rtbuck
Senior Member
New York Dolls
New York Dolls Official Website
Studio Albums
New York Dolls (1973)
Too Much Too Soon (1974)
One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This (2006)
Cause I Sez So (2009)
Dancing Backward in High Heels (2011)
The impact that the NY Dolls had on music is unbelievable. Whether it’s punk, new wave, hard rock, or 80’s glam-metal there is a stamp of the sleaze of the NY Dolls on it. The Dolls 2nd official album title “Too Much Too Soon” sums up the short lived career of the original band. Gene Simmons of Kiss even said on many occasions that they took advantage of the mistakes that the Dolls made to put their own music career on the right path. Aerosmith was another band who took from the NY Dolls & when the Dolls career began to fall apart mostly due to substance abuse & egos it was their management Leber & Krebs who took on Aerosmith. I knew someone who was backstage at a show consisting of Mott the Hoople, NY Dolls, & (opening the show) Aerosmith at Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo, NY 1974 & he told me Aerosmith was nothing more than NY Doll Wannabes. Backstage, Tyler was running around trying to be noticed by Dolls singer David Johansen & Mott the Hoople’s Ian Hunter but the 2 singers just kept ignoring his presence. Sweet Revenge though as Aerosmith has had a huge career & Steven Tyler married Johansen’s ex which at the time he loved bragging about. One wild incident happened at that show in Buffalo which is mentioned in the Nina Antonia book “Too Much Too Soon”. The internal egos & substance abuse was at its height back then & guitarist Johnny Thunders was mostly playing with his back to the audience facing the drum kit. It was around Halloween & there were jack o lanterns setting on the riser. Thunders was pretty out of it & he grabbed the pumpkin & started spinning around while holding it. He let go & SPLAT! Right on Johansen’s head knocking him out for a few seconds.
Anyway, the Dolls began in 1971 with Arthur Kane, Johnny Thunders, Billy Murcia, David Johansen, & Rick Rivets who was soon replaced by Sylvain Sylvain. The NY Dolls played their brand of revved up high energy rock & roll in the same vein as the MC5 & the Stones while dressing a bit risqué & feminine (despite their heterosexuality) to the delight of many on the NY Underground scene. The Dolls were becoming more & more popular on the NY Scene with their wild shows. To be somebody in Rock & Roll in NYC you had to be part of the NY Dolls entourage. The band was being sought out by many record companies in 1972 but things were already starting to spin out of control. The Dolls had a huge gig opening for the Faces (w/Rod Stewart & Ron wood) at Wembley Stadium which led to several English contract offers but shortly after the gig drummer Billy Murcia was drunk(or other reports say od’d on tunials) when two British groupies took him to their apartment. They put him in a bath of cold water & poured hot coffee down his throat, resulting in suffocation and drowning. He died before the New York Dolls were offered a record deal. The Dolls were devastated & the band nearly split up but they stuck it together & hired Jerry Nolan (who was actually great friends with Peter Criss & even was the Best Man at his wedding).
In early ’73 they were signed to Mercury Records & their first album titled ‘New York Dolls’ was produced by Todd Rundgren & released in August of that year. The album sported a controversial cover of the band dressed in total drag which I personally feel may have hurt the band due to the times. The album is a great piece of Rock & Roll from the beginning riff (which Poison borrowed for “Talk Dirty to Me”) & scream on “Personality Crisis” all the way through to the ending rocker “Jet Boy”. The band did a rocking cover of Bo Diddley’s “Pills” which has a bit of a humorous story. The band had been playing the song from early on in their career & one night they went to see Bo Diddley at a club. The band kept yelling for him to play “Pills” & after his set he went up to the boys. He thought they were offering/selling pills & had totally forgotten about the song he wrote until they reminded him. Also in 1973 the popular music magazine “Creem” had its annual polls in which the Dolls won the Best New Band of the year…as well as the Worst New Band.
1974 brought us the NY Dolls “Too Much Too Soon” which was produced by George “Shadow” Morton” who produced 60’s girl groups such as the Shangri-Las. This time the album had a kick ass cover of a live shot of the band performing. I feel the production is a lot better on this album & the album s loaded with great tracks including some cool covers that show their influences. They cover The Cadets novelty hit “Stranded in the Jungle”, the soulful “There’s Gonna be a Showdown” by Archie Bell & the Drells, The Coasters’ “Bad Detective”, & an outstanding rocking cover of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Don’t Start Me Talking”. Other highlights are “Who are the Mystery Girls” which would fit in on any Aerosmith album, The hard rocking opening tune “Babylon”, the unbelievable closing rocker “Human Being”(which G & R covered on their Spaghetti Incident album), & the vocal debut of Johnny Thunders on “Chatterbox”. Shortly after its release Mercury dropped the Dolls & the downward spiral really started taking place. Bassist Arthur Kane who was a bad alcoholic had an incident where his psychotic girlfriend Connie (who later married Dee Dee Ramone) tried cutting his thumb off & cut several tendons leaving him unable to play bass. Roadie Peter Jordan stepped in on bass but Kane still toured just standing next to the drum kit by the amps.
