206-589: New York Dolls were an American 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. Although the band never achieved much commercial success and 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
412-550: A "lover's leap" with the song's subject. New York Dolls was released on July 27, 1973, in the United States and on October 19 in the United Kingdom. Its controversial cover featured the band dressed in exaggerated drag , including high wigs, messy make-up, high heels, and garters . The photo was used for shock value, and on the back of the album, the band is photographed in their usual stage wear. To announce
618-627: A New York record is someone who lives in New York". Mercury booked the Dolls at the Record Plant in New York City for recording sessions in April 1973. Rundgren was originally concerned that they had taken "the worst sounding studio in the city at that time" because it was the only one available to them with the short time given to record and release the album. He later said that expectations for
824-621: A band called "the Pox" in 1967. After the frontman quit, Murcia and Sylvain started a clothing business called Truth and Soul and Sylvain took a job at A Different Drummer, a men's boutique that was across the street from the New York Doll Hospital , a doll repair shop. Sylvain said that the shop inspired the name for their future band. In 1970 they formed a band again and recruited Johnny Thunders to join on bass, though Sylvain ended up teaching him to play guitar. They called themselves
1030-514: A certain degree doesn't care if it's popular. — Bill Wyman in Vulture (2016) The sound of rock is traditionally centered on the amplified electric guitar, which emerged in its modern form in the 1950s with the popularity of rock and roll. It was also greatly influenced by the sounds of electric blues guitarists. The sound of an electric guitar in rock music is typically supported by an electric bass guitar, which pioneered jazz music in
1236-452: A character addressing another character, or the narrator addressing the character, or the character or the narrator addressing us, all jammed up together so you're hearing bits of conversation and bits of subjective description in no kind of chronological order. But as someone says in 'Vietnamese Baby': 'Everything connects.'" On "Trash", Johansen undercuts his vaguely pansexual beliefs with the possibility of going to " fairyland " if he takes
1442-519: A fondness for a good beat, a meaningful lyric with some wit, and the theme of youth, which holds an "eternal attraction" so objective "that all youth music partakes of sociology and the field report ." Writing in Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), he said this sensibility is evident in the music of folk singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked , rapper LL Cool J , and synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys —"all kids working out their identities"—as much as it
1648-481: A foundation of simple syncopated rhythms in a 4 meter , with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four. Melodies often originate from older musical modes such as the Dorian and Mixolydian , as well as major and minor modes. Harmonies range from the common triad to parallel perfect fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Since the late 1950s, and particularly from
1854-628: A frequent addition to the established rock format of guitars, bass, and drums in subsequent progressive rock. Instrumentals were common, while songs with lyrics were sometimes conceptual, abstract, or based in fantasy and science fiction. The Pretty Things ' SF Sorrow (1968), the Kinks' Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969), and the Who 's Tommy (1969) introduced
2060-719: A good enough reason." He and Murcia originally planned to work in the clothing business and opened a boutique on Lexington Avenue that was across the street from a toy repair shop called the New York Doll Hospital , which gave them the idea for their name. The group soon began playing regularly in lower Manhattan and earned a cult following within a few months with their reckless style of rock music . Nonetheless, record companies were hesitant to sign them because of their onstage cross-dressing and blatant vulgarity. Clive Davis once told Lisa Robinson not to talk about New York Dolls uptown if she wanted to work in
2266-464: A highly watchable group)." Years later, Christgau would also voice that the album is "in fact a little botched aurally", but still regarded it as a classic. Until the New York Dolls a hangover from the sixties had permeated the music scene. That album was where a new decade began, where a contemporary version of the essence of rock 'n' roll emerged to kick out the tired old men and clear
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#17327730955802472-407: A histrionic pause, while "Trash" is a punky pop rock song with brassy singing. Several songs on New York Dolls function as what Robert Hilburn deems to be "colorful, if exaggerated, expressions of teen alienation ". According to Robert Christgau , because many of Manhattan's white youths at the time were wealthy and somewhat artsy, only ill-behaved young people from the outer boroughs like
2678-630: A key feature of psychedelia. Psychedelic rock reached its apogee in the last years of the decade. 1967 saw the Beatles release their definitive psychedelic statement in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , including the controversial track " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds ", the Rolling Stones responded later that year with Their Satanic Majesties Request , and Pink Floyd debuted with The Piper at
2884-441: A local fanbase by playing regularly in New York City's lower Manhattan , but most music producers and record companies were reluctant to work with them because of their vulgarity and onstage fashion as well as homophobia in New York. Still, the Dolls signed a contract with Mercury and recorded their first album at the Record Plant in New York with producer Todd Rundgren , who was known for his sophisticated pop tastes and held
3090-573: A loud amplified sound, often centered on the electric guitar, based on the Chicago blues , particularly after the tour of Britain by Muddy Waters in 1958, which prompted Cyril Davies and guitarist Alexis Korner to form the band Blues Incorporated . The band involved and inspired many of the figures of the subsequent British blues boom, including members of the Rolling Stones and Cream , combining blues standards and forms with rock instrumentation and emphasis. The other key focus for British blues
3296-411: A love song." In interpreting the song's titular monster , Frank Kogan writes that it serves as a personification for New York and its ethos, while Johansen asking listeners if they "could make it with Frankenstein" involves more than sexual slang: Frankenstein wasn't just a creature to have sex with, he represented the whole funky New Yorkiness of New York, the ostentation and the terror, the dreams and
3502-626: A lukewarm opinion of the band. Despite stories of conflicts during the recording sessions, lead singer David Johansen and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain later said Rundgren captured how the band sounded live. The resulting music on the album – a mix of carefree rock and roll , influences from Brill Building pop , and campy sensibilities – explores themes of urban youth, teen alienation, adolescent romance, and authenticity, as rendered in Johansen's colloquial and ambiguous lyrics. The album cover featured
3708-587: A mainstream audience with hits including " Blowin' in the Wind " (1963) and " Masters of War " (1963), which brought " protest songs " to a wider public, but, although beginning to influence each other, rock and folk music had remained largely separate genres, often with mutually exclusive audiences. Early attempts to combine elements of folk and rock included the Animals' " House of the Rising Sun " (1964), which
3914-495: A major element of progressive rock. From about 1967 bands like Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience had moved away from purely blues-based music into psychedelia . By the 1970s, blues rock had become heavier and more riff-based, exemplified by the work of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple , and the lines between blues rock and hard rock "were barely visible", as bands began recording rock-style albums. The genre
4120-429: A major influence on subsequent electronic rock . With the advent of punk rock and technological changes in the late 1970s, progressive rock was increasingly dismissed as pretentious and overblown. Many bands broke up, but some, including Genesis, ELP, Yes, and Pink Floyd, regularly scored top ten albums with successful accompanying worldwide tours. Some bands which emerged in the aftermath of punk, such as Siouxsie and
4326-410: A more basic form of rock and roll that incorporated its original influences, particularly blues, country and folk music, leading to the creation of country rock and Southern rock. In 1966 Bob Dylan went to Nashville to record the album Blonde on Blonde . This, and subsequent more clearly country-influenced albums, such as Nashville Skyline , have been seen as creating the genre of country folk ,
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#17327730955804532-486: A multibillion-dollar industry and doubling its market while, as Christgau noted, suffering a significant "loss of cultural prestige". "Maybe the Bee Gees became more popular than the Beatles, but they were never more popular than Jesus ", he said. "Insofar as the music retained any mythic power, the myth was self-referential – there were lots of songs about the rock and roll life but very few about how rock could change
4738-563: A musician and producer who by 1972 had achieved unexpected rock stardom with his double album Something/Anything? and its hit singles " I Saw the Light " and " Hello It's Me ". Rundgren had socialized at venues such as Max's Kansas City and first saw the Dolls when his girlfriend at the time, model Bebe Buell , brought him there to see them play. Known for having refined pop tastes and technologically savvy productions, Rundgren had become increasingly interested in progressive rock sounds by
4944-589: A national phenomenon. It is often argued that the surf music craze and the careers of almost all surf acts was effectively ended by the arrival of the British Invasion from 1964, because most surf music hits were recorded and released between 1960 and 1965. By the end of 1962, what would become the British rock scene had started with beat groups like the Beatles , Gerry & the Pacemakers and
