The cover of their eponymous debut album, 1973. Left to right: Arthur Kane, Sylvain Sylvain, David Johansen, Johnny Thunders, and Jerry Nolan.
The New York Dolls are a landmark Glam Rock band from, well, New York City, and are a major influence on Punk Rock, New Wave Music, and Alternative Rock, especially bands such as The Ramones, Blondie, Television, and The Smiths. Their look was also a major inspiration for Hair Metal.
Founded in 1971, New York Dolls are Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll incarnate, and three of the original five members had to pay for it. Led by singer David Johansen, they were dismissed by audiences due to their crossdressing, and their The Rolling Stones-esque Protopunk landed them in the punk hall of shame.
They re-formed from 2004 to 2011, although three of the members have died. They averted The Band Minus the Face, since Johansen was still alive.
Discography
The Original Two Albums
- New York Dolls (1973)
- Too Much Too Soon (1974)
The Compilations
During The '80s, as the ex-Dolls pursued solo careers and their mystique continued to grow, several semi-official collections of demos and live tapes were released by a variety of small labels. Most of these had alternate versions of songs from the original albums, but some (notably Red Patent Leather and Seven Day Weekend) had previously unreleased Cover Versions. The most interesting of these might be Actress: Birth of the New York Dolls, an album's worth of otherwise unavailable originals by Actress, an early version of the band.The Post-Reunion Albums
These are the albums the Dolls have released since their reunion in 2004.- One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This (2006)
- 'Cause I Sez So (2009)
- Dancing Backward in High Heels (2011)
The following tropes are looking for a kiss:
- The Alcoholic: Arthur "Killer" Kane, to the point where he often would be too drunk to play bass.
- Big Applesauce: Where they were born, raised and started. It's even in the name.
- The Casanova: Even by rock star standards, the Dolls pulled LOTS of women, and prided themselves on stealing groupies from other bands. Nancy Spungeon, of Sid and Nancy fame, started out as a New York Dolls groupie and was madly in love with Jerry Nolan, who was uninterested in her.
- Compilation Re-release: Their debut album and Too Much Too Soon were reissued as a double album in the U.K. in 1977, as well as on one CD in Japan in 1988.
- Cover Version: The band had an extensive repertoire of Blues and Soul covers from The '50s and The '60s, with the occasional Rock & Roll or girl group pop number thrown in. Here they are, along with the releases they originally appeared on.
- New York Dolls: Bo Diddley's "Pills"
- Too Much Too Soon: The Cadets' "Stranded in the Jungle", Archie Bell & The Drells' "(There's Gonna Be a) Showdown", The Coasters' "Bad Detective", Sonny Boy Williamson's "Don't Start Me Talkin'"
- Lipstick Killers: Otis Redding's "Don't Mess With Cupid"
- Red Patent Leather: Eddie Cochran's "Something Else", Hank Ballard And His Midnighters' "Daddy Rolling Stone", Clarence "Frogman" Henry's "Ain't Got No Home", Larry Williams' "Dizzy Miss Lizzie"
- Seven Day Weekend: Gary (U.S.) Bonds' "Seven Day Weekend", Chuck Berry's "Back in the USA", Muddy Waters' "Hootchie Cootchie Man", The Shangri-Las' "Great Big Kiss"
- Dancing Backward in High Heels: Patty La-Belle and the Bluebells' "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman"
- Creepy Crossdresser: How some people regarded the band, who were all too happy to play up this image by wearing trashy women's clothing on stage.
- Destructive Romance: Johnny Thunders and Sabel Starr.
- Drugs Are Bad: EVERYONE in the band's initial run was fucked out of their tree on a near constant basis, and it contributed a great deal to the infighting that led to their dissolution. They also wound up being the official cause of Johnny Thunders' death, though family and friends claim it was foul play.
- Glam Rock: They were among the first major players of the genre and one of the few North American acts to play it.
- "I Am" Song: "Human Being"And if I'm acting like a king
Well, that's cause I'm a human being
And if I want too many things
Don't you know that I'm a human being
And if I've got to dream
Baby baby baby yeah I'm a human being
And when it gets a bit obscene
I'm a human being. - Large Ham: David Johansen was not a subtle performer or someone who did anything by halves, to put it simply. Every song has him giving everything he has and every live performance has him leave teethmarks in the scenery.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan were very much this to one another. They spent most of their adult lives together, played in most of the same bands, and, according to friend/rock photographer Leee Black Childers, Johnny would break down emotionally during spats with Jerry. He would lay with his head in Childers' lap and say, "Where’s Jerry? I can’t live without him, I can’t work without him, I can’t be without him." At Johnny's funeral, Jerry was inconsolable and said, "What am I going to do? My best friend is dead. My soulmate has gone." He died only a few months after Johnny, and they were buried very near one another in the same cemetery.
- Lower-Class Lout: Their perception during their original run, and an image they were happy to play up - they looked and acted like a trashy, drug-addled drag revue playing at a titty bar or between showings at a porno theater, and their anti-establishment attitude and disdain for propriety inspired legions of punks.
- Proto Punk: Their music is seen as a progenitor to Punk Rock, both in sound, attitude as well as outfits.
- Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: They absolutely epitomized this trope, having a reputation for hedonism that made other bands sound like altar boys.
- Shout-Out: Johnny Thunders, which is one to the song of the same name by The Kinks.
- Start My Own: A one-time touring guitarist by the name of Steven Duren would eventually go on to form WASP.
