The New York Dolls were a glam rock band in the 1970s that prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era. Influenced by the MC5, the Dolls influenced a whole era of musicians and bands such as the Hanoi Rocks, Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses, The Damned and even Morrissey of the Smiths. Perhaps their most lasting influence was on the sound and style of The Sex Pistols whose manager, Malcolm McLaren, was briefly involved with the Dolls at the end of their career (see protopunk).
The New York Dolls only released two studio albums: the self titled New York Dolls in 1973 and the aptly titled Too Much Too Soon in 1974, by which point internal tensions and drugs had left the band on the edge of splitting. Johansen had a moderately successful solo career (later he began recording under the name of Buster Poindexter), and is currently active as a blues singer. Thunders and Nolan found short-term fame with The Heartbreakers, who supported their heirs the Sex Pistols on tour in England in 1976. A third album comprising a 1972 demo session with the original line-up was released on cassette only in 1981, finally making it to CD as "Lipstick Killers" in 2000.
Johnny Thunders died in New Orleans in 1991, of an overdose. Nolan died a few months later in 1992, following a stroke, brought about by bacterial meningitis.
BritishsingerMorrissey, who in the 70s was president of the U.K.fanclub, organised a reunion of the three surviving band members (Johansen, Sylvain, Kane) for the Meltdown festival, which was rapturously greeted. All the greater was the shock when the news came of Arthur Kane's unexpected death on July 13, 2004 from leukemia. A live LP and DVD has been released by Morrissey's Attack label.
The NewYorkDolls were every girl's dream: men confident enough in their sexuality to play with high heels and make-up, but unmistakably masculine.
But the moments the Dolls were bringing back were the handpicked magical, frivolous daydreams that spoke to Elvis, girl groups, the three-minute single—and that momentary joy of successfully unhooking your girl’s bra in a car just before she slaps your face.
Dolls fans have long had to be content with photos, two albums, about a half-dozen bootlegs (repackaged over the years as thirty differently named bootlegs), and oral histories of those lucky enough to have been there at the time.
Released in the summer of 73, The NewYorkDolls was a proto-punk revelation, a way cool schlock of visceral rock and roll which combined the more essential moments of The MC5, The Pretty Things and The Shangri-Las.
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.
A pivotal reference point not only for Punk, but also for the US glam metal movement of the mid 80s, The NewYorkDolls' influence remains hugely disproportionate to their relatively slim legacy.
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