New York Dolls

New York Dolls, progenitors of punk and “hair metal/’ the most important band that most people never heard; f. 1972. membership:David Johansen, voc. (b. Staten Island, N.Y., Jan. 9, 1950); Sylvain Sylvain (real name, Sii Myzrahi), gtr. (b. Cairo, Egypt, 1953); Johnny Thunders (real name, John Anthony Genzale Jr.), gtr. (b., N.Y., July 15, 1952; d. New Orleans, La., April 23, 1991); Arthur Howard Kane, bs. (b. Feb. 3, 1951); Jerry Nolan, drm. (b. N.Y., May 7, 1951; d. there, Jan. 14, 1992).

Despite two acclaimed and influential records, The New York Dolls never sold very well. It might have been their sound, which teetered dangerously on the edge of chaos, without going over (too often). It might have been their attire: They wore dresses, makeup, and platform shoes. However, many who heard and experienced the band, from Malcolm McLaren to the members of Poison, claim it changed their lives.

Sii Myzrahi came to America from Egypt after the 1956 Arab-versus-Israel war made Cairo untenable for Egyptian Jews. By the late 1960s, he was designing clothes and playing rock with his schoolmate, Billy Murcia, drm. (b. N.Y., 1951; d. London, England, Nov. 6, 1972). Their band, the Pox, recorded one never- released album. The sweaters they designed, however, were enormously popular, allowing the pair to take trips to England. There, they took in the burgeoning glam-rock scene.

After lapping up the British scene, the duo returned to N.Y Another ex- schoolmate, JohnnyGenzale, then known as Johnny Volume, joined the band. When the trio were reunited, they met under a sign for the New York Dolls Hospital (a place where they repaired valuable toys), and the three decided that the name was too cool for school. Volume became Thunders; and singer David Johansen and bassist Arthur Kane were enlisted to fill out the crew.

David Johansen’s father was a light opera singer who sold insurance to pay the bills.As a teen he hooked up with The Ridiculous Theater company, introducing him to flamboyant theatrics, which would become Johansen’s calling-card as a performer.

The Dolls quickly became the toast of the Mercer Arts Center and Max’s Kansas City, two influential downtown N.Y. nightspots. They were beloved as much for their trashy, campy appearance as for their Rolling-Stones-run-amok music. During their first tour of England, Murcia died of asphyxiation after mixing pills and alcohol, a sign of the kind of overindulgence that would plague band members for years to come. Jerry Nolan replaced him.

Mercury signed the band. In 1973, Todd Rundgren produced their eponymous debut and, a year later, legendary Girl Group producer George “Shadow” Morton tackled their sophomore effort, In Too Much Too Soon. Despite great songs like “Trash” and “Personality Crisis,” The Dolls were too far ahead of the curve for radio, which roundly ignored the band, as did all but a cult following of musicians and critics. Thunders and Nolan left the band to form The Heartbreakers, leaving Sylvain and Johansen to carry on as The Dolls until 1977.

Many of The Dolls had substance-abuse problems. The group would call on roadie Peter Jordan to play bass when Kane was too drunk. Thunders became such a notorious heroin addict, it became part of his act: Would he be too swacked to play on any given night?

Sylvain recorded a solo album in 1977, and when it didn’t take off, his record company dropped him. Almost simultaneously, he got divorced. He drove a cab for a while, then went back to clothing design, playing only occasionally.

The Heartbreakers earned a cult following, touring as frequently as Thunder’s health permitted, and recording several uneven albums. In 1991, Thunders died under mysterious circumstances in New Orleans, presumably of an overdose. Nolan died a year later of complications from pneumonia and meningitis.

The most successful of the ex-Dolls was Johansen, who went solo in 1978, although it took a fluke to launch his career. His eponymous solo debut featured such pop gems as “Funky But Chic” and “Frenchette” but again was not a mighty seller. He continued to attract crowds but, by the mid- 1980s, after several more critically acclaimed albums that didn’t sell, he started to get tired of the grind of the road and singing for crowds that seemed to stay 19, even as he pushed into his thirties. He once described the sight of fist-pumping, post-adolescents at a concert as reminding him of a Nazi Youth rally.

Seeking something new, Johnasen started playing one night a week at the N.Y. club Tramps, singing the old jump blues, early R&B, and Caribbean music that had captured his fancy at the time. To avoid confusion, he booked the shows as Buster Poindexter and his Banshees of Blue. He put on a tux, and put together a band that nominally played lounge music, but rocked. His martini glass and cigarettes were omnipresent. The act took off in a big way, and by 1988, Poindexter achieved the goal that had eluded Johansen for the previous decade: He scored a hit record with a cover of Arrow’s soca rouser “Hot, Hot, Hot.” Johnasen/Poindexter found himself on the Tonight Show, and in ads for Amaretto. Even Hollywood came calling, and he landed roles in the films Scrooged and Tales from the Dark Side.

Johansen continued to work as Buster Poindexter, exploring Latin music in English on Buster’s Spanish Rocketship in 1997. In 1999, he did an acclaimed set of 1920s blues and hillbilly songs with a band called The Harry Smiths, taking its name from legendary folklorist Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music. Meanwhile, Sylvain released his first new music in nearly two decades in 1998. The album, (Sleep) Baby Doll, paid tribute to both Johansen and his fallen friends in The Dolls, with covers of “Frenchette,” “Trash,” and one of Thunder’s last songs, “Your Society Makes Me Sad.”

Discography

N.Y. D.(1973); In Too Much Too Soon (1974); Rock ’n Roll (1994); Glam Rock Hits (1999). david johansen:David Johansen (1978); In Style (1979); Here Comes the Night (1981); Live It Up (1982); Sweet Revenge (1984). buster poindexter:Buster Poindexter (1987); Buster Goes Berserk (1989); Buster’s Happy Hour (1994); Buster’s Spanish Rocketship (1997). johnny thunders and the heart-breakers:L.A.M.F.-Lost Mixes (1977); So Alone (1978); Live at Max’s Kansas City 79 (1979); Que Será Será (1985); Have Faith (1996); Too Much Junkie Business (1999). sylvain sylvain:In Teenage News (1977); Baby Doll (1998).

—Hank Bordowitz