The New York Dolls

Before punk rock had acquired a label, the New York Dolls had already shaped its foundations. Drawing from the Rolling Stones' gritty rock & roll—a warped take on Brill Building pop—the Stooges' chaotic clamor, and the glam stylings of David Bowie and T. Rex, they forged an approach that anticipated both punk rock and heavy metal. Their opening lineup collapsed rapidly after issuing the self-titled debut produced by Todd Rundgren in 1973 and the 1974 sequel Too Much Too Soon. Though neither album achieved broad commercial traction, each quickly attained classic status in select quarters and directly shaped the punk groups that emerged in their wake. A 2004 reunion prompted fresh tours and recordings, with shifting lineups preserving the band's original glam punk direction across releases including 2011's Dancing Backward in High Heels. Following this burst of activity, the Dolls ended operations around 2012 once members pursued separate ventures.

The New York Dolls first assembled in late 1971. Guitarists Johnny Thunders and Rick Rivets, bassist Arthur Kane, and drummer Billy Murcia added vocalist David Johansen to the ranks. Early in 1972 Rivets gave way to Syl Sylvain, after which the group performed regularly throughout Lower Manhattan, especially at the Mercer Arts Center. Within months a devoted cult audience had formed, yet labels hesitated to sign them owing to the cross-dressing and overt vulgarity.

Toward the close of 1972 the Dolls undertook their debut English tour. Drummer Murcia died on that trek after combining drugs and alcohol; Jerry Nolan took his place. With Nolan aboard, the band finally landed a contract at Mercury Records. Todd Rundgren—whose refined pop sensibility appeared mismatched with their reckless rock & roll—produced the debut New York Dolls, released in summer 1973. Critics hailed the album, but it failed to reach mainstream listeners and climbed only to number 116 on the U.S. charts. The follow-up Too Much Too Soon, helmed by girl-group veteran George "Shadow" Morton, adopted a somewhat polished sound yet fared even worse commercially, stalling at number 167 after its early-summer 1974 arrival.

Mercury dropped the Dolls once the two albums underperformed. With no further offers forthcoming, the band recruited British manager Malcolm McLaren, later renowned for steering the Sex Pistols. McLaren honed his talent for converting provocation into publicity through the Dolls, though every tactic that later succeeded with the Pistols misfired here. He dressed the group entirely in red leather and staged performances beneath the U.S.S.R. flag to suggest communist sympathies; the maneuver merely heightened label reluctance, prompting further departures.

By mid-1975 Thunders and Nolan had exited, leaving Johansen and Sylvain to dismiss McLaren and rebuild with new personnel. The pair guided assorted versions of the band through the next several years without success. Their final performance occurred in December 1976, sharing a bill with Blondie at Max's Kansas City; afterward Johansen and Sylvain dissolved the group for good. Over the ensuing two decades various outtakes sets, live documents, and compilations appeared from multiple labels, while the original two studio albums remained continuously available.

Following the breakup, David Johansen launched a solo career that later evolved into his lounge-singing persona Buster Poindexter during the mid-'80s. Syl Sylvain remained with Johansen for two years before departing for his own solo path. Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan formed the Heartbreakers after leaving in 1975; the Heartbreakers performed intermittently over the next decade while Thunders occasionally released solo material. On April 23, 1991, Thunders was discovered deceased in his room at the St. Peter House in New Orleans, Louisiana. Nolan played a tribute concert for Thunders later that year and died of a stroke a few months afterward at age 40.

In 2004 former Smiths vocalist Morrissey—once president of a British New York Dolls fan club—invited the surviving members to appear at the 2004 Meltdown Festival, the music and cultural event he curated that year. To widespread surprise, David Johansen, Syl Sylvain, and Arthur Kane accepted, with Steve Conte from Johansen's solo band filling Thunders' role and Gary Powell of the Libertines handling drums. The performance earned strong praise from critics and fans and was documented for DVD and compact-disc release, generating further festival bookings. Weeks afterward Kane entered a Los Angeles hospital believing he had severe flu; doctors diagnosed leukemia, and he died hours later on July 13, 2004, at age 55.

With Sam Yaffa of Hanoi Rocks on bass the remaining Dolls delivered a hometown 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—this time 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 on Rhino in 2009. A fifth studio album, Dancing Backward in High Heels, featuring Johansen and Sylvain and produced and mixed by Jason Hill, appeared on 429 Records in early 2011. Within a year of that release Johansen and Sylvain concluded the New York Dolls' run. On January 13, 2021, Syl Sylvain died following a two-year battle with cancer; he was 69 years old.