Everything about New York Dolls totally explained
» For the self-titled debut album, see New York Dolls (album)
The
New York Dolls are an American
glam punk band formed in
New York City,
United States in 1971. In 2004 the band reformed with three of their original members, two of whom,
David Johansen and
Sylvain Sylvain, continue on today and released a new album in 2006. The original bassist, Arthur Kane died shortly after their first reunion concert.
The New York Dolls prefigured much of what was to come in the
punk rock era and even later; the Dolls' visual style influenced the look of many
new wave and
glam metal groups, and their playing style set the tone for many later
rock and roll bands.
History
Initially, the group was composed of singer
David Johansen, guitarists
Johnny Thunders and
Rick Rivets (who was replaced by
Sylvain Sylvain after a few months), bass guitarist
Arthur "Killer" Kane and drummer Billy Murcia. The original lineup's first performance was on
Christmas Eve 1971 at a homeless shelter, the infamous
Endicott Hotel.
The band was influenced by vintage
rhythm and blues, the early
Rolling Stones, classic American
girl group songs, and anarchic post-psychedelic bands such as the
MC5 and the
Stooges, as well as then-current
glam rockers such as
Marc Bolan. They did it their own way, creating something which critic
Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote "doesn't really sound like anything that came before it. It's
hard rock with a self-conscious wit, a celebration of
camp and
kitsch that retains a menacing, malevolent edge."
(External Link
).
As a frontman, Johansen's aggression, wit and energy made up for what was a slightly one-dimensional singing voice, while Thunders's slashing knife-fight lead playing became a near-instant band trademark, along with a rhythm section comprising Sylvain's massive
rhythm guitar, Kane's basslines and Murcia's drumming.
Musically, their repertoire - mostly written by Johansen (he used the name David Jo Hansen at the time) and Thunders, occasionally by Johansen and Sylvain - was a series of vignettes from the New York underground. Within weeks of beginning a series of shows at the Mercer Arts Center, the Dolls were becoming a large draw, attracting an audience which included the likes of
David Bowie.
After gaining management and attracting some music industry interest, the New York Dolls got a break when
Rod Stewart invited them to open for him at a London (then glam rock's capital city) concert. Shortly thereafter, Murcia died of accidental suffocation after he passed out from drugs and alcohol (groupies put him in a cold bath and forced coffee down his throat). He was 21 years old.
Once back in New York, the Dolls replaced Murcia on drums with
Jerry Nolan, a friend of the band's, though future
Richard Hell and
Ramones drummer Marc Bell (Marky Ramone) later claimed he auditioned to take Murcia's place: "Only two people showed up to audition, me and Jerry. They gave it to him because I was doing all the fancy fills."
US
Mercury Records' A&R man, Paul Nelson signed them up, and they began sessions for their debut album.
New York Dolls was produced by former Nazz guitarist
Todd Rundgren. In an interview in
Creem magazine, Rundgren says he barely touched the recording, everybody was screaming "turn me up", and when it came time for him to leave with the tape to bring it upstate to his studio in Bearsville, NY for mastering, Johnny Thunders stopped him and said "that tape stays with us, you fiddled around with the knobs enough".
The album received mixed (but mainly positive) reviews (though a
Stereo Review magazine reviewer in 1973 compared the Dolls' guitar playing to lawnmowers), still sales were sluggish, especially in the glam-resistant middle US.
The Dolls still polarised America's mass rock audience (a
Creem magazine poll landed them wins as the best
and the worst new group of 1973), but at the 'large capacity club' level, they toured the US to some satisfaction. The Dolls also toured Europe, and whilst appearing on UK TV, host
Bob Harris of the BBC's
Old Grey Whistle Test famously derided the group as "mock rock", comparing them unfavourably with the
Rolling Stones in the same way
The Monkees had been with the
Beatles, as their unoriginal, upstart clones. Though Harris and much of the 'old guard' of rock journalists and critics were unimpressed, young rock fans throughout the UK disagreed, and the New York Dolls' straightforward music and outrageous attitude were later cited as key influences on
punk rock.
For their next album the quintet opted for producer George (Shadow) Morton, whose productions for
the Shangri-Las and other girl groups in the mid-1960s had been among the band's favorites, for 1974's
Too Much Too Soon.
