New York Dolls: Music Suggestion of The Day 20/07/2017

Ok folks let’s see what the cat dragged in for today’s appetites… so it’s back to MyTop100List. For today Kokdi suggests something from the past, yet to date, unsurpassed. They may have set the standards, way back then, for glam/garage/punk (and not necessarily in that order), they may have influenced bands like Motley, TS (from heavy/hard rock subgenre), but what if I consider them as inspiration for acts like Bowie, or Ramones (hear the lipstick killers in our playlist just to be certain), that may have scored higher ranks in my list, but that happened for entirely other reasons than impact and influential potentials of the band from NY that made CBGB and many, many, many other things we love, what are today.

Experts have to say that: «The New York Dolls were an American hard rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes.[3] Although their original line-up fell apart quickly, the band's first two albums—New York Dolls (1973) and Too Much Too Soon (1974)—became among the most popular cult records in rock.[1] The line-up at this time comprised vocalist David Johansen, guitarist Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane, guitarist and pianist Sylvain Sylvain, and drummer Jerry Nolan; the latter two had replaced Rick Rivets and Billy Murcia, respectively, in 1972.[4] On stage, they donned an androgynous wardrobe, wearing high heels, eccentric hats, and satin. Nolan described the group in 1974 as "the Dead End Kids of today".[5]

According to the Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1995), the New York Dolls predated the punk and glam metal movements, and were "one of the most influential rock bands of the last 20 years".[4] They influenced rock groups such as the Sex Pistols, Kiss, the Ramones, Guns N' Roses, the Damned, and The Smiths, whose frontman Morrissey organized a reunion show for the New York Dolls' surviving members in 2004.[6] After reuniting, they recorded and released three more albums—One Day It Will Please Usto Remember Even This (2006), Cause I Sez So (2009), and Dancing Backward in High Heels (2011).[1]

The New York Dolls have been inactive following a 2011 British tour with Alice Cooper; the band's guitarist on that tour, Earl Slick, confirmed they had disbanded in an interview that same year.[2]»

In order to better understand the conflict on Doll’s case for music appreciators (I hate critics) is the following text from the same source: « According to AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the New York Dolls developed an original style of hard rock that presaged both punk rock and heavy metal music, and drew on elements such as the "dirty rock& roll" of theRolling Stones, the "anarchic noise" of the Stooges, the glam rock of David Bowie and T. Rex, and girl group pop music.^[1] Erlewine credited the band for creating punk rock "before there was a term for it."^[1] Ken Tucker, who referred to them as a proto-punk band, wrote that they were strongly influenced by the "New York sensibility" of Lou Reed: "The mean wisecracks and impassioned cynicism that informed the Dolls' songs represented an attitude that Reed's work with the Velvet Underground embodied, as did the Dolls' distinct lack of musicianship."^[19]

When they began performing, four of the band's five members wore Spandex and platform boots,^[20] while Johansen—the band's lyricist and "conceptmaster"—^[21] often preferred high heels and a dress occasionally.^[19] Fashion historian Valerie Steele said that, while the majority of the punk scene pursued an understated "street look", the New York Dolls followed an English glam rock "look of androgyny—leather and knee-length boots, chest hair, and bleach".^[22] Music journalist Nick Kent argued that the New York Dolls were "quintessential glam rockers" because of their flamboyant fashion, while their technical shortcomings as musicians and Johnny Thunders' "trouble-prone presence" gave them a punk-rock reputation.^[23]

By contrast, Robert Christgau preferred for them to not be categorized as a glam rock band, but instead as "the best hard-rock band since the Rolling Stones".^[24] Robert Hilburn, writing for the Los Angeles Times, said that the band exhibited a strong influence from the Rolling Stones, but had distinguished themselves by Too Much Too Soon (1974) as "a much more independent, original force" because of their "definite touch of the humor and carefreeness of early (ie. mid-1950s) rock".^[25] Simon Reynolds felt that, by their 2009 album Cause I Sez So, the band exhibited the sound "not of the sloppy, rambunctious Dolls of punk mythology but of a tight, lean hard-rock band."^[26]»

So here u have them straight from the glam gutter, ranking #81 @ MYTop100List

N.Y. Dolls

In their golden decade

 LINK1, LINK2, LINK3

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