5150-459: A preacher, prosecutions of Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and the breaking of the payola scandal (which implicated major figures, including Alan Freed, in bribery and corruption in promoting individual acts or songs), gave a sense that the rock and roll era established at that point had come to an end. Rock quickly spread out from its origins in the US, associated with the rapid Americanization that
5356-444: A prog rock influence and while ranking among the most commercially successful acts of the 1970s, heralding the era of pomp or arena rock , which would last until the costs of complex shows (often with theatrical staging and special effects), would be replaced by more economical rock festivals as major live venues in the 1990s. The instrumental strand of the genre resulted in albums like Mike Oldfield 's Tubular Bells (1973),
5562-446: A rigidly delineated musical definition." In the opinion of music journalist Robert Christgau , "the best rock jolts folk-art virtues—directness, utility, natural audience—into the present with shots of modern technology and modernist dissociation ". Rock and roll was conceived as an outlet for adolescent yearnings ... To make rock and roll is also an ideal way to explore intersections of sex, love, violence, and fun, to broadcast
5768-625: A rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. By the late 1960s " classic rock " period, a few distinct rock music subgenres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock , folk rock , country rock , Southern rock , raga rock , and jazz rock , which contributed to the development of psychedelic rock , influenced by the countercultural psychedelic and hippie scene . New genres that emerged included progressive rock , which extended artistic elements, heavy metal , which emphasized an aggressive thick sound, and glam rock , which highlighted showmanship and visual style. In
5974-721: A route pursued by a number of largely acoustic folk musicians. Other acts that followed the back-to-basics trend were the Canadian group the Band and the California-based Creedence Clearwater Revival , both of which mixed basic rock and roll with folk, country and blues, to be among the most successful and influential bands of the late 1960s. The same movement saw the beginning of the recording careers of Californian solo artists like Ry Cooder , Bonnie Raitt and Lowell George , and influenced
6180-672: A self-titled LP in 1978, recorded at the Bottom Line in NYC's Greenwich Village,featuring Sylvain Mizrahi and Johnny Thunders as guest musicians. In May, 1978, he also released "David Johansen", on Blue Sky Records, a label created by Steve Paul, formerly of The Scene. Johansen continued to tour with his solo project and released four more albums, In Style, 1979; Here Comes the Night , 1981; Live it Up, 1982; and Sweet Revenge , 1984. During
6386-417: A set including some songs with lyrics by David Johansen that would later appear on David Johansen's solo albums including "Funky But Chic", "Frenchette" and "Wreckless Crazy". The group played its last show December 30, 1976 at Max's Kansas City; on the same bill as Blondie . Shortly after returning from Florida, Thunders and Nolan formed The Heartbreakers with bassist Richard Hell , who had left Television
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6592-710: A show at London's 100 Club on May 14, 2009 supported by Spizzenergi . On March 18, 2010, the band announced another two concert dates at KOKO in Camden, London and the Academy in Dublin on April 20. In December 2010, it was announced the band would release their fifth album which had been recorded in Newcastle upon Tyne. The album, Dancing Backward in High Heels , featuring new guitarist Frank Infante (formerly of Blondie)
6798-481: A slogan one only began to hear in 1972 or so, mobilized all those eager to believe that idealism had become passe, and once they were mobilized, it had. In popular music, embracing the '70s meant both an elitist withdrawal from the messy concert and counterculture scene and a profiteering pursuit of the lowest common denominator in FM radio and album rock . Rock saw greater commodification during this decade, turning into
7004-464: A variety of directions, including Dylan and the Byrds, who began to develop country rock . However, the hybridization of folk and rock has been seen as having a major influence on the development of rock music, bringing in elements of psychedelia, and helping to develop the ideas of the singer-songwriter, the protest song, and concepts of "authenticity". Psychedelic music's LSD -inspired vibe began in
7210-529: A variety of sources such as the Tin Pan Alley pop tradition, folk music , and rhythm and blues . Christgau characterizes rock lyrics as a "cool medium" with simple diction and repeated refrains, and asserts that rock's primary "function" "pertains to music, or, more generally, noise ." The predominance of white, male, and often middle class musicians in rock music has often been noted, and rock has been seen as an appropriation of Black musical forms for
7416-501: A young, white and largely male audience. As a result, it has also been seen to articulate the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, "rock and roll usually implies an identification of male sexuality and aggression". Since the term "rock" started being used in preference to "rock and roll" from the late-1960s, it has usually been contrasted with pop music, with which it has shared many characteristics, but from which it
7622-548: Is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll " in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the genres of blues , rhythm and blues , and country music . Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk , and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock
7828-537: Is authenticity. This theme is explored in stories about lost youths, as on "Subway Train", or in a study of a specific subject, such as the "schizy imagemonger" on "Personality Crisis". He argues that beneath the band's decadent and campy surface are lyrics about "the modern world ... one nuclear bomb could blow it all away. Pills and personality crises weren't evils – easy, necessary, or whatever. They were strategies and tropisms and positive pleasures". According to journalist Steve Taylor, "Vietnamese Baby" deals with
8034-423: Is centered on the electric guitar , usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar , drums , and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a 4 time signature using a verse–chorus form , but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music , lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock
8240-540: Is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music. Four years later, Bill Haley 's " Rock Around the Clock " (1954) became the first rock and roll song to top Billboard magazine's main sales and airplay charts, and opened the door worldwide for this new wave of popular culture. Other artists with early rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley , Fats Domino , Little Richard , Jerry Lee Lewis , and Gene Vincent . Soon rock and roll
8446-472: Is generally agreed that garage rock peaked both commercially and artistically around 1966. By 1968 the style largely disappeared from the national charts and at the local level as amateur musicians faced college, work or the draft . New styles had evolved to replace garage rock. Although the first impact of the British Invasion on American popular music was through beat and R&B based acts,
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8652-555: Is in the music of Chuck Berry , the Ramones , and the Replacements . The foundations of rock music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly spread to much of the rest of the world. Its immediate origins lay in a melding of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music , with country and western . Debate surrounds
8858-411: Is often distanced by an emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and a focus on serious and progressive themes as part of an ideology of authenticity that is frequently combined with an awareness of the genre's history and development. According to Simon Frith , rock was "something more than pop, something more than rock and roll" and "[r]ock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with
9064-399: Is termed as a rock band or a rock group. Furthermore, it typically consists of between three (the power trio ) and five members. Classically, a rock band takes the form of a quartet whose members cover one or more roles, including vocalist, lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, bass guitarist, drummer, and often keyboard player or another instrumentalist. Rock music is traditionally built on
9270-405: Is that I wound up producing the seminal punk album, but I was never really thought of as a punk producer, and I never got called by punk acts. They probably thought I was too expensive for what they were going for. But the Dolls didn't really consider themselves punk." It was English singer Morrissey 's favorite album, and according to Paul Myers , the record "struck such a chord with [him] that he
9476-485: Is the Band." New York Dolls (album) New York Dolls is the debut studio album by the American rock band New York Dolls , released on July 27, 1973, by Mercury Records . An influential precursor to the 1970s punk rock movement, the eponymous album has been acclaimed as one of the best debut records in rock music and one of the greatest rock albums ever. In early 1973, the two-year-old band had developed
9682-535: The Billboard Hot 100 . The British Invasion greatly influenced garage bands, providing them with a national audience, leading many (often surf or hot rod groups) to adopt a British influence, and encouraging many more groups to form. Thousands of garage bands were extant in the United States and Canada during the era and hundreds produced regional hits. Despite scores of bands being signed to major or large regional labels, most were commercial failures. It
9888-475: 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". Simon Reynolds felt that, by their 2009 album Cause I Sez So , the band exhibited the sound "not of
10094-524: The American folk music revival had grown to a major movement, using traditional music and new compositions in a traditional style, usually on acoustic instruments. In America the genre was pioneered by figures such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and often identified with progressive or labor politics . In the early sixties figures such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan had come to the fore in this movement as singer-songwriters. Dylan had begun to reach
10300-485: The Fuzztones ), and Olivier Le Baron on lead guitar. Guest appearances by Frank Infante of Blondie and Derwood Andrews of Generation X were also included on the record. It has been re-released as New York A Go Go, . Morrissey , having been a longtime fan of the band and head of their 1970s UK fan club, organized a reunion of the three surviving members of the band's classic line-up (Johansen, Sylvain and Kane) for
