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The New York Dolls
 The
New York Dolls formed in (wait for it!) New York in December
1971.
After a promising start supporting The
Faces on a British tour, the band suffered their first
casualty when drummer Billy Murcia died on 6 November 1972 after
suffocating on black coffee poured down his throat by a girlfriend
attempting to keep him awake after a drink and drugs binge (and
not, as widely believed, from a drug overdose).
With Jerry Nolan as a replacement they signed to Mercury in
March 1973 and promptly began work on their debut album with Todd
Rundgren producing.
Released in the summer of 73, The New York Dolls was a
proto-punk revelation, a way cool schlock of visceral rock &
roll which combined the more essential moments of The
MC5, The Pretty Things and The
Shangri-Las. The Rolling Stones
were another obvious reference point, with Johansen a dead-ringer
for Mick Jagger both in vocal style and mascara'd looks -
Inevitably, Johnny Thunders was the glam-punk Keith Richards. The
Dolls trashy transvestite attire also borrowed heavily from The
Stones circa 1966, although being American they had taken it
to almost cartoon-ish proportions.
The likes of Personality Crisis, Trash and Jet
Boy were seminal squalls of guitar abuse, making up in
attitude what they lacked in musical ability. Although the record
had critics salivating, commercial success was not forthcoming
and, unhappy with the record's production, the band opted for Shangri-Las
producer George Morton to work on Too Much Too Soon (1974).
Though the album had it's moments, again the band had been paired
with the wrong producer and the music press were emphatically
unimpressed. The lukewarm reviews heightened band tension and the
Dolls demise was swift and inevitable.
Early the following year, British entrepreneur Malcolm
McLaren made a last-ditch attempt to save the band, revamping
their image to no avail. Thunders was the first to leave,
departing in 1975 to form The
Heartbreakers, while Johansen and Sylvain subsequently sacked
Kane before finally calling it a day the following Christmas.
While Thunders went on to most acclaim with The
Heartbreakers (eventually dying from an overdose on 23 April
1991), Johansen recorded a number of solo albums, David
Johansen (1978), In Style (1979) and Here Comes The
Night (1981), as well as releasing a 1988 set under the
pseudonym of Buster Poindexter.
Johansen also pursued a film career of sorts, appearing in Married
To The Mob, Scrooged and The Fisher King. Jerry
Nolan also met an untimely death almost a year on from Thunders,
suffering a fatal stroke while undergoing treatment for meningitis
and pneumonia on 14 January 1992.
A pivotal reference point not only for Punk,
but also for the US glam metal movement of the mid 80s, The New
York Dolls' influence remains hugely disproportionate to their
relatively slim legacy.
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David Johansen
Vocals
Johnny Thunders
Guitar
Rick Rivets
Guitar
Arthur Kane
Bass
Billy Murcia
Drums
Sylvain Sylvain
Guitar
Jerry Nolan
Drums
Chris Robinson
Guitar
Bobby Blain
Keyboards
Tommy Machine
Drums
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