New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes.[4] Although the band never achieved much commercial success and their original line-up fell apart quickly, the band's first two albums—New York Dolls (1973) and Too Much Too Soon (1974)—became among the most popular cult records in rock.[1] The line-up at this time consisted of vocalist David Johansen, guitarist Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane, guitarist and pianist Sylvain Sylvain, and drummer Jerry Nolan; the latter two had replaced Rick Rivets and Billy Murcia, respectively, in 1972.[5] On stage, they donned an androgynous wardrobe, wearing high heels, eccentric hats, satin,[6] makeup, spandex, and dresses.[7][8] Nolan described the group in 1974 as "the Dead End Kids of today".[6]
Sylvain Sylvain and Billy Murcia, who went to junior high school and high school together, started playing in a band called "the Pox" in 1967. After the frontman quit, Murcia and Sylvain started a clothing business called Truth and Soul and Sylvain took a job at A Different Drummer,[9] a men's boutique that was across the street from the New York Doll Hospital, a doll repair shop. Sylvain said that the shop inspired the name for their future band. In 1970 they formed a band again and recruited Johnny 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 Rick 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 Actress. An October 1971 rehearsal tape recorded by Rivets was released as Dawn of the Dolls. When Thunders decided that he no longer wanted to be the front man, David Johansen joined the band. 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 line-up's first performance was on Christmas Eve 1971 at a homeless shelter, the Endicott Hotel. After getting a manager 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 concert.
While on a brief tour of England in 1972, Murcia was invited to a party, where he passed out from an overdose. He was put in a bathtub and force-fed coffee in an attempt to revive him.[10] Instead, it resulted in asphyxiation. He was found dead on the morning of November 6, 1972, at the age of 21.[11]
Once back in New York, the Dolls auditioned drummers, including Marc Bell (who was to go on to play with Richard Hell, and with the Ramones under the stage name "Marky Ramone"), Peter Criscuola (better known as Peter Criss, the original and former drummer of Kiss), and Jerry Nolan, a friend of the band. They selected Nolan, and after US Mercury Records' A&R man Paul Nelson signed them, they began sessions for their debut album. In 1972, the band took on Marty Thau as manager.[12][13]
New York Dolls was produced by singer-songwriter, musician and solo artist Todd Rundgren. In an interview in Creem magazine, Rundgren says he barely touched the recording; everybody was debating how to do the mix. Sales were sluggish, especially in the middle US, and a Stereo Review magazine reviewer in 1973 compared the Dolls' guitar playing to the sound of lawnmowers. America's mass rock audience's reaction to the Dolls was mixed.[14] In a Creem magazine poll, they were elected both best and worst new group of 1973. The Dolls also toured Europe, and, while appearing on UK television, host Bob Harris of the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test derided the group as "mock rock", comparing them unfavorably to the Rolling Stones.[15]
By 1975, the Dolls were playing smaller venues than they had been previously. Drug and alcohol abuse by Thunders, Nolan, and Kane, as well as artistic differences added to the tensions among members. In late February or early March, Malcolm McLaren became their informal manager. He got the band red leather outfits to wear on stage and a communist flag as backdrop (communist chic). The Dolls did a five-concert tour of New York's five boroughs, supported by Television and Pure Hell. The Little Hippodrome (Manhattan) show was recorded and released by New Rose Records subsidiary Fan Club in 1984 as Red Patent Leather, which was previously a bootleg album later remixed by Sylvain for official release, with former manager Marty Thau credited as executive producer. Due to Kane being unable to play that night, roadie Peter Jordan played bass, though he was credited as having played "second bass". Jordan filled in for Kane when he was unable to play numerous times, such as following a thumb injury sustained prior to the band's 1973 West Coast dates.
In March and April, McLaren took the band on a tour of South Carolina and Florida. Jordan replaced Kane for most of those shows. Thunders and Nolan left after an argument, forming The Heartbreakers with Richard Hell on April 11. Subsequently, Blackie Lawless, then known by his birth name of Steven Duren, who later founded W.A.S.P., replaced Thunders for the remainder of the tour after which the band broke up.[16][17][18] Following the tour's conclusion and announcement of the band's breakup on April 25, Duren and Kane moved to Los Angeles to form the short-lived band Killer Kane.[16]
The band reformed in July for an August tour in Japan with Jeff Beck and Felix Pappalardi. Johansen, Sylvain and Jordan were joined by former Elephant's Memory keyboardist Chris Robison and drummer Tony Machine. One of the shows was documented on the album Tokyo Dolls Live (Fan Club/New Rose). The material is similar to that on Red Patent Leather, but notable for a radically re-arranged "Frankenstein" and a cover of Big Joe Turner's "Flip Flop Fly". The album is undated and has no production credit, but was issued circa 1986.