10506-655: The Lounge On The Farm Festival on July 12, 2008. On November 14, 2008, it was announced that the producer of their first album, Todd Rundgren, would be producing a new album, which would be followed by a world tour. The finishing touches on the album were made in Rundgren's studio on the island of Kauai. The album, Cause I Sez So , was released on May 5, 2009 on Atco Records . The band played at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas on March 21, 2009, and
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#173277309558010712-578: The Meltdown Festival in London on June 16, 2004. The reunion led to a live LP and DVD on Morrissey's Attack label, as well as a documentary film, New York Doll , on the life of Arthur Kane. However, future plans for the Dolls were affected by Kane's sudden death from leukemia just weeks later on July 13, 2004. Yet the following month the band appeared at Little Steven 's Underground Garage Festival on August 14 in New York City before returning to
10918-616: The Mercer Arts Center in what Sylvain called a determined effort to "fake it until they could make it" : "We had to make ourselves feel famous before we could actually become famous. We acted like we were already rock stars. Arthur even called his bass ' Excalibur ' after King Arthur . It was crazy." Their performance at the Mercer Arts Center was attended by journalist and Mercury Records publicity director Bud Scoppa, and Paul Nelson , an A&R executive for
11124-621: The Rock 'n' Roll album. The other two are covers: the " Courageous Cat " theme, from the original Courageous Cat cartoon series; and a second attempt at "Don't Mess With Cupid", a song written by Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd for Otis Redding , and first recorded independently for what was later to become the Mercer Street/Blue Rock Sessions. Johansen formed the David Johansen Group, and released
11330-592: The Sex Pistols , the Damned , and Guns N' Roses . Chris Smith, in 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music (2009), says the Dolls's amateurish musicianship on the album undermined the musical sophistication of earlier popular music such as Pink Floyd 's recent The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). The Guardian included it in its list of "1000 albums to hear before you die" and called it "an efficacious antidote to
11536-422: The garage rock / post-punk revival in the 2000s. Since the 2010s, rock has lost its position as the pre-eminent popular music genre in world culture, but remains commercially successful. The increased influence of hip-hop and electronic dance music can be seen in rock music, notably in the techno-pop scene of the early 2010s and the pop-punk-hip-hop revival of the 2020s. Rock has also embodied and served as
11742-417: The protest song , rock music has been associated with political activism , as well as changes in social attitudes to race, sex, and drug use, and is often seen as an expression of youth revolt against adult consumerism and conformity . At the same time, it has been commercially highly successful, leading to accusations of selling out . A good definition of rock, in fact, is that it's popular music that to
11948-457: The "dirty rock & roll " of the Rolling Stones , the "anarchic noise" of the Stooges , the glam rock of David Bowie and T. Rex , and girl group pop music. Erlewine credited the band for creating punk rock "before there was a term for it". 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
12154-454: The 1950s saw the growth in popularity of the electric guitar, and the development of a specifically rock and roll style of playing through such exponents as Chuck Berry, Link Wray , and Scotty Moore . The use of distortion , pioneered by Western swing guitarists such as Junior Barnard and Eldon Shamblin was popularized by Chuck Berry in the mid-1950s. The use of power chords , pioneered by Francisco Tárrega and Heitor Villa-Lobos in
12360-710: The 1980s progressed, a number of bands from within its scene formed a new sound with a greater emphasis on the influence of the New York Dolls, namely Guns N' Roses, L.A. Guns and Faster Pussycat . Other musicians to cite the New York Dolls as an influence include the Smiths and their vocalist Morrissey , the Undertones , Joan Jett & the Blackhearts , David Bowie , Japan , D Generation , Billy Idol , Terry Chambers of XTC , Def Leppard , R.E.M. ,
12566-467: The 19th century and later on by Willie Johnson and Pat Hare in the early 1950s, was popularized by Link Wray in the late 1950s. Commentators have traditionally perceived a decline of rock and roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By 1959, the death of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash, the departure of Elvis for the army, the retirement of Little Richard to become
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#173277309558012772-483: The American folk standard " Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah ". In the opinion of critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine , the album's rowdy hard rock songs also revamp riffs from Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones, resulting in music that sounds edgy and threatening in spite of the New York Dolls' wittingly kitsch and camp sensibilities. "Personality Crisis" features raunchy dual guitars, boogie-woogie piano, and
12978-477: The Banshees , Ultravox , and Simple Minds , showed the influence of progressive rock, as well as their more usually recognized punk influences. In the late 1960s, jazz-rock emerged as a distinct subgenre out of the blues-rock, psychedelic, and progressive rock scenes, mixing the power of rock with the musical complexity and improvisational elements of jazz. AllMusic states that the term jazz-rock "may refer to
13184-572: The Beatles, demonstrating "to the rock generation in general that an album could be a major standalone statement without hit singles", such as on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963). Folk rock particularly took off in California, where it led acts like the Mamas & the Papas and Crosby, Stills, and Nash to move to electric instrumentation, and in New York, where it spawned performers including
13390-617: The Byrds ' shift from folk to folk rock from 1965. The psychedelic lifestyle, which revolved around hallucinogenic drugs, had already developed in San Francisco and particularly prominent products of the scene were Big Brother and the Holding Company , the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane . The Jimi Hendrix Experience 's lead guitarist, Jimi Hendrix did extended distorted, feedback-filled jams which became
13596-431: The Byrds adopted rock instrumentation, including drums and 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, which became a major element in the sound of the genre. Later that year Dylan adopted electric instruments, much to the outrage of many folk purists, with his " Like a Rolling Stone " becoming a US hit single. According to Ritchie Unterberger , Dylan (even before his adoption of electric instruments) influenced rock musicians like
13802-640: The Clash and the Damned . In Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol , guitarist Steve Jones cited the New York Dolls as one of the most influential bands on the Sex Pistols style, and in a 2023 interview with Spin , Dave Vanian of the Damned listed the New York Dolls' self-titled album as one of his five albums "I Can't Live Without". The Guardian writer Ian Gittins called the album "the Year Zero of punk rock". The band continued to inspire punk bands as
14008-498: The Dolls on 7 October 1975, their contract with Mercury having expired on 8 August 1975 - five months after Thunders' and Nolan's departures from the band. Their show at the Beacon Theatre , on New Year's Eve, 1975 met with great critical acclaim. After a drunken argument with Sylvain, Robison was fired and replaced by pianist/keyboardist Bobbie Blaine formerly a member of Street Punk. The group toured throughout 1976, performing
14214-481: The Dolls when they began performing late in 1971 – awful and ugly were more like it. Moreover, at the time, the Dolls were associated with glam-rock and David Bowie in his most flamboyantly gay period, an understandable mistake. — Ken Tucker 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
14420-407: The Dolls' songs represented an attitude that Reed's work with the Velvet Underground embodied, as did the Dolls' distinct lack of musicianship." When they began performing, four of the band's five members wore Spandex and platform boots , while Johansen—the band's lyricist and "conceptmaster"— often preferred high heels and a dress occasionally. Fashion historian Valerie Steele said that, while
14626-503: The Dolls. When Sylvain left the band to spend a few months in London , Thunders and Murcia went their separate ways. Thunders was eventually recruited by Kane and Rick Rivets , who had been playing together in the Bronx . At Thunders' suggestion, Murcia replaced the original drummer. Thunders played lead guitar and sang for the band Actress. An October 1971 rehearsal tape recorded by Rivets
14832-594: The Dominos , followed by an extensive solo career that helped bring blues rock into the mainstream. Green, along with the Bluesbreaker's rhythm section Mick Fleetwood and John McVie , formed Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac , who enjoyed some of the greatest commercial success in the genre. In the late 1960s Jeff Beck , also an alumnus of the Yardbirds, moved blues rock in the direction of heavy rock with his band,
15038-622: The Faces at the Empire Pool in Wembley. However, on the New York Dolls' first tour of England that year, Murcia died after consuming a lethal combination of alcohol and methaqualone . They enlisted Jerry Nolan as his replacement, while managers Marty Thau , Steve Leber, and David Krebs still struggled to find the band a record deal . After returning to New York, the Dolls played to capacity crowds at venues such as Max's Kansas City and
15244-507: The Gates of Dawn . Key recordings included Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow and the Doors ' self-titled debut album . These trends peaked in the 1969 Woodstock festival , which saw performances by most of the major psychedelic acts. Sgt. Pepper was later regarded as the greatest album of all time and a starting point for the album era , during which rock music transitioned from
15450-765: The Harry Smiths. On July 20, 2006, the New York Dolls appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien , followed by a live performance in Philadelphia at the WXPN All About The Music Festival, and on July 22, 2006, a taped appearance on The Henry Rollins Show . On August 18, 2006, the band performed in a free concert at New York's Seaport Music. In October 2006, the band embarked on a UK tour, with Sylvain taking time while in Glasgow to speak to John Kilbride of STV. The discussion covered
