New York Dolls – Self Titled

New York Dolls – Self Titled
Mercury Records

Back in 88 or 89, I remember sitting around a table at the now dead
and gone Y-Not Grill. It was about 3 in the morning and the five of us at the
table were either a little drunk or giddy from lack of sleep and countless
cups of coffee. In our state of mind the subject of this our own Algonquin
Round table turned to music. The subject at hand, was what where the 10 or 20
records that made a difference in the period leading up to punk and caused
punk. Was it the Velvet Underground and Nico? Was it the Modern Lovers first
record? Was it one of them Beatles records? Was it the MC5 Kick Out the Jams?
Was it the Stooges Fun House? Or was it David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust? This
caused much heated discussion, insults being thrown and much pounding on the
table but the thing that soundly seemed to be agreed upon was the first New
York Dolls record.

You can't talk about the Dolls without bring up tragedy and talk about
just how far head of they were from everyone else. The history of the Dolls
reads as a hand book of what not to do to succeed in music. Especially if you
are breaking new ground. Formed in 1971 in the gutter of New York City by
Aurthur “Killer”Kane, Johnny Thunders, David Johansen, Billy Murcia and Rick
Rivets. Early on Rivets was replaced by Slyvain Sylvain and the Dolls took
over New York with there driving blues based rock and roll and there trashy,
ugly drag queen style. In a time where spit and polish dominated the
mainstream the Dolls gave a peep show view into the seedy dark side of the
urban American expeirence. They spoke to those on the fringe of society and
told their story. With little attention outside of basic word of mouth they
began to build a fan base around sold out shows at Mercer art Center. Becoming
the NYC's hipsters band to see. Playing to crowds that ran from Junkies and
prositutes to the who's who of the entertainment industry and the social scene
out slumming in Downtown New York City.

Fame came their way with an invite from Small Faces Rod Stewart to
open a show at London's Wembley Auditorium in October of 72. Taking the Dolls
from playing 350 seats to 13,000 seats for the first time. The show caused
overnight a bidding war between labels wanting to sign the band. A complete
turning around from what they had been going throw in the US, where labels
felt they wouldn't sell in the fly-over states. While their then manager Marty
Thau was in fact pn the phone taking bids on a deal, he received a phone call
telling him that Billy Murcia was dead. The cause of death was he had passed
out at a party after drinking too much and taking some pills. To keep him from
over dosing, a couple of groupies poured coffee down his throat and it
resulted in him drowning. If left to sleep it off he may still be with us. The
result is most of the record companies withdrew their offers and the band went
on hold until Jerry Noland sat down on the drum stool.

In late 72 they were signed to Mercy Records and in a short two weeks
recorded their the self tittled record and it was released in July of 73. The
front cover shot of the members in Drag did nothing to gain the following of
middle America which wrote them off as gay. They toured the US with limited
success but in England and Urban areas the impact was felt. Regardless of the
amount of influence they were gaining and would see in later years, the band
itself was barely making enough money to survive. Substance abuse began to
rear it's head in the form of Kane's Alcohol use(many times a roadie having to
fill in at shows) and in Thunders and Noland's heroin use. By the time the
second record 'Too Much Too Soon' had come out most of the heart was driven
out of the band. They had gone from playing stadiums with tons of press
coverage, especially in Europe to returning to the smaller clubs. After the
poor sells of 'Too Much Too Soon' Mercy dropped the band. Leaving the door
open for the enter Malcolm Mclaren and his ideas of trading in the drag for
Communist Red. If drag made people run away in terror, the dirty C word caused
them to lock themselves in the bomb shelter. No one got it not even the fans.
The Dolls came to an end in Florida in a Trailer Park in mid 75 when Thunders
and Noland left for home to score some Chinese Rocks. After a short 4 years it
was all over and music would be the same cause by then too many people had
heard them and they were all starting bands of their own.

Thunders and Nolan joined with Richard Hell and formed the
Heartbreakers while the rest struggled on for a short time. The Heartbreaks
became a huge influence on the growing punk scene of the mid/late 70s. Even
though Thunders had all the makings of greatness and could went on create a
larger impact, he instead seemed have made a career out of being a junkie. Not
say that he didn't in fact create some great music but he gave people on easy
out to dismiss him as a joke until he's death by over dose in 91. Which was
shortly followed by that of Jerry Noland. Aurthur Kane went on from project to
project trying to recreate the magic that was there with the Dolls. Growing
increasing bitter about the success of those that followed in the Dolls foot
steps he continued deeper into alcohol and drug abuse until hitting rock
bottom, rehab, finding God and then working in the LDS(yes, that's right

I meant Latter Day Saints) temple in Los Angels. Johansen gained fame with
both acting and the success of Buster Poindexter. Sylvain Sylvain continued
playing and touring. Living mostly off the fame gained by his years with the
Dolls.

In 2004 the remaining three living members reunited for a one off show
in London for the Meltdown Fest. The show began a renewed interest in the band
which lead to a record contract with Roadrunner. However, there wasn't to be a
happy ending, Aurthur Kane, the man that had waited 30 years for his band to
reunite died shortly after the reunion show. The Dolls recently released a
record on Roadrunner Record which to the date of this review, I have heard but
a few songs. What I have heard is good but doesn't seem to fit into the Dolls
of old but then again should it?

There has over the years been so much written about this record it's
hard to say anything new. This record not only launch a 1000 punk bands but
was a diffident influence of the 80s glam “metal” bands. So it's fitting that
the first track is called Personality Crisis. Through out the record you can
hear the basic back to the roots that would shape the punk rock to come. The
lyrics paint a picture of the urban teenage life of the mid 70s. Yes it is
kind of simple and yes it is kind of campy but to get a clear understanding
you have to look at what a sorry state pop music had became at that point.
This is the point where the musician became the “Artist” and they were let
loose to write 15 minute songs that were in short, lacking the energy of
earlier bands. It went from writing a good song to experimenting and finding
your artistic voice. So, along comes the Dolls with their striped down, back
to the root and straight to the point rock n roll. It was a breath of fresh
air to 1000 of kids that would rather dance then sit and listen to some artist
masturbate 20 minute songs. For a lot of bands this was like a slap in the
mouth and a wake up call. When you consider that those that shaped the music
of the late 70s and early 80s took their cue from the Dolls. The list is long
but a few examples are Kiss, Talking Heads, Blondie, Ramones, Gun & Roses,
Motley Crue, Sex Pistols, the Clash and on and on.

The highlights for me well always be 'Thrash' with it's almost too
caughty chorus, 'Jet Boy' which has one of the great starts you'll lucky
enough to ever hear, 'Personality Crisis' for it pure excitement, Subway Train
for it's sweetness, 'Looking for a Kiss' for the pure theme song feel of
it, 'Pills' for it's cheesiness and Bad Girl.