After their return to New York, the Dolls resumed playing shows in the US and Canada. Mercury dropped the Dolls on 7 October 1975, their contract with Mercury having expired on 8 August 1975[19] - five months after Thunders' and Nolan's departures from the band. Their show at the Beacon Theatre, on New Year's Eve, 1975 met with great critical acclaim. After a drunken argument with Sylvain, Robison was fired and replaced by pianist/keyboardist Bobbie Blaine formerly a member of Street Punk.[20][16][21] The group toured throughout 1976, performing a set including some songs with lyrics by David Johansen that would later appear on David Johansen's solo albums including "Funky But Chic", "Frenchette" and "Wreckless Crazy". The group played its last show December 30, 1976 at Max's Kansas City; on the same bill as Blondie.[16]
Individual endeavors: 1975–2004
Shortly after returning from Florida, Thunders and Nolan formed The Heartbreakers with bassist Richard Hell, who had left Television the same week that they quit the Dolls. Thunders later pursued a solo career. He died in New Orleans on 23 April 1991, allegedly of an overdose of both heroin and methadone.[22] It also came to light that he suffered from t-cell leukemia. Nolan died on 14 January 1992 following a stroke, brought about by bacterial meningitis. In 1976, Kane and Blackie Lawless formed the Killer Kane Band in Los Angeles. Immediately after the New York Dolls' second breakup, Johansen began a solo career. By the late 1980s, he achieved moderate success under the pseudonym, Buster Poindexter. Sylvain formed The Criminals, a popular band at CBGB.
A posthumous New York Dolls album, Lipstick Killers, made up of early demo tapes of the original Dolls (with Billy Murcia on drums), 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. All the tracks from this title – sometimes referred to as The Mercer Street Sessions (though actually recorded at Blue Rock Studio, New York) – are included on the CD Private World, along with other tracks recorded elsewhere, including a previously unreleased Dolls original, "Endless Party". Three more unreleased studio tracks, including another previously unreleased Dolls original, "Lone Star Queen", are included on the Rock 'n' Roll album. The other two are covers: the "Courageous Cat" theme, from the original Courageous Cat cartoon series; and a second attempt at "Don't Mess With Cupid", a song written by Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd for Otis Redding, and first recorded independently for what was later to become the Mercer Street/Blue Rock Sessions.
Johansen formed the David Johansen Group, and released a self-titled LP in 1978, recorded at the Bottom Line in NYC's Greenwich Village,featuring Sylvain Mizrahi and Johnny Thunders as guest musicians. In May, 1978, he also released "David Johansen", on Blue Sky Records, a label created by Steve Paul, formerly of The Scene. Johansen continued to tour with his solo project and released four more albums, In Style, 1979; Here Comes the Night, 1981; Live itUp, 1982; and Sweet Revenge, 1984. During the later 1980s, Johansen, ever-evolving, decided to try to liberate himself from the expectations of his New York Dolls perceived persona, and, on a whim, created the persona Buster Poindexter. The success of this act led him to be invited to appear in multiple films: Scrooged,[23]Freejack, and Let it Ride, among others. He also formed a band called David Johansen and the Harry Smiths, named after the eccentric ethnomusicologist, performing jump blues, Delta blues, and some original songs.
Sylvain formed his own band, the Criminals, then cut a solo album for RCA, while also working with Johansen. He later became a taxicab driver in New York. During this period, in the early 1990s, Sylvain moved to Los Angeles and recorded one album Sleep Baby Doll, on Fishhead Records. His band, for that record, consisted of Brian Keats on drums, Dave Vanian's Phantom Chords, Speediejohn Carlucci (who had played with the Fuzztones), and Olivier Le Baron on lead guitar. Guest appearances by Frank Infante of Blondie and Derwood Andrews of Generation X were also included on the record. It has been re-released as New York A Go Go,.
