and lyrical morbidity. "Cass and Henry" is a sparse, almost spoken word narrative of a nocturnal encounter with a tall stranger. "In the Act" and "Sound of Terror" contain droning slide guitar and considerably slow tempos. On the last track, after a silence following the song Rock 'n' Roll Nurse, there's a hidden bonus track: a cover of Sam Cooke's Bring It On Home to Me, with Marcie Bolen on lead vocals. The band said this is the least expensive album they made.