New York Dolls

The New York Dolls forged a raw, transgressive sound years before punk acquired a label. Drawing from the Rolling Stones' gritty blues-based rock, a twisted take on Brill Building songcraft, the Stooges' chaotic sonic assault, and the theatrical flair of David Bowie alongside T. Rex, they forged an approach that anticipated both punk and heavy metal. Their initial lineup collapsed after only a short span, yet still managed to issue the Todd Rundgren-helmed self-titled debut in 1973 and its 1974 successor, Too Much Too Soon, prior to imploding. Though neither album achieved significant sales, both quickly attained cult status and exerted direct influence on the punk acts that emerged in their wake. A 2004 reunion sparked fresh touring and recording, with shifting configurations sustaining the group's original glam-punk aesthetic across releases such as 2011's Dancing Backward in High Heels. Following this resurgence, the Dolls tapered off around 2012 once members turned their attention elsewhere.

The band coalesced in late 1971 when guitarists Johnny Thunders and Rick Rivets, bassist Arthur Kane, and drummer Billy Murcia added vocalist David Johansen. Rivets departed early the next year, replaced by Syl Sylvain, after which the group began regular performances in Lower Manhattan, most notably at the Mercer Arts Center. Within months they cultivated a fervent local following, yet labels hesitated to offer contracts owing to the members' cross-dressing and overt provocations.

Near the end of 1972 the Dolls undertook their debut British tour, during which Murcia perished from a fatal combination of drugs and alcohol; Jerry Nolan stepped in as his replacement. With Nolan aboard, the group finally landed a deal with Mercury Records. Todd Rundgren, whose polished pop sensibility contrasted sharply with their high-risk style, oversaw the self-titled New York Dolls, released in summer 1973. Widespread critical acclaim followed, yet mainstream listeners remained unmoved; the album climbed only to number 116 on the U.S. charts. George "Shadow" Morton, renowned for his girl-group productions, guided the follow-up Too Much Too Soon. Despite a comparatively polished sound, it fared even worse commercially, stalling at number 167 after its early-summer 1974 appearance.

Once Mercury dropped the band in the wake of meager sales, no other labels expressed interest. The members therefore enlisted British manager Malcolm McLaren, later famed for guiding the Sex Pistols. McLaren began refining his talent for converting outrage into promotion, though the tactics that succeeded with the Pistols the following year proved disastrous here. He outfitted the Dolls entirely in red leather and placed them before the Soviet flag to imply communist sympathies, an image that merely intensified industry wariness and prompted further departures.

By mid-1975 Thunders and Nolan had exited; Johansen and Sylvain dismissed McLaren and recruited a new rhythm section. Over the ensuing years the pair fronted multiple short-lived versions of the group, all without commercial traction. Their final performance occurred in December 1976, sharing a bill with Blondie at Max's Kansas City, after which Johansen and Sylvain formally disbanded the project. In the two decades that followed, assorted labels issued outtakes, live sets, and compilations, while the original pair of studio albums remained in print.

Johansen launched a solo career that later evolved into his lounge persona Buster Poindexter during the mid-1980s. Sylvain accompanied him for two years before branching into his own solo work. Thunders and Nolan formed the Heartbreakers immediately after leaving in 1975; the band played intermittently over the next decade while Thunders issued occasional solo recordings. On April 23, 1991, Thunders was discovered deceased in his room at New Orleans' St. Peter House. Nolan appeared at a subsequent tribute concert that year and suffered a fatal stroke several months later at age 40.

In 2004 former Smiths singer Morrissey, once head of a British New York Dolls fan club, invited the surviving members to appear at that year's Meltdown Festival, which he curated. David Johansen, Syl Sylvain, and Arthur Kane accepted, with Steve Conte from Johansen's solo band filling Thunders' role and the Libertines' Gary Powell on drums. The well-received set, later issued on DVD and CD, generated additional festival bookings, yet Kane entered a Los Angeles hospital weeks afterward believing he had severe influenza; doctors diagnosed leukemia, and he died hours later on July 13, 2004, at age 55.

With Hanoi Rocks' Sam Yaffa on bass, the remaining members paid tribute to their late colleagues at Little Steven's International Underground Garage Festival in New York City on August 14, 2004. They regrouped again in 2006, now with Brian Delaney on drums, for the new CD/DVD One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This. The Todd Rundgren-produced 'Cause I Sez So arrived via Rhino in 2009. A fifth studio album, Dancing Backward in High Heels, again featuring Johansen and Sylvain and produced by Jason Hill, emerged on 429 Records in early 2011. Within a year of its release, Johansen and Sylvain concluded the New York Dolls' run. Syl Sylvain succumbed to cancer on January 13, 2021, at age 69.