Reunion, return to recording, second dissolution: 2004–2011
The New York Dolls in 2006
Morrissey, having been a longtime fan of the band and head of their 1970s UK fan club, organized a reunion of the three surviving members of the band's classic line-up (Johansen, Sylvain and Kane) for the Meltdown Festival in London on June 16, 2004. The reunion led to a live LP and DVD on Morrissey's Attack label, as well as a documentary film, New York Doll, on the life of Arthur Kane. However, future plans for the Dolls were affected by Kane's sudden death from leukemia just weeks later on July 13, 2004. Yet the following month the band appeared at Little Steven's Underground Garage Festival on August 14 in New York City before returning to the UK to play several more festivals through the remainder of 2004.[1]
In July 2005, the two surviving members announced a tour and a new album entitled One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This. Released on July 25, 2006, the album featured guitarist Steve Conte, bassist Sami Yaffa (ex-Hanoi Rocks), drummer Brian Delaney and keyboardist Brian Koonin, formerly a member of David Johansen and the Harry Smiths. 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 at New York's Seaport Music.
In October 2006, the band embarked on a UK tour, with 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".[24] 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. In April 2007, the band played in Australia and New Zealand, appearing at the V Festival with Pixies, Pet Shop Boys, Gnarls Barkley, Beck, Jarvis Cocker and Phoenix.
On September 22, 2007, the New York Dolls were removed from the current artists section of Roadrunner Records' website, signifying the group's split with the label. The band played the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, London on July 4, 2008, with Morrissey and Beck and the Lounge On The Farm Festival on July 12, 2008. On November 14, 2008, it was announced that the producer of their first album, Todd Rundgren, would be producing a new album, which would be followed by a world tour. The finishing touches on the album were made in Rundgren's studio on the island of Kauai.[25] The album, Cause I Sez So, was released on May 5, 2009 on Atco Records.[26]
The band played at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas on March 21, 2009, and a show at London's 100 Club on May 14, 2009 supported by Spizzenergi. On March 18, 2010, the band announced another two concert dates at KOKO in Camden, London and the Academy in Dublin on April 20. In December 2010, it was announced the band would release their fifth album which had been recorded in Newcastle upon Tyne.[27] The album, Dancing Backward in High Heels, featuring new guitarist Frank Infante (formerly of Blondie) was released on March 15, 2011.[28]
Between late March and October 2011, the band undertook the "Dancing Backward in High Heels World Tour". This included dates in England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain and Australia. In the last week of October four additional gigs – billed as "Halloween Night Of Fear – were played in the UK, concluding at the Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow on October 31.
In a 2016 interview, Earl Slick confirmed that the New York Dolls had again split. "Oh, yeah, it's long gone. There was no point in doing it anymore and it was kinda spent. You know, David really does enjoy the Buster thing. He's so good at it. I've seen him do it a couple of times this last year, and man! He's got it down, you know."[2]
Sylvain Sylvain died on January 13, 2021, at age 69, leaving David Johansen as the last surviving original member of the band.
Musical style
Certainly neither great nor punk in any of its variations were words applied to the Dolls when they began performing late in 1971–awful and ugly were more like it. Moreover, at the time, the Dolls were associated with glam-rock and David Bowie in his most flamboyantly gay period, an understandable mistake.
When they began performing, four of the band's five members wore Spandex and platform boots,[7] while Johansen—the band's lyricist and "conceptmaster"—[29] often preferred high heels and a dress occasionally.[8] Fashion historian Valerie Steele said that, while the majority of the punk scene pursued an understated "street look", the New York Dolls followed an English glam rock "look of androgyny—leather and knee-length boots, chest hair, and bleach".[30] According to James McNair of The Independent, "when they began pedalling [sic] their trashy glam-punk around lower Manhattan in 1971, they were more burlesque act than band; a bunch of lipsticked, gutter chic-endorsing cross-dressers".[31] Music journalist Nick Kent argued that the New York Dolls were "quintessential glam rockers" because of their flamboyant fashion, while their technical shortcomings as musicians and Johnny Thunders' "trouble-prone presence" gave them a punk-rock reputation.[32]
By contrast, Robert Christgau preferred for them to not be categorized as a glam rock band, but instead as "the best hard-rock band since the Rolling Stones".[33]Robert Hilburn, writing for the Los Angeles Times, said that the band exhibited a strong influence from the Rolling Stones, but had distinguished themselves by Too Much Too Soon (1974) as "a much more independent, original force" because of their "definite touch of the humor and carefreeness of early (ie. mid-1950s) rock".[34]Simon Reynolds felt that, by their 2009 album Cause I Sez So, the band exhibited the sound "not of the sloppy, rambunctious Dolls of punk mythology but of a tight, lean hard-rock band."[35]