15656-471: The Jeff Beck Group . The last Yardbirds guitarist was Jimmy Page , who went on to form The New Yardbirds which rapidly became Led Zeppelin . Many of the songs on their first three albums, and occasionally later in their careers, were expansions on traditional blues songs. In America, blues rock had been pioneered in the early 1960s by guitarist Lonnie Mack , but the genre began to take off in
15862-506: The Joint " (1949), also covered by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1952; and " Rocket 88 " by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (in fact, Ike Turner and his band the Kings of Rhythm ), recorded by Sam Phillips for Chess Records in 1951. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music (then termed " race music ") for a multi-racial audience, and
16068-503: The Lovin' Spoonful and Simon and Garfunkel , with the latter's acoustic " The Sounds of Silence " (1965) being remixed with rock instruments to be the first of many hits. These acts directly influenced British performers like Donovan and Fairport Convention . In 1969 Fairport Convention abandoned their mixture of American covers and Dylan-influenced songs to play traditional English folk music on electric instruments. This British folk-rock
16274-517: The New York Dolls and would go on to have a significant influence themselves. The New York Dolls were the catalyst for New York's early punk rock scene, which included Television , Talking Heads , Patti Smith , the Ramones , Blondie and Richard Hell and the Voidoids , in addition to being one of the most influential bands to the development of British punk rock, particularly the Sex Pistols ,
16480-480: The New York Dolls as "the best hard rock band in the country and maybe the world right now", writing that their "special genius" is combining the shrewd songwriting savvy of early-1960s pop with the anarchic sound of late-1960s heavy metal . He claimed that the record's frenzied approach, various emotions, and wild noise convey Manhattan's harsh, deviant thrill better than the Velvet Underground . In an overall positive review, Rolling Stone critic Tony Glover found
16686-411: 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. 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". Robert Hilburn , writing for
16892-440: The New York Dolls' divisive effect on listeners, including writers from the same magazine. In a feature story on the band for Melody Maker prior to the album, Mark Plummer had dismissed their playing as the poorest he had ever seen, while the magazine's reporter Michael Watts viewed them as an encouraging albeit momentary presence in what he felt was a lifeless rock and roll scene at the time. In Creem ' s readers poll,
17098-491: The New York Dolls' second breakup, Johansen began a solo career. By the late 1980s, he achieved moderate success under the pseudonym, Buster Poindexter . Sylvain formed The Criminals, a popular band at CBGB . A posthumous New York Dolls album, Lipstick Killers , made up of early demo tapes of the original Dolls (with Billy Murcia on drums), was released in a cassette-only edition on ROIR Records in 1981, and subsequently re-released on CD, and then on vinyl in early 2006. All
17304-780: The Replacements , Soul Asylum , Alice in Chains , Soundgarden , Bruce Fairweather and Stone Gossard of Green River and Mother Love Bone (the latter also of Pearl Jam ), Ruby and the Rednecks , Hollywood Brats , Hoodoo Gurus , the Scientists , Palaye Royale , Marilyn Manson , Jetboy , Rock City Angels , the Cramps , the Libertines and the Manic Street Preachers . Rock music Rock
17510-476: The Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds , were much more directly influenced by rhythm and blues and later blues music. Soon these groups were composing their own material, combining US forms of music and infusing it with a high energy beat. Beat bands tended towards "bouncy, irresistible melodies", while early British blues acts tended towards less sexually innocent, more aggressive songs, often adopting an anti-establishment stance. There was, however, particularly in
17716-588: The Searchers from Liverpool and Freddie and the Dreamers , Herman's Hermits and the Hollies from Manchester. They drew on a wide range of American influences including 1950s rock and roll, soul, rhythm and blues, and surf music, initially reinterpreting standard American tunes and playing for dancers. Bands like the Animals from Newcastle and Them from Belfast , and particularly those from London like
17922-672: The Seeds ) to near-studio musician quality (including the Knickerbockers , the Remains , and the Fifth Estate ). There were also regional variations in many parts of the country with flourishing scenes particularly in California and Texas. The Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon had perhaps the most defined regional sound. The style had been evolving from regional scenes as early as 1958. "Tall Cool One" (1959) by
18128-514: The Shangri-Las : "Their songs, as punky as they were, usually had a lot to do with the same old boy-girl thing but in a much more inebriated way." Johansen quotes the lyric "when I say I'm in love, you'd best believe I'm in love L-U-V" from the Shangri-Las' " Give Him a Great Big Kiss " (1964) when opening "Looking for a Kiss", which tells a story of adolescent romantic desire hampered by peers who use drugs. On "Subway Train", he uses lyrics from
18334-567: The Stooges ' Raw Power (1973), serves as the only one "so far to fully define just exactly where 1970s rock should be coming from". Trouser Press founder and editor Ira Robbins viewed New York Dolls as an innovative record, brilliantly chaotic, and well produced by Rundgren. Ellen Willis , writing for The New Yorker , said it is by far 1973's most compelling hard rock album and that at least half of its songs are immediate classics, particularly "Personality Crisis" and "Trash", which she called "transcendent". In Newsday , Christgau hailed
18540-459: The UK to play several more festivals through the remainder of 2004. In July 2005, the two surviving members announced a tour and a new album entitled One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This . Released on July 25, 2006, the album featured guitarist Steve Conte , bassist Sami Yaffa (ex- Hanoi Rocks ), drummer Brian Delaney and keyboardist Brian Koonin , formerly a member of David Johansen and
18746-553: The UK, the show's host Bob Harris dismissed their music as " mock rock " in his on-air comments. They also developed a reputation for rock-star excesses, including drugs, groupies , trashed hotel rooms, and public disturbances, and according to Ben Edmonds of Creem , became "the most walked-out-on band in the history of show business". Strongman wrote that the band and the album were difficult to market because of their kitschy style and how Murcia's death had exacerbated their association with hard drugs , which "wasn't altogether true in
18952-676: The US was becoming dominated by lightweight pop and ballads, British rock groups at clubs and local dances were developing a style more strongly influenced by blues-rock pioneers, and were starting to play with an intensity and drive seldom found in white American acts; this influence would go on to shape the future of rock music through the British Invasion . The first four years of the 1960s has traditionally been seen as an era of hiatus for rock and roll. More recently some authors have emphasised important innovations and trends in this period without which future developments would not have been possible. While early rock and roll, particularly through
19158-619: The USSR and South Africa from 1955 to 1957, influencing the globalisation of rock. Johnny O'Keefe 's 1958 record " Wild One " was one of the earliest Australian rock and roll hits. By the late 1950s, as well as in the American-influenced Western world, rock was popular in communist states such as Yugoslavia, and the USSR, as well as in regions such as South America. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, American blues music and blues rock artists, who had been surpassed by
19364-751: The Wailers and " Louie Louie " by the Kingsmen (1963) are mainstream examples of the genre in its formative stages. By 1963, garage band singles were creeping into the national charts in greater numbers, including Paul Revere and the Raiders (Boise), the Trashmen (Minneapolis) and the Rivieras (South Bend, Indiana). Other influential garage bands, such as the Sonics (Tacoma, Washington), never reached
19570-527: The advent of rockabilly, saw the greatest commercial success for male and white performers, in this era, the genre was dominated by black and female artists. Rock and roll had not disappeared entirely from music at the end of the 1950s and some of its energy can be seen in the various dance crazes of the early 1960s, started by Chubby Checker 's record " The Twist " (1960). Some music historians have also pointed to important and innovative technical developments that built on rock and roll in this period, including
19776-688: The album earned the band awards in the categories of "Best New Group of the Year" and "Worst New Group of the Year". After the album's release, the Dolls toured the US as a supporting act for English rock band Mott the Hoople . Reviews complimented their songwriting, Thunders and Sylvain's guitar interplay, and noted their campy fashion and the resemblance of Johansen and Thunders to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards . However, some critics panned them as an unserious group of amateurs who could not play or sing. During their appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test in
19982-521: The album's release, Mercury published an advertisement slogan that read "Introducing The New York Dolls: A Band You're Gonna Like, Whether You Like It Or Not", while other ads called them "The Band You Love to Hate". Two double A-sided , 7-inch singles were released – "Trash" / "Personality Crisis" in July and " Jet Boy " / "Vietnamese Baby" in November 1973 – neither of which charted . New York Dolls
20188-452: The album, the band chose which songs to record based on how well they had been received at their live shows. In Johansen's own words, "we went into a room and just recorded. It wasn't like these people who conceptualize things. It was just a document of what was going on at the time." In the studio, the New York Dolls dressed in their usual flashy clothes. Rundgren, who did not approve of their raucous sound, at one point yelled at them during