By 1975 the run of the NY Dolls was just about over & as a last chance effort Malcolm Mclaren jumped on board as kind of an advisor & dressed the band in red patent leather & had them play a bunch of gigs with a huge red communist flag hanging behind the drums to try & strike up some controversial publicity. However, nobody paid any attention & could’ve cared less. While in Florida at dinner one night a frustrated Johansen said that anyone in the band is replaceable. Johnny Thunders & Jerry Nolan left immediately for NYC & the remaining Dolls finished up their Florida obligations of 2 gigs by hiring local guitarist Blackie Goosman (Later Blackie Lawless).
Thunders & Nolan formed the Heartbreakers & the 2 both played in many bands but often ended up playing together until Thunders death in 1991. Jerry Nolan passed away 1992. Thunders was a great songwriter & had a lot of talent but his substance abuse always got in the way yet he did release some great solo records.Johansen & Sylvain continued as the Dolls on a tour of Japan in ’75 & stuck together through most of the mid/late 70’s but eventually Syl formed the Criminals & found his way back to Thunders band for parts of 1984-86. Johansen released a few well recieved solo albums before changing into the lounge lizzard Buster Poindexter.Arthur Kane formed Killer Kane with Blackie Goosman,the Corpse Grinders, & then kind of dropped out of sight although he did resurface for a gig with Thunders around 1987.
In 2004 Morrisey brought the 3 remaining NY Dolls together for one gig at the Meltdown Festival in London. Kane, who now was born again, was ecstatic with the thought of reuniting the band. The show went phenomenal & the band was well received. They decided to stay together & do more gigs but unfortunately 22 days after the gig Kane passed away. He went into the hospital because he thought he had a bad case of the flu but he was diagnosed with leukimia & died 2 hours later. The Dolls did continue on & since 2004 have released 2 live cd’s (Live from the Meltdown Festival 2004 & Live at the Fillmore East 2008) & 2 studio cd’s (‘One Day it will Please us to Remember Even This’ 2006 & ‘Cause I Sez So’ 2009). The NY Dolls are stepping forward into their 5th decade of playing their brand of Rock & Roll to new generations of fans
New York Dolls Official Website
Studio Albums
New York Dolls (1973)
Too Much Too Soon (1974)
One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This (2006)
Cause I Sez So (2009)
Dancing Backward in High Heels (2011)
The impact that the NY Dolls had on music is unbelievable. Whether it’s punk, new wave, hard rock, or 80’s glam-metal there is a stamp of the sleaze of the NY Dolls on it. The Dolls 2nd official album title “Too Much Too Soon” sums up the short lived career of the original band. Gene Simmons of Kiss even said on many occasions that they took advantage of the mistakes that the Dolls made to put their own music career on the right path. Aerosmith was another band who took from the NY Dolls & when the Dolls career began to fall apart mostly due to substance abuse & egos it was their management Leber & Krebs who took on Aerosmith. I knew someone who was backstage at a show consisting of Mott the Hoople, NY Dolls, & (opening the show) Aerosmith at Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo, NY 1974 & he told me Aerosmith was nothing more than NY Doll Wannabes. Backstage, Tyler was running around trying to be noticed by Dolls singer David Johansen & Mott the Hoople’s Ian Hunter but the 2 singers just kept ignoring his presence. Sweet Revenge though as Aerosmith has had a huge career & Steven Tyler married Johansen’s ex which at the time he loved bragging about. One wild incident happened at that show in Buffalo which is mentioned in the Nina Antonia book “Too Much Too Soon”. The internal egos & substance abuse was at its height back then & guitarist Johnny Thunders was mostly playing with his back to the audience facing the drum kit. It was around Halloween & there were jack o lanterns setting on the riser. Thunders was pretty out of it & he grabbed the pumpkin & started spinning around while holding it. He let go & SPLAT! Right on Johansen’s head knocking him out for a few seconds.
Anyway, the Dolls began in 1971 with Arthur Kane, Johnny Thunders, Billy Murcia, David Johansen, & Rick Rivets who was soon replaced by Sylvain Sylvain. The NY Dolls played their brand of revved up high energy rock & roll in the same vein as the MC5 & the Stones while dressing a bit risqué & feminine (despite their heterosexuality) to the delight of many on the NY Underground scene. The Dolls were becoming more & more popular on the NY Scene with their wild shows. To be somebody in Rock & Roll in NYC you had to be part of the NY Dolls entourage. The band was being sought out by many record companies in 1972 but things were already starting to spin out of control. The Dolls had a huge gig opening for the Faces (w/Rod Stewart & Ron wood) at Wembley Stadium which led to several English contract offers but shortly after the gig drummer Billy Murcia was drunk(or other reports say od’d on tunials) when two British groupies took him to their apartment. They put him in a bath of cold water & poured hot coffee down his throat, resulting in suffocation and drowning. He died before the New York Dolls were offered a record deal. The Dolls were devastated & the band nearly split up but they stuck it together & hired Jerry Nolan (who was actually great friends with Peter Criss & even was the Best Man at his wedding).