According to the Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1995), the New York Dolls were "one of the most influential rock bands of the last 20 years".[5] Writer Sean Sennett credited the band as a part of a legacy of raunchy, influential rock bands predated by the Rolling Stones, and succeeded by Aerosmith and Hanoi Rocks and eventually Guns N' Roses.[36] By the time the band's debut album was released, they had already spawned a number of derivative bands in New York including the Stilettos, the Brats, Teenage Lust and the Harlots. Two of the earliest groups that they inspired were Kiss and Aerosmith,[37] which would in turn become two of the most influential bands in rock music, especially hard rock and heavy metal.[38]Hanoi Rocks' music and aesthetic too were heavily inspired by the New York Dolls and would go on to have a significant influence themselves.[39]
The New York Dolls were the catalyst for New York's early punk rock scene, which included Television, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, the Ramones, Blondie and Richard Hell and the Voidoids,[40] in addition to being one of the most influential bands to the development of British punk rock, particularly the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Damned.[41][42] In Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, guitarist Steve Jones cited the New York Dolls as one of the most influential bands on the Sex Pistols style,[43] and in a 2023 interview with Spin, Dave Vanian of the Damned listed the New York Dolls' self-titled album as one of his five albums "I Can't Live Without".[44]The Guardian writer Ian Gittins called the album "the Year Zero of punk rock".[45] The band continued to inspire punk bands as the genre progressed, with the Misfits, Social Distortion and Green Day all recalling their influence.[46]
In the 1980s, the influence of the New York Dolls helped to form the glam metal genre.[47][48] In particular, the band's androgynous aesthetic and wearing of spandex, dresses, high heels and teased hair were widely imitated amongst bands in the genre.[49]Alternative Press writer Tim Stegall even credited the band as having invented the look of glam metal,[46] and in Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Hank Bordowitz called the band the progenitors of hair metal and "the most important band that most people never heard".[50] Prominent glam metal bands to take influence from the New York Dolls included Mötley Crüe, Poison,[48]Ratt,[51]Skid Row[52] and Twisted Sister.[53] With the increasing commercialisation of glam metal as the 1980s progressed, a number of bands from within its scene formed a new sound with a greater emphasis on the influence of the New York Dolls, namely Guns N' Roses,[54]L.A. Guns[55] and Faster Pussycat.[56]
"(There's Gonna Be A) Showdown" / "Puss 'n' Boots" (1974)
"Jet Boy" // "Babylon" / "Who Are the Mystery Girls" (1977, UK)
"Bad Girl" / "Subway Train" (1978, Germany)
"Gimme Luv and Turn On the Light" (2006)
"Fool for You Baby" (2011)
"Dolled UP" (2014)
Related Research Articles
Glam metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam rock.
New York Dolls is the debut studio album by the American rock band New York Dolls, released on July 27, 1973, by Mercury Records. An influential precursor to the 1970s punk rock movement, the eponymous album has been acclaimed as one of the best debut records in rock music and one of the greatest rock albums ever.
John Anthony Genzale, known professionally as Johnny Thunders, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of New York Dolls. He later played with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist.
Steven Edward Duren, better known by his stage name Blackie Lawless, is an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for heavy metal band W.A.S.P.
The Heartbreakers, sometimes referred to as Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, were an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1975. The band spearheaded the first wave of punk rock.
Sylvain Mizrahi, known professionally as Sylvain Sylvain, was an American rock guitarist, most notable for being a member of the New York Dolls.
David Roger Johansen is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal proto-punk band the New York Dolls. He is also known for his work under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter, and for playing the Ghost of Christmas Past in Scrooged.
Arthur Harold Kane Jr. was an American musician best known as the bass guitarist for the pioneering glam rock band the New York Dolls. Kane was a founding member of the Dolls in 1971 and remained an integral part of the band until he was forced out in 1975, shortly after the departure of Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan. In 2004, after decades of estrangement from Dolls singer David Johansen, Kane rejoined the surviving Dolls to rehearse and play a reunion concert in London, which was the subject of the 2005 documentary New York Doll. In addition to his bass playing, Kane was known for his subculture fashion sense and for uttering original aphorisms in his uniquely toned voice.
Gerard Nolan was an American rock drummer, best known for his work with the New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers.
Glam punk is a music genre that began in the early to mid-1970s and incorporates elements of proto-punk and glam rock. The genre was pioneered by the New York Dolls, who influenced the formation of other New York City groups the Stilettos, the Brats and Ruby and the Rednecks and bands in the United Kingdom including Hollywood Brats and Jet. These bands largely began the early punk rock scene. The impact of Hanoi Rocks brought about a revived interest in the sound during the 1980s, seeing a revival with groups including the Dogs D'Amour and Soho Roses, and the pioneering of glam metal. Through the 1990s, some groups gained significant commercial success reviving the sound of glam punk, notably the Manic Street Preachers, Backyard Babies and Turbonegro.