Mercury dropped the Dolls not long after the second album. In 1975, foundering in drug abuse and interpersonal spats as the opportunities dried up, the band briefly recruited
Malcolm McLaren as their new manager. The kind of provocative stunts McLaren later made work for the
Sex Pistols blew up in the Dolls' faces. Dressing the band in red leather for performances with a
Soviet flag backdrop was no substitute for the original sex-drugs outrage of glam rock.
Break-up
Thunders and Nolan left in 1975 while on tour in Florida. They formed
The Heartbreakers with bassist
Richard Hell who had left
Television the same week. After a few shows they added guitarist Walter Lure and few month later replaced Hell with Billy Rath. They participated in the “
Anarchy Tour” with the
Sex Pistols,
The Clash and
The Damned in Britain in 1976, while the other Dolls recruited replacements (including
Blackie Lawless a childhood friend of Kane's who replaced Thunders for the remainder of the Florida tour) and continued until 1977. The Heartbreakers recorded one British-only studio album and a few odds-and-ends live sets (including a memorable set from a
Max's Kansas City show) before splintering into an on-and-off concern.
Thunders continued to tour and record throughout the 1980s, releasing one solo album (
So Alone on which Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook played) and several sets of covers and a few originals. He died in New Orleans in 1991, of an alleged
heroin and
methadone overdose, although there are signs that he may have been murdered over a drug-related dispute, and that the police didn't properly investigate what appeared to just be the death of another junkie. It has also come to light that he suffered from leukemia.
Nolan died a few months later in 1992, following a
stroke, brought about by
bacterial meningitis.
Johansen went on to a successful solo career after the Dolls broke up. Syl Sylvain was a member of his band for much of this time. Several Johansen-Sylvain standards which are now thought of as Dolls classics actually never made it to vinyl until Johansen's solo albums: for example, "Funky But Chic", "Girls", and "Frenchette".
His fourth solo album, a concert set called
Live it Up, contained a medley of
The Animals' "
We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "
Don't Bring Me Down," and "
It's My Life." Johansen had his greatest commercial success portraying the fictional lounge lizard/singer
Buster Poindexter, who mixed comedy with a kitschy hybrid of soul and tropical pop. Under Buster Poindexter's name, Johansen finally made a chart-topping single: one of the 1980s' biggest dance hits, "Hot Hot Hot." He also hosted a variety show on
VH1 as Poindexter, then moved on to
folk and
blues with
David Johansen and the Harry Smiths through the '90s.
A posthumous New York Dolls album (made up of early demo tapes of the Murcia-Sylvain line-up) was released in a cassette-only edition on ROIR Records in 1981, and subsequently re-released on CD, and then on vinyl in early 2006.
Syl Sylvain formed his own band, the Criminals, then cut a solo album for
RCA, while also working with Johansen. He later became a cab driver in
New York, which he later described as the worst job on earth. In the early 1990s he moved to Los Angeles and recorded one album called "Sleep Baby Doll", on Fishhead Records. His bandmates on that record were: Brian Keats on Drums (Dave Vanian's Phantom Chords), Speediejohn Carlucci on Bass (X- Fuzztones), & Olivier Le Baron on lead guitar. Guest appearance by Frankie Infante of Blondie & Derwood Andrews of Generation X were also included on the record. It has been re-released as "New York's Au Go Go".
Before the Dolls
Sylvain and Murcia who went to junior high school and high school together started playing in a band called “the Pox” in 1968. After the front man quit Murcia and Sylvain started a clothing business across the street from a doll repair shop called the '
New York Doll Hospital’ which Sylvain claimed inspired them to come up with the name for their future band. In 1970 they decided to form a band again and they recruited Thunders to join on bass though Sylvain ended up teaching him to play guitar, they called themselves the ‘Dolls’. When Sylvain left the band to spend a few months in London, Thunders and Murcia went their separate ways. Thunders was eventually recruited by Kane and Rivets who had been playing together in
the Bronx. At Thunders' suggestion Murcia replaced the original drummer. Thunders played lead guitar and sang for the band known unofficially as Actress. Actress never played live but an October 1971 rehearsal tape recorded by Rivets was released as
Dawn of the Dolls. When Thunders decided he no longer wanted to be the front man, Johansen joined the band.
