New York Dolls
A New York glam-punk band of David Johansen, Johnny Thunders, Sylvain Sylvain, Arthur Kane and Jerry Nolan, whose Todd Rundgren-produced debut of 1973 opens with "Personality Crisis".
The Mercer Arts Center
The New York Dolls formed in 1971 from the Pox, the Fogg and the Reign: Sylvain Sylvain and Billy Murcia had played together as the Pox in 1967, and Sylvain opened the Truth and Soul clothing shop in Woodstock in 1968. Johnny Thunders joined in 1970. Arthur Kane recruited David Johansen, then singing for another group, who became the frontman in the autumn of 1971. They started rehearsing in the summer in Kane's basement and then above an Upper West Side bicycle shop. The first show with Johansen was a Christmas party at the Endicott Hotel on December 24, 1971, and from June 13 to September 5, 1972 they had a Tuesday residency at the Mercer Arts Center; they also played Max's Kansas City.
Billy Murcia died in London on November 6, 1972, aged 21, during a short UK tour, and Jerry Nolan replaced him, playing his first show on December 19, 1972 at the Mercer Arts Center. Mercury signed them on March 20, 1973 for two albums, reportedly for $25,000.
Records and the split
New York Dolls, produced by Todd Rundgren, was released on July 27, 1973 in the US (October 19 in the UK) and reached 116 on the Billboard 200; Too Much Too Soon, produced by George Shadow Morton at A&R Studios, followed on May 10, 1974 and reached 167. Thunders and Nolan left in April 1975 to form the Heartbreakers with Richard Hell, the breakup was announced on April 25, and Mercury dropped the band on October 7, 1975; a later line-up played into 1976, the last at Max's Kansas City on December 30, 1976. Christgau called them the best hard rock act in the country in 1973. They were cited as an influence on the Sex Pistols, whose Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood met them in June 1973, the Clash, the Smiths and Morrissey, Kiss and Guns N' Roses.
Morrissey asked Johansen, Sylvain and Kane to reunite for the Meltdown Festival on June 16, 2004 at the Royal Festival Hall, released as The Return of the New York Dolls. Kane died on July 13, 2004. Three more albums followed: One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This (2006), Cause I Sez So (2009) and Dancing Backward in High Heels (2011); the band ended after Halloween Night of Fear shows, the last in Glasgow on October 31, 2011. Thunders died on April 23, 1991, Nolan on January 14, 1992, Sylvain Sylvain on January 13, 2021, aged 69, and Johansen, who also performed as Buster Poindexter, on February 28, 2025, aged 75. The 2022 Showtime documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only was made by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi.
Albums
- New York Dolls 1973 · Mercury
Their debut: eleven songs recorded in eight days at the Record Plant, produced by Todd Rundgren.
Songs
- Personality Crisis New York Dolls · 1973
The opening track of the debut, recorded live in the studio at the Record Plant and covered by Sonic Youth.
Sources
- New York Dolls, Wikipedia
- New York Dolls (album), Wikipedia
- New York Dolls chronology, From The Archives
- Classic Tracks: New York Dolls, Personality Crisis, Sound On Sound (2009-12)