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In the Flesh is a posthumous live CD by punk rock guitarist/singer/songwriter Johnny Thunders. It consists of the full live set featuring a reunion of Thunders with fellow ex-New York Dolls and Heartbreakers drummer Jerry Nolan, ex-Dolls bassist Arthur "Killer" Kane, and ex-Idols & London Cowboys guitarist Barry Jones, recorded at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, California on January 4, 1987. Given Thunders' notoriety for performing in a smacked-out or alcoholic haze, this more sober and professional Thunders performance led one reviewer to declare the CD to contain "an ample track selection, generally superb performances, and surprisingly good fidelity all in one package -- a Triple Crown rarely achieved in the world of J.T. live recordings."
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Red Patent Leather is a live album by the American rock and roll group New York Dolls, released in 1984. It was recorded in New York a decade earlier, in March 1975, just a month before the group broke up while on tour in Florida.
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↑ Sennett, Sean (2010). Off the Record: 25 Years of Music Street Press. University of Queensland Press. p.158. It's pretty much an accepted fact that Guns N' Roses are the next step in a lineage that began with the Stones and moved on to Aerosmith, the New York Dolls and Hanoi Rocks. You know, the almost graceful look of human demolition with a raunch and roll' factor on tilt.
↑ Antonia, Nina (2003). The New York Dolls Too Much Too Soon. Omnibus Press. p.70. ISBN0711996032. The rise of The New York Dolls spawned dozens of local bands. Elda Gentile got The Stilettos together with former Max's waitress, Debbie Harry, and Rick Rivets started gigging with The Brats, while a rash of Dolls copyists like Teenage Lust and The Harlots of 42nd Street threw themselves on the bandwagon and fell belly-up. Aside from Aerosmith, the most significant group of that time to be influenced by The New York Dolls was Kiss. Sure, Kiss wore make-up but by painting their faces like comic book characters or goofy animals, they defused any sexual threat.
↑ Jones, Steve (November 17, 2016). Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol. Heinemann. They'd [the New York Dolls] end up as one of my four biggest influences alongside Bowie, Roxy Music and that night's headliners [the Faces]. If you'd told me that in a couple of years' time I'd be playing Sylvain Sylvain's guitar in a band managed by the Dolls' ex-manager, that would've gone beyond even the most unrealistic fantasies.
↑ Houghton, Mick (July 2, 2019). Fried & Justified Hits, Myths, Break-Ups and Breakdowns in the Record Business 1978-98. Faber & Faber. The only blip was that their second single, 'Get Over You', flopped. It was one of their best, a New York Dolls-influenced song that I much preferred to the irritating 'Jimmy Jimmy', which saw them break through into the Top 20 in April. The following month The Undertones reached no. 13.
↑ Antonia, Nina (2003). The New York Dolls Too Much Too Soon. Omnibus Press. p.181. ISBN0711996032. A legion of bands and artists have been influenced by the Dolls in terms of style, attitude and in their approach to music. They include Aerosmith, Kiss, David Bowie, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Japan, The Cramps, Hanoi Rocks, Guns N' Roses, The Smiths and D-Generation.
↑ Weidman, Rich (2023). Punk The Definitive Guide to the Blank Generation and Beyond. Backbeat. p.25. The New York Dolls influenced a host of rock bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, the Damned, KISS, Hanoi Rocks, the Replacements, the Smiths, and Guns N' Roses, among others. In Satisfaction: 10 Albums That Changed My Life, Soul Asylum singer- songwriter Dave Pirner called the Dolls "fearless, full of energy and rock 'n' roll madness in all the right ways. Set aside the lipstick, eye shadow and platform boots, and they just rocked out without a bunch of bullshit."
↑ Prato, Greg (2010). Grunge Is Dead The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music. ECW Press. That whole thing was starting then - people wanted to have bands that were the New York Dolls meets Pere Ubu meets Def Leppard [laughs]. Stone was listening to Pyromania, KISS, and the New York Dolls. They started to put it all together, and it didn't work very well [laughs]. Green River is an example of that - "Hey, let's mash all this stuff together and see if it works!" People figured out how to make it work [later]. Alice in Chains and Soundgarden figured out how to make it be something that was new that sounded good.
↑ The Next Thing. Kangaroo Press. 1984. p.138. It's really funny, because the Scientists, all those guys, who were now also the Hoodoo Gurus, they were all part of this heavy New York Dolls-influenced thing.
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