20394-643: The band undertook the "Dancing Backward in High Heels World Tour". This included dates in England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain and Australia. In the last week of October four additional gigs – billed as "Halloween Night Of Fear – were played in the UK, concluding at the Clyde Auditorium , Glasgow on October 31. In a 2016 interview, Earl Slick confirmed that the New York Dolls had again split. "Oh, yeah, it's long gone. There
20600-411: The band "captured both the glory and sorrow of glam, the high jinx and wasted youth, with electric photorealism". In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Joe Gross calls it an "absolutely essential" record and "epic sleaze, the sound of five young men shaping the big city in their own scuzzy image". New York Dolls appears frequently on professional listings of the greatest albums. In 1978, it
20806-433: The band and the festive atmosphere of the recording sessions proved to be more of a problem: "The Dolls were critics' darlings and the press had kind of adopted them. Plus, there were lots of extra people around, socializing, which made it hard to concentrate." New York Dolls was recorded there in eight days on a budget of $ 17,000 (equivalent to $ 117,000 in 2023). With a short amount of studio time and no concept in mind for
21012-478: The band as having invented the look of glam metal, and in Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians , Hank Bordowitz called the band the progenitors of hair metal and "the most important band that most people never heard". Prominent glam metal bands to take influence from the New York Dolls included Mötley Crüe , Poison , Ratt , Skid Row and Twisted Sister . With the increasing commercialisation of glam metal as
21218-426: The band could "capture the oppressive excitement Manhattan holds for a half-formed human being". "Private World", an escapist plea for stability, was co-written by Kane, who rarely contributed as a songwriter and felt overwhelmed as a young adult in the music business. Sylvain jokingly says "Frankenstein (Orig.)" was titled with the parenthetical qualifier because rock musician Edgar Winter had released his song of
21424-422: The band from the control room with engineer Jack Douglas and hardly spoke to them while they recorded the album. According to Scoppa, the group's carefree lifestyle probably conflicted with Rundgren's professional work ethic and schedule: "He doesn't put up with bullshit. I mean, [the band] rarely started their live sets before midnight, so who knows? Todd was very much in charge in the studio, however, and I got
21630-626: The band played in Australia and New Zealand, appearing at the V Festival with Pixies , Pet Shop Boys , Gnarls Barkley , Beck , Jarvis Cocker and Phoenix . On September 22, 2007, the New York Dolls were removed from the current artists section of Roadrunner Records' website, signifying the group's split with the label. The band played the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, London on July 4, 2008, with Morrissey and Beck and
21836-586: The band red leather outfits to wear on stage and a communist flag as backdrop ( communist chic ). The Dolls did a five-concert tour of New York's five boroughs, supported by Television and Pure Hell . The Little Hippodrome ( Manhattan ) show was recorded and released by New Rose Records subsidiary Fan Club in 1984 as Red Patent Leather , which was previously a bootleg album later remixed by Sylvain for official release, with former manager Marty Thau credited as executive producer. Due to Kane being unable to play that night, roadie Peter Jordan played bass, though he
22042-430: The band sounded live. New York Dolls features ten original songs and one cover – the 1963 Bo Diddley song "Pills". Johansen describes the album as "a little jewel of urban folk art". Rundgren, on the other hand, says the band's sensibilities were different from "the urban New York thing" because they had been raised outside Manhattan and drew on carefree rock and roll and Brill Building pop influences such as
22248-455: The band took on Marty Thau as manager. New York Dolls was produced by singer-songwriter, musician and solo artist Todd Rundgren . In an interview in Creem magazine, Rundgren says he barely touched the recording; everybody was debating how to do the mix. Sales were sluggish, especially in the middle US, and a Stereo Review magazine reviewer in 1973 compared the Dolls' guitar playing to
22454-476: The band was "kind of persona non grata, at the time, with most producers. They were afraid of us, I don't know why, but Todd wasn't. We all liked him from Max's ... Todd was cool and he was a producer." Sylvain, on the other hand, felt the decision to enlist him was based on availability, time, and money: "It wasn't a long list. Todd was in New York and seemed like he could handle the pace." Upon being hired, Rundgren declared that "the only person who can produce
22660-500: The band's history and the current state of their live show and songwriting, with Sylvain commenting that "even if you come to our show thinking 'how can it be like it was before,' we turn that around 'cos we've got such a great live rock 'n roll show". In November 2006, the Dolls began headlining " Little Steven's Underground Garage Presents the Rolling Rock and Roll Show," about 20 live gigs with numerous other bands. In April 2007,
22866-458: The band's impressive live sound to be mostly preserved on the album. However, he was slightly critical of production flourishes and overdubs, feeling that they make some lyrics sound incomprehensible and some choruses too sonorous. Although he was surprised at how well Rundgren's production works with the group's raunchy sound on most of the songs, Glover ultimately asked whether or not "the record alone will impress as much as seeing them live (they're
23072-585: The biggest selling rock band of all time and they were followed into the US charts by numerous British bands. During the next two years British acts dominated their own and the US charts with Peter and Gordon , the Animals, Manfred Mann , Petula Clark , Freddie and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders , Herman's Hermits, the Rolling Stones, the Troggs , and Donovan all having one or more number one singles. Other major acts that were part of
23278-405: The chart. Their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964, drawing an estimated 73 million viewers (at the time a record for an American television program) is considered a milestone in American pop culture. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held 12 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the entire top five. The Beatles went on to become
23484-424: The delights and limitations of the regional , and to deal with the depredations and benefits of mass culture itself. — Robert Christgau in Christgau's Record Guide (1981) Unlike many earlier styles of popular music, rock lyrics have dealt with a wide range of themes, including romantic love, sex, rebellion against " The Establishment ", social concerns, and life styles. These themes were inherited from
23690-455: The early 1970s among existing blues-rock and psychedelic bands, as well as newly formed acts. The vibrant Canterbury scene saw acts following Soft Machine from psychedelia, through jazz influences, toward more expansive hard rock, including Caravan , Hatfield and the North , Gong , and National Health . The French group Magma around drummer Christian Vander almost single-handedly created
23896-460: The early 1970s, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): The decade is, of course, an arbitrary schema itself—time doesn't just execute a neat turn toward the future every ten years. But like a lot of artificial concepts—money, say—the category does take on a reality of its own once people figure out how to put it to work. "The '60s are over,"
24102-574: The early days". They remained the most popular band in New York City, where their Halloween night concert at the Waldorf Astoria in 1973 drew hundreds of young fans and local television coverage. New York Dolls received acclaim from contemporary reviewers. In a rave review for NME , published in August 1973, Nick Kent said the band's raunchy style of rock and roll had been vividly recorded by Rundgren on an album that, besides Iggy and
24308-462: The early stages, considerable musical crossover between the two tendencies. By 1963, led by the Beatles, beat groups had begun to achieve national success in Britain, soon to be followed into the charts by the more rhythm and blues focused acts. " I Want to Hold Your Hand " was the Beatles' first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 , spending seven weeks at the top and a total of 15 weeks on
24514-577: The eccentric ethnomusicologist, performing jump blues, Delta blues, and some original songs. Sylvain formed his own band, the Criminals, then cut a solo album for RCA , while also working with Johansen. He later became a taxicab driver in New York. During this period, in the early 1990s, Sylvain moved to Los Angeles and recorded one album Sleep Baby Doll, on Fishhead Records. His band, for that record, consisted of Brian Keats on drums, Dave Vanian 's Phantom Chords, Speediejohn Carlucci (who had played with
24720-519: The electronic treatment of sound by such innovators as Joe Meek , and the elaborate production methods of the Wall of Sound pursued by Phil Spector . The instrumental rock and roll of performers such as Duane Eddy , Link Wray and the Ventures was further developed by Dick Dale , who added distinctive "wet" reverb , rapid alternate picking, and Middle Eastern and Mexican influences. He produced
24926-581: The example set by the Beatles ' 1965 LP Rubber Soul in particular, other British rock acts released rock albums intended as artistic statements in 1966, including the Rolling Stones ' Aftermath , the Beatles' own Revolver , and the Who 's A Quick One , as well as American acts in the Beach Boys ( Pet Sounds ) and Bob Dylan ( Blonde on Blonde ). Garage rock was a raw form of rock music, particularly prevalent in North America in
25132-420: The excesses of prog rock". According to Sylvain, the album's influence on punk can be attributed to how Rundgren recorded Sylvain's guitar through the left speaker and Thunders' guitar on the right side, an orientation younger bands such as the Ramones and the Sex Pistols subsequently adopted. Rundgren, on the other hand, was amused by how the record became considered a precursor to the punk movement: "The irony
25338-437: The fear ... David was asking if you – if I – could make it with the monster of life, whether I could embrace life in all its pain and dreams and disaster. Although the Dolls exhibit tongue-in-cheek qualities, Gary Graff observes a streetwise realism in the album's songs. In Christgau's opinion, Johansen's colloquial and morally superior lyrics are imbued with humor and a sense of human limits in songs whose fundamental theme