Influence
The band influenced a whole era of musicians and bands such as
Kiss,
Hanoi Rocks,
Blondie,
The Clash,
Ramones,
Dead Boys,
Mötley Crüe,
Guns N' Roses,
The Damned,
The Smiths, and
Japan. They were also a large influence on various members of the
Sex Pistols, especially guitarist
Steve Jones, who later said that on looking back at his movement on stage, felt embarrassed at how much he copied Johnny Thunders' style. The Pistols' manager,
Malcolm McLaren, briefly managed the Dolls towards the end of their career.
They were also a major influence on the rock music scene in New York City, having accumulated a devoted
cult following during their career. By the time the New York Dolls had disbanded,
Ira Robbins writes that they "singlehandedly began the local New York scene that later spawned the Ramones, Blondie,
Television,
Talking Heads and others. A classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, the Dolls were much more than just a band. Their devoted original audience became the
petri dish of a scene; they emulated their heroes and formed groups in their image."
Reunion
Morrissey organized a reunion of the three surviving band members (Johansen, Sylvain, and Kane) for the
Meltdown Festival in 2004. It produced a live LP and DVD on Morrissey's
Attack label, and a film,
New York Doll, showing Kane's point of view of the genesis of the reunion contrasted against the backdrop of his conversion to
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, future plans were affected when the news came of
Arthur Kane's unexpected death on
July 13,
2004 from
leukemia. During 2004 they played several festivals in the UK, and just like the old days, they were as notable for their extravagant behavior as their raucous performances.
In July 2005, it was announced the two surviving members would tour and produce a new album, titled
One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This. Released on
July 25,
2006 the album features guitarist
Steve Conte, bassist
Sami Yaffa (formerly of
Hanoi Rocks), drummer
Brian Delaney and keyboardist
Brian Koonin.
On
July 20 2006, the New York Dolls appeared on
Late Night with Conan O'Brien, followed by a live performance in Philadelphia at the
WXPN All About The Music Festival, and on
July 22 2006, a taped appearance on
The Henry Rollins Show. On
August 18 2006, the band performed in a free concert before some 9,000 fans at New York's Seaport Music], on a bill with the Brooklyn-based indie band Tralala.
In October 2006 the band embarked on a UK tour, with
Sylvain Sylvain taking time while in Glasgow to speak to John Kilbride of STV. The discussion covered the band's history and the current state of their live show and songwriting, with Sylvain commenting that "even if you come to our show thinking 'how can it be like it was before', we turn that around 'cos we've got such a great live, rock n'roll show".
In November 2006 the Dolls began headlining "
Little Steven's Underground Garage Presents the Rolling Rock and Roll Show", about 20 live gigs with numerous other bands. These shows have been very well-received and well-attended as well. The band plays a mix of their newest album as well as older favorites.
In April 2007, the band played in
Australia, appearing at the
V Festival with
Pixies,
Pet Shop Boys,
Gnarls Barkley,
Beck,
Jarvis Cocker and
Phoenix.
On
September 22,
2007, New York Dolls was removed from the current artists section of Roadrunner Records' website, apparently signifying the groups split with the label.
The New York Dolls are scheduled to play the
O2 Wireless Festival in
Hyde Park, London on July 4, 2008 with Morrissey and
Beck.
Discography
Albums
Singles
1973 - Bad Girl / Subway Train
1973 - Jet Boy / Babylon / Who Are the Mystery Girls
1973 - Personality Crisis / Looking for a Kiss
1973 - Trash / Personality Crisis
1974 - Stranded in the Jungle / Don't Start Me Talkin'
1974 - (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown / Puss 'n' Boots
Compilations
1977 - New Bum Dolls / Too Much Too Soon
1977 - Very Best of New York Dolls
1985 - Night of the Living Dolls
1985 - The Best of the New York Dolls
1987 - New York Dolls + Too Much Too Soon
1990 - Super Best Collection
1994 - Rock'n Roll
1998 - Hootchie Kootchie Dolls
1999 - The Glam Rock Hits
1999 - The Glamorous Life Live
2000 - Actress: Birth of The New York Dolls
2000 - Endless Party
2000 - New York Tapes 72/73
2002 - Great Big Kiss (reissue of Seven Day Weekend and Red Patent Leather)
2003 - Looking For A Kiss
2003 - 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of New York Dolls
2004 - The Return of the New York Dolls - live from Royal Festival Hall 2004
2007 - New York Dolls appear on PBS's television show "Soundstage"Further Information
Get more info on 'New York Dolls'.
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