New York Dolls (1973)
I was well into King Crimson and Prog when this came out, and while fascinated by the cover, I was late to the party. It didn't find it's way into my collection until 1977.I fell hard for both albums (Too Much Too Soon,1974), and wore out a 90 minute car tape, turning it over and over ad infinitum.
Johnny Thunders unique guitar sound was a huge influence on my playing. A few years later I sang "Sad Vacation", his tribute to fellow junkie Sid Vicious, so many times our band's fanbase thought I wrote it.
The 1980 Rockabilly revival brought me, my girlfriend Candy*, and her brother Kent*, my Art Center classmate, and future junkie room mate, to a Santa Monica dive to see Levi And The Rockats. They rocked in large part due to drummer, and former NY Doll Jerry Nolan's in-the-pocket groove.
Afterwards, he was happy to be recognized, and we talked for an hour, mostly about The Dolls, which brought him to tears.
I didn't see him get my girlfriend's phone number, and over the next month we saw The Rockats play several times, as I lost her to him. It was an epic dumping.
A few months later Levi Dexter went solo, and I with him, never seeing Jerry again. She didn't stay with him long either, as the reality of a junkie boyfriend didn't sit well, and I got her back, but it didn't last.
She's now married to a highly successful Hollywood movie director.
I haven't talked to Candy or Kent since 1981, but I still love the New York Dolls. Too bad heroin broke them up, and eventually killed both Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders.
In 2017 I went to a local record store to see Jerry's replacement Rockat drummer Curt Weiss talk about, and read from his "Stranded In The Jungle-Jerry Nolan's Wild Ride". Highly recommended.
I bought this 2017 red vinyl repress last July.
*Names changed for privacy
2 comments:
I bought this when it came out in 73 (I was 12) and was all in. I was amused that Creem mag readers named the Dolls both the worst and best group of 1973.
The NY Dolls didn’t stand a chance of large term success in the musical atmosphere of 1973. They even scared the fans of Alice Cooper in real not monster movie ways. Plus their back to basics crudeness was two years too soon.
Captain Al (who saw The Dolls open for Mott and was confused by them. I both liked and disliked them that evening.)
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