25544-498: The first record, and worldwide hit, for the Virgin Records label, which became a mainstay of the genre. Instrumental rock was particularly significant in continental Europe, allowing bands like Kraftwerk , Tangerine Dream , Can , Focus (band) and Faust to circumvent the language barrier. Their synthesiser-heavy " krautrock ", along with the work of Brian Eno (for a time the keyboard player with Roxy Music ), would be
25750-455: The folk scene. The first group to advertise themselves as psychedelic rock were the 13th Floor Elevators from Texas. The Beatles introduced many of the major elements of the psychedelic sound to audiences in this period, such as guitar feedback , the Indian sitar and backmasking sound effects . Psychedelic rock particularly took off in California's emerging music scene as groups followed
25956-513: The format of rock operas and opened the door to concept albums , often telling an epic story or tackling a grand overarching theme. King Crimson 's 1969 début album, In the Court of the Crimson King , which mixed powerful guitar riffs and mellotron , with jazz and symphonic music , is often taken as the key recording in progressive rock, helping the widespread adoption of the genre in
26162-465: The genre progressed, with the Misfits , Social Distortion and Green Day all recalling their influence. In the 1980s, the influence of the New York Dolls helped to form the glam metal genre. In particular, the band's androgynous aesthetic and wearing of spandex, dresses, high heels and teased hair were widely imitated amongst bands in the genre. Alternative Press writer Tim Stegall even credited
26368-544: The group in 1974 as "the Dead End Kids of today". After reuniting, they recruited new musicians to tour and record. They released three more albums— One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This (2006), Cause I Sez So (2009) and Dancing Backward in High Heels (2011). Following a 2011 British tour with Alice Cooper , the band once again disbanded. Sylvain Sylvain and Billy Murcia , who went to junior high school and high school together, started playing in
26574-625: The impact of the Vietnam War at the time on everyday activities for people, whose fun is undermined by thoughts of collective guilt . On songs such as "Subway Train" and "Trash", Johansen uses ambiguity as a lyrical mode. In Kogan's opinion, Johansen sings in an occasionally unintelligible manner and writes in a perplexing, fictional style that is lazy yet ingenious, as it provides his lyrics an abundance of "emotional meaning" and interpretation: "David never provides an objective framework, he's always jumping from voice to voice, so you're hearing
26780-458: The impetus was soon taken up by a second wave of bands that drew their inspiration more directly from American blues , including the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds . British blues musicians of the late 1950s and early 1960s had been inspired by the acoustic playing of figures such as Lead Belly , who was a major influence on the Skiffle craze, and Robert Johnson . Increasingly they adopted
26986-542: The impression that everybody was looking to him." I think [Todd] was actually quite taken that we obviously derived our talent from the streets. We may not have been professionally trained, but we could still write three minutes worth of magic. He probably played with other well-seasoned players who may have graduated from Juilliard or worked with the orchestra pit , but could they write a damn good fucking tune? Todd knew we were writing tunes for our generation. — Sylvain Sylvain (2009) Although Sylvain said Rundgren
27192-467: The invasion included the Kinks and the Dave Clark Five . The British Invasion helped internationalize the production of rock and roll, opening the door for subsequent British (and Irish) performers to achieve international success. In America it arguably spelled the end of instrumental surf music, vocal girl groups and (for a time) the teen idols , that had dominated the American charts in
27398-517: The label were R&B oriented white rock bands that made use of jazzy horn sections, like Electric Flag , Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago , to become some of the most commercially successful acts of the later 1960s and the early 1970s. British acts to emerge in the same period from the blues scene, to make use of the tonal and improvisational aspects of jazz, included Nucleus and the Graham Bond and John Mayall spin-off Colosseum . From
27604-450: The label. Scoppa initially viewed them as an amusing but inferior version of the Rolling Stones : "I split after the first set. Paul stuck around for the second set, though, and after the show he called me and said, 'You should have stayed. I think they're really special.' Then, after that, I fell in love with them anyway." In March 1973, the group signed a two-album deal with a US $ 25,000 advance from Mercury. According to Sylvain, some of
27810-446: The late 1950s and 1960s. It dented the careers of established R&B acts like Fats Domino and Chubby Checker and even temporarily derailed the chart success of surviving rock and roll acts, including Elvis. The British Invasion also played a major part in the rise of a distinct genre of rock music, and cemented the primacy of the rock group, based on guitars and drums and producing their own material as singer-songwriters. Following
28016-408: The later 1980s, Johansen, ever-evolving, decided to try to liberate himself from the expectations of his New York Dolls perceived persona, and, on a whim, created the persona Buster Poindexter. The success of this act led him to be invited to appear in multiple films: Scrooged , Freejack , and Let it Ride , among others. He also formed a band called David Johansen and the Harry Smiths , named after
28222-410: The loudest, wildest, most electrified fusion bands from the jazz camp, but most often it describes performers coming from the rock side of the equation." Jazz-rock "...generally grew out of the most artistically ambitious rock subgenres of the late '60s and early '70s", including the singer-songwriter movement. Many early US rock and roll musicians had begun in jazz and carried some of these elements into
28428-471: 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". According to James McNair of The Independent , "when they began pedalling their trashy glam-punk around lower Manhattan in 1971, they were more burlesque act than band; a bunch of lipsticked, gutter chic-endorsing cross-dressers". Music journalist Nick Kent argued that
28634-476: The many recordings which have been suggested as "the first rock and roll record ". Contenders include " Strange Things Happening Every Day " by Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1944); " That's All Right " by Arthur Crudup (1946), which was later covered by Elvis Presley in 1954; " The House of Blue Lights " by Ella Mae Morse and Freddie Slack (1946); Wynonie Harris ' " Good Rocking Tonight " (1948); Goree Carter 's "Rock Awhile" (1949); Jimmy Preston 's " Rock
28840-448: The members in drag for shock value . New York Dolls received acclaim but sold poorly and polarized listeners. The band proved difficult to market outside their native New York and developed a reputation for rock-star excesses while touring the United States in support of the album. Despite its commercial failure, New York Dolls helped shape the 1970s punk rock movement; the group's crude musicianship and youthful attitude challenged
29046-598: The members' parents had to sign for them because they were not old enough to sign themselves. For the New York Dolls' debut album, Mercury wanted to find a record producer who could make the most out of the group's sound and the hype they had received from critics and fans in New York. At the band's first board meeting in Chicago, Johansen fell asleep in Mercury's conference room while record executives discussed potential producers. He awoke when they mentioned Todd Rundgren ,
29252-674: The mid-1950s by white singers such as Carl Perkins , Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and with the greatest commercial success, Elvis Presley . Hispanic and Latino American movements in rock and roll, which would eventually lead to the success of Latin rock and Chicano rock within the US, began to rise in the Southwest ; with rock and roll standard musician Ritchie Valens and even those within other heritage genres, such as Al Hurricane along with his brothers Tiny Morrie and Baby Gaby as they began combining rock and roll with country- western within traditional New Mexico music . In addition,
29458-609: The mid-1960s the Left Banke , the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys, had pioneered the inclusion of harpsichords , wind , and string sections on their recordings to produce a form of Baroque rock and can be heard in singles like Procol Harum 's " A Whiter Shade of Pale " (1967), with its Bach -inspired introduction. The Moody Blues used a full orchestra on their album Days of Future Passed (1967) and subsequently created orchestral sounds with synthesizers. Classical orchestration, keyboards, and synthesizers were
29664-479: The mid-1960s and so called because of the perception that it was rehearsed in the suburban family garage. Garage rock songs often revolved around the traumas of high school life, with songs about "lying girls" and unfair social circumstances being particularly common. The lyrics and delivery tended to be more aggressive than was common at the time, often with growled or shouted vocals that dissolved into incoherent screaming. They ranged from crude one-chord music (like
29870-435: The mid-1960s as acts developed a sound similar to British blues musicians. Key acts included Paul Butterfield (whose band acted like Mayall's Bluesbreakers in Britain as a starting point for many successful musicians), Canned Heat , the early Jefferson Airplane , Janis Joplin , Johnny Winter , the J. Geils Band and Jimi Hendrix with his power trios , the Jimi Hendrix Experience (which included two British members, and
30076-401: The mid-1960s onwards, rock music often used the verse–chorus structure derived from blues and folk music, but there has been considerable variation from this model. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock. Because of its complex history and its tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that "it is impossible to bind rock music to
30282-446: The most popular cult records in rock. The line-up at this time consisted of 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. On stage, they donned an androgynous wardrobe, wearing high heels, eccentric hats, satin, makeup, spandex, and dresses. Nolan described
30488-418: The music biz. They were petrified of the Dolls. They thought they were homosexual. It wasn't just homophobia; it was still illegal to be homosexual . People don't remember that it was the law. To say the Dolls, guys who wore makeup, were your friends was like saying you knew a criminal. — Bob Gruen (2006) In October 1972, the group garnered the interest of critics when they opened for English rock band