In early ’73 they were signed to Mercury Records & their first album titled ‘New York Dolls’ was produced by Todd Rundgren & released in August of that year. The album sported a controversial cover of the band dressed in total drag which I personally feel may have hurt the band due to the times. The album is a great piece of Rock & Roll from the beginning riff (which Poison borrowed for “Talk Dirty to Me”) & scream on “Personality Crisis” all the way through to the ending rocker “Jet Boy”. The band did a rocking cover of Bo Diddley’s “Pills” which has a bit of a humorous story. The band had been playing the song from early on in their career & one night they went to see Bo Diddley at a club. The band kept yelling for him to play “Pills” & after his set he went up to the boys. He thought they were offering/selling pills & had totally forgotten about the song he wrote until they reminded him. Also in 1973 the popular music magazine “Creem” had its annual polls in which the Dolls won the Best New Band of the year…as well as the Worst New Band.
1974 brought us the NY Dolls “Too Much Too Soon” which was produced by George “Shadow” Morton” who produced 60’s girl groups such as the Shangri-Las. This time the album had a kick ass cover of a live shot of the band performing. I feel the production is a lot better on this album & the album s loaded with great tracks including some cool covers that show their influences. They cover The Cadets novelty hit “Stranded in the Jungle”, the soulful “There’s Gonna be a Showdown” by Archie Bell & the Drells, The Coasters’ “Bad Detective”, & an outstanding rocking cover of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Don’t Start Me Talking”. Other highlights are “Who are the Mystery Girls” which would fit in on any Aerosmith album, The hard rocking opening tune “Babylon”, the unbelievable closing rocker “Human Being”(which G & R covered on their Spaghetti Incident album), & the vocal debut of Johnny Thunders on “Chatterbox”. Shortly after its release Mercury dropped the Dolls & the downward spiral really started taking place. Bassist Arthur Kane who was a bad alcoholic had an incident where his psychotic girlfriend Connie (who later married Dee Dee Ramone) tried cutting his thumb off & cut several tendons leaving him unable to play bass. Roadie Peter Jordan stepped in on bass but Kane still toured just standing next to the drum kit by the amps.
By 1975 the run of the NY Dolls was just about over & as a last chance effort Malcolm Mclaren jumped on board as kind of an advisor & dressed the band in red patent leather & had them play a bunch of gigs with a huge red communist flag hanging behind the drums to try & strike up some controversial publicity. However, nobody paid any attention & could’ve cared less. While in Florida at dinner one night a frustrated Johansen said that anyone in the band is replaceable. Johnny Thunders & Jerry Nolan left immediately for NYC & the remaining Dolls finished up their Florida obligations of 2 gigs by hiring local guitarist Blackie Goosman (Later Blackie Lawless).
Thunders & Nolan formed the Heartbreakers & the 2 both played in many bands but often ended up playing together until Thunders death in 1991. Jerry Nolan passed away 1992. Thunders was a great songwriter & had a lot of talent but his substance abuse always got in the way yet he did release some great solo records.Johansen & Sylvain continued as the Dolls on a tour of Japan in ’75 & stuck together through most of the mid/late 70’s but eventually Syl formed the Criminals & found his way back to Thunders band for parts of 1984-86. Johansen released a few well recieved solo albums before changing into the lounge lizzard Buster Poindexter.Arthur Kane formed Killer Kane with Blackie Goosman,the Corpse Grinders, & then kind of dropped out of sight although he did resurface for a gig with Thunders around 1987.
In 2004 Morrisey brought the 3 remaining NY Dolls together for one gig at the Meltdown Festival in London. Kane, who now was born again, was ecstatic with the thought of reuniting the band. The show went phenomenal & the band was well received. They decided to stay together & do more gigs but unfortunately 22 days after the gig Kane passed away. He went into the hospital because he thought he had a bad case of the flu but he was diagnosed with leukimia & died 2 hours later. The Dolls did continue on & since 2004 have released 2 live cd’s (Live from the Meltdown Festival 2004 & Live at the Fillmore East 2008) & 2 studio cd’s (‘One Day it will Please us to Remember Even This’ 2006 & ‘Cause I Sez So’ 2009). The NY Dolls are stepping forward into their 5th decade of playing their brand of Rock & Roll to new generations of fans
, but its close enough lol)
:
What I liked about this particular thread was that you including some music in with your OP. I listened to the New York Dolls for the first time and I don't know what I think yet but your thread still did it's job! 