30694-414: The new music genre zeuhl with their first albums in the early 1970s. Greater commercial success was enjoyed by Pink Floyd, who also moved away from psychedelia after the departure of Syd Barrett in 1968, with The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), seen as a masterpiece of the genre, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. There was an emphasis on instrumental virtuosity, with Yes showcasing
30900-608: The new music. In Britain the subgenre of blues rock, and many of its leading figures, like Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce of the Eric Clapton -fronted band Cream , had emerged from the British jazz scene. Often highlighted as the first true jazz-rock recording is the only album by the relatively obscure New York–based the Free Spirits with Out of Sight and Sound (1966). The first group of bands to self-consciously use
31106-562: The prevailing trend of musical sophistication in popular music, particularly progressive rock . In 1971, vocalist David Johansen formed the New York Dolls with guitarists Johnny Thunders and Rick Rivets , bassist Arthur Kane , and drummer Billy Murcia ; Rivets was replaced by Sylvain Sylvain in 1972. The band was meant to be a temporary project for the members, who were club-going youths that had gone to New York City with different career pursuits. As Sylvain recalled, "We just said 'Hey, maybe this will get us some chicks.' That seemed like
31312-471: The psychedelic rock and the Canterbury scenes came Soft Machine, who, it has been suggested, produced one of the artistically successfully fusions of the two genres. Perhaps the most critically acclaimed fusion came from the jazz side of the equation, with Miles Davis , particularly influenced by the work of Hendrix, incorporating rock instrumentation into his sound for the album Bitches Brew (1970). It
31518-520: The quintet hired producer George "Shadow" Morton , whose productions for the Shangri-Las and other girl-groups in the mid-1960s had been among the band's favorites. By 1975, the Dolls were playing smaller venues than they had been previously. Drug and alcohol abuse by Thunders, Nolan, and Kane, as well as artistic differences added to the tensions among members. In late February or early March, Malcolm McLaren became their informal manager. He got
31724-512: The record at number 213 on its 500 greatest albums list in 2003 and "Personality Crisis" at number 271 on its 500 greatest songs list the following year. In 2007, Mojo polled a panel of prominent recording artists and songwriters for the magazine's "100 Records That Changed the World" publication, in which New York Dolls was voted the 39th most influential and inspirational record ever. In 2013, it placed at number 355 on NME ' s list of
31930-567: The record. They jokingly referred to them as "automatic guitars" due to their limited sound shaping features. To amplify their guitars, they ran a Marshall Plexi standalone amplifier through the speaker cabinets of a Fender Dual Showman , and occasionally used a Fender Twin Reverb . Some songs were embellished with additional instruments, including Buddy Bowser's brassy saxophone on "Lonely Planet Boy". Johansen sang into distorted guitar pickups for additional vocals and overdubbed them into
32136-427: The record: "It's too easy for it to become a free-for-all, with every musician only hearing their own part and not the whole. They all had other places to be, so rather than split, they rushed the thing and if that wasn't enough they took it to the crappy mastering lab that Mercury had put them in." Thunders famously complained to a journalist that Rundgren "fucked up the mix" on New York Dolls , adding to stories that
32342-653: The regional hit " Let's Go Trippin ' " in 1961 and launched the surf music craze, following up with songs like " Misirlou " (1962). Like Dale and his Del-Tones , most early surf bands were formed in Southern California, including the Bel-Airs , the Challengers , and Eddie & the Showmen . The Chantays scored a top ten national hit with " Pipeline " in 1963 and probably the best-known surf tune
32548-501: The remainder of the tour after which the band broke up. Following the tour's conclusion and announcement of the band's breakup on April 25, Duren and Kane moved to Los Angeles to form the short-lived band Killer Kane. The band reformed in July for an August tour in Japan with Jeff Beck and Felix Pappalardi . Johansen, Sylvain and Jordan were joined by former Elephant's Memory keyboardist Chris Robison and drummer Tony Machine. One of
32754-400: The rise of rock and roll in the US, found new popularity in the UK, visiting with successful tours. Lonnie Donegan 's 1955 hit " Rock Island Line " was a major influence and helped to develop the trend of skiffle music groups throughout the country, many of which, including John Lennon 's Quarrymen (later the Beatles ), moved on to play rock and roll. While former rock and roll market in
32960-475: The romantic concept of art as artistic expression, original and sincere". In the new millennium, the term rock has occasionally been used as a blanket term including forms like pop music, reggae music , soul music , and even hip hop , which it has been influenced with but often contrasted through much of its history. Christgau has used the term broadly to refer to popular and semipopular music that caters to his sensibility as "a rock-and-roller", including
33166-522: The same era, and by percussion produced from a drum kit that combines drums and cymbals. This trio of instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments, particularly keyboards such as the piano, the Hammond organ , and the synthesizer. The basic rock instrumentation was derived from the basic blues band instrumentation (prominent lead guitar, second chordal instrument, bass, and drums). A group of musicians performing rock music
33372-445: The same name before the band could record their own: "Our song 'Frankenstein' was a big hit in our live show ... Now, his thing didn't sound at all like ours, but I'm sure he stole our title." Johansen, the band's main lyricist, says "Frankenstein (Orig.)" is about "how kids come to Manhattan from all over, they're kind of like whipped dogs, they're very repressed. Their bodies and brains are disoriented from each other ... it's
33578-620: The same week that they quit the Dolls. Thunders later pursued a solo career. He died in New Orleans on 23 April 1991, allegedly of an overdose of both heroin and methadone . It also came to light that he suffered from t-cell leukemia . Nolan died on 14 January 1992 following a stroke , brought about by bacterial meningitis . In 1976, Kane and Blackie Lawless formed the Killer Kane Band in Los Angeles. Immediately after
33784-555: The second half of the 1970s, punk rock reacted by producing stripped-down, energetic social and political critiques. Punk was an influence in the 1980s on new wave , post-punk and eventually alternative rock . From the 1990s, alternative rock began to dominate rock music and break into the mainstream in the form of grunge , Britpop , and indie rock . Further fusion subgenres have since emerged, including pop-punk , electronic rock , rap rock , and rap metal . Some movements were conscious attempts to revisit rock's history, including
33990-421: The sense that Johansen demonstrated a "propensity to incorporate certain cultural references into the music", particularly on " Personality Crisis ". While recording the song, Johansen walked back into the control room and asked Rundgren if his vocals sounded "ludicrous enough". Because the Dolls had little money, Sylvain and Thunders played the austerely designed and affordable Gibson Les Paul Junior guitars on
34196-450: The sessions to "get the glitter out of your asses and play". Sylvain recalled Rundgren inviting Buell and their Chihuahua to the studio and putting the latter atop an expensive mixing console , while Johansen acknowledged that his recollections of the sessions have since been distorted by what he has read about them: "It was like the 1920s, with palm tree décor and stuff. Well, that's how I remember it, anyway." He also said Rundgren directed
34402-422: The shows was documented on the album Tokyo Dolls Live (Fan Club/New Rose). The material is similar to that on Red Patent Leather , but notable for a radically re-arranged "Frankenstein" and a cover of Big Joe Turner 's "Flip Flop Fly". The album is undated and has no production credit, but was issued circa 1986. After their return to New York, the Dolls resumed playing shows in the US and Canada. Mercury dropped
34608-546: The singles format to albums and achieved cultural legitimacy in the mainstream. Led by the Beatles in the mid-1960s, rock musicians advanced the LP as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, initiating a rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. Progressive rock, a term sometimes used interchangeably with art rock , moved beyond established musical formulas by experimenting with different instruments, song types, and forms. From
34814-413: The skills of both guitarist Steve Howe and keyboard player Rick Wakeman , while Emerson, Lake & Palmer were a supergroup who produced some of the genre's most technically demanding work. Jethro Tull and Genesis both pursued very different, but distinctly English, brands of music. Renaissance , formed in 1969 by ex-Yardbirds Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, evolved into a high-concept band featuring
35020-504: The sloppy, rambunctious Dolls of punk mythology but of a tight, lean hard-rock band." According to the Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1995), the New York Dolls were "one of the most influential rock bands of the last 20 years". Writer Sean Sennett credited the band as a part of a legacy of raunchy, influential rock bands predated by the Rolling Stones, and succeeded by Aerosmith and Hanoi Rocks and eventually Guns N' Roses . By
35226-549: The song. He also played an Asian gong for "Vietnamese Baby" and harmonica on "Pills". For "Personality Crisis", Sylvain originally played on the Record Plant's Yamaha grand piano before Rundgren added his own piano flourishes to both that song and "Private World". Rundgren also contributed to the background vocals heard on " Trash " and played synthesizers on "Vietnamese Baby" and "Frankenstein (Orig.)", which Sylvain recalled: "I remember him getting those weird sounds from this beautiful old Moog synthesizer he brought in. He said it
35432-549: The sound of lawnmowers . America's mass rock audience's reaction to the Dolls was mixed. In a Creem magazine poll, they were elected both best and worst new group of 1973. The Dolls also toured Europe, and, while appearing on UK television, host Bob Harris of the BBC 's Old Grey Whistle Test derided the group as " mock rock ", comparing them unfavorably to the Rolling Stones . For their next album, Too Much Too Soon ,
35638-449: The studio, overheard Rundgren say, "Yeah, that's all you needed. Okay, let's try it again!", and ultimately found the exchange funny and indicative of Rundgren's opinion of the band: "Todd was such a 'musician' while they were just getting by on attitude and energy. But as disdainful as he appeared to be at some points he got the job done really well." Rundgren felt Johansen's wild singing often sounded screamed or drunken but also eloquent in
35844-558: The three-octave voice of Annie Haslam . Most British bands depended on a relatively small cult following, but a handful, including Pink Floyd, Genesis, and Jethro Tull, managed to produce top ten singles at home and break the American market. The American brand of progressive rock varied from the eclectic and innovative Frank Zappa , Captain Beefheart and Blood, Sweat & Tears , to more pop rock orientated bands like Boston , Foreigner , Kansas , Journey , and Styx . These, beside British bands Supertramp and ELO , all demonstrated
36050-493: The time he was enlisted to produce the New York Dolls' debut album. Consequently, his initial impression of the group was that of a humorous live act who were technically competent only by the standards of other unsophisticated New York bands. "The Dolls weren't out to expand any musical horizons", said Rundgren, although he enjoyed Thunders' "attitude" and Johansen's charismatic antics onstage. Johansen had thought of Rundgren as "an expert on second rate rock 'n' roll", but also said
36256-436: The time the band's debut album was released, they had already spawned a number of derivative bands in New York including the Stilettos , the Brats , Teenage Lust and the Harlots. Two of the earliest groups that they inspired were Kiss and Aerosmith, which would in turn become two of the most influential bands in rock music, especially hard rock and heavy metal . Hanoi Rocks ' music and aesthetic too were heavily inspired by
36462-422: The tracks from this title – sometimes referred to as The Mercer Street Sessions (though actually recorded at Blue Rock Studio , New York) – are included on the CD Private World , along with other tracks recorded elsewhere, including a previously unreleased Dolls original, "Endless Party". Three more unreleased studio tracks, including another previously unreleased Dolls original, "Lone Star Queen", are included on
36668-422: The two had clashed during the album's recording. Both Johansen and Scoppa later said they did not see any conflict between the two and that Thunders' typically foolish behavior was misinterpreted. Johansen later praised Rundgren for how he enhanced and equalized each instrument, giving listeners the impression that "[they're] in a room and there's a band playing", while Sylvain said his mix accurately captured how
36874-409: The vehicle for cultural and social movements, leading to major subcultures including mods and rockers in the U.K., the hippie movement and the wider Western counterculture movement that spread out from San Francisco in the U.S. in the 1960s, the latter of which continues to this day. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the goth , punk, and emo subcultures. Inheriting the folk tradition of
37080-405: The way for the New Order. — Tony Parsons (1977) New York Dolls has been called one of the greatest debut albums in rock music, one of the genre's most popular cult records, and a foundation for the late 1970s punk rock movement. Chuck Eddy considers it crucial to rock's evolution. The album influenced many rock and roll, punk, and glam rock groups, including the Ramones , Kiss ,
37286-405: The website's senior editor – claims that New York Dolls is a more quintessential proto-punk album than any of the Stooges' releases because of how it "plunders history while celebrating it, creating a sleazy urban mythology along the way". David Fricke considers it to be a more definitive glam rock album than David Bowie 's Ziggy Stardust (1972) or anything by Marc Bolan because of how
37492-418: The work of the Beach Boys , formed in 1961 in Southern California. Their early albums included both instrumental surf rock (among them covers of music by Dick Dale) and vocal songs, drawing on rock and roll and doo wop and the close harmonies of vocal pop acts like the Four Freshmen . The Beach Boys first chart hit, " Surfin ' " in 1961 reached the Billboard top 100 and helped make the surf music craze
37698-533: The work of established performers such as the Rolling Stones' Beggar's Banquet (1968) and the Beatles' Let It Be (1970). Reflecting on this change of trends in rock music over the past few years, Christgau wrote in his June 1970 "Consumer Guide" column that this "new orthodoxy" and "cultural lag" abandoned improvisatory, studio-ornamented productions in favor of an emphasis on "tight, spare instrumentation" and song composition: "Its referents are '50s rock, country music, and rhythm-and-blues, and its key inspiration
37904-404: The world, except as a new brand of painkiller ... In the '70s the powerful took over, as rock industrialists capitalized on the national mood to reduce potent music to an often reactionary species of entertainment—and to transmute rock's popular base from the audience to market." Roots rock is the term now used to describe a move away from what some saw as the excesses of the psychedelic scene, to
38110-462: Was John Mayall ; his band, the Bluesbreakers , included Eric Clapton (after Clapton's departure from the Yardbirds) and later Peter Green . Particularly significant was the release of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (Beano) album (1966), considered one of the seminal British blues recordings and the sound of which was much emulated in both Britain and the United States. Eric Clapton went on to form supergroups Cream, Blind Faith , and Derek and
38316-460: Was 1963's " Wipe Out ", by the Surfaris , which hit number 2 and number 10 on the Billboard charts in 1965. Surf rock was also popular in Europe during this time, with the British group the Shadows scoring hits in the early 1960s with instrumentals such as " Apache " and " Kon-Tiki ", while Swedish surf group the Spotnicks saw success in both Sweden and Britain. Surf music achieved its greatest commercial success as vocal pop music, particularly
38522-473: Was a major influence on subsequent rock-influenced jazz artists, including Herbie Hancock , Chick Corea and Weather Report . The genre began to fade in the late 1970s, as a mellower form of fusion began to take its audience, but acts like Steely Dan , Frank Zappa and Joni Mitchell recorded significant jazz-influenced albums in this period, and it has continued to be a major influence on rock music. Reflecting on developments that occurred in rock music in
38728-431: Was a model that only he and the Beatles had." New York Dolls was mixed in less than half a day. Rundgren felt the band seemed distracted and disinterested at that point, so he tried unsuccessfully to ban them from the mixing session. For the final mix, he minimized the sound of Nolan's drumming. In retrospect, Rundgren said the quality of the mix was poor because the band had hurried and questioned him while mixing
38934-401: Was commercially unsuccessful and only reached number 116 on the American Top LPs while in the UK it failed to chart altogether. The record sold over 100,000 copies at the time and fell well short of expectations in the press. According to Rolling Stone in 2003, it ended up selling fewer than 500,000 copies. Music journalist Phil Strongman said its commercial failure could be attributed to
39140-424: Was continued in the 1970s by figures such as George Thorogood and Pat Travers , but, particularly on the British scene (except perhaps for the advent of groups such as Status Quo and Foghat who moved towards a form of high energy and repetitive boogie rock ), bands became focused on heavy metal innovation, and blues rock began to slip out of the mainstream. By the 1960s, the scene that had developed out of
39346-571: Was credited as having played "second bass". Jordan filled in for Kane when he was unable to play numerous times, such as following a thumb injury sustained prior to the band's 1973 West Coast dates. In March and April, McLaren took the band on a tour of South Carolina and Florida . Jordan replaced Kane for most of those shows. Thunders and Nolan left after an argument, forming The Heartbreakers with Richard Hell on April 11. Subsequently, Blackie Lawless , then known by his birth name of Steven Duren, who later founded W.A.S.P. , replaced Thunders for
39552-531: Was found dead on the morning of November 6, 1972, at the age of 21. Once back in New York, the Dolls auditioned drummers, including Marc Bell (who was to go on to play with Richard Hell , and with the Ramones under the stage name " Marky Ramone "), Peter Criscuola (better known as Peter Criss , the original and former drummer of Kiss ), and Jerry Nolan , a friend of the band. They selected Nolan, and after US Mercury Records ' A&R man Paul Nelson signed them, they began sessions for their debut album. In 1972,
39758-449: Was founded in Britain), and Band of Gypsys , whose guitar virtuosity and showmanship would be among the most emulated of the decade. Blues rock bands from the southern states, like the Allman Brothers Band , Lynyrd Skynyrd , and ZZ Top , incorporated country elements into their style to produce the distinctive genre Southern rock . Early blues rock bands often emulated jazz, playing long, involved improvisations, which would later be
39964-439: Was his favorite rock album. New York Dolls was included in Neil Strauss 's 1996 list of the 100 most influential alternative records, and the Spin Alternative Record Guide (1995) named it the 70th best alternative album. In 2002, it was included on a list published by Q of the 100 best punk records, while Mojo named it both the 13th greatest punk album and the 49th greatest album of all time. Rolling Stone placed
40170-437: Was no point in doing it anymore and it was kinda spent. You know, David really does enjoy the Buster thing. He's so good at it. I've seen him do it a couple of times this last year, and man! He's got it down, you know." Sylvain Sylvain died on January 13, 2021, at age 69, leaving David Johansen as the last surviving original member of the band. Certainly neither great nor punk in any of its variations were words applied to
40376-422: Was not an interfering producer, he occasionally involved himself to improve a take . Sylvain recalled moments when Rundgren went into the isolation booth with Nolan when he struggled keeping a beat and drummed out beats on a cowbell for him to use as a click track . During another session, he stopped a take and walked out of the control room to plug in Kane's bass cabinet . Scoppa, who paid afternoon visits to
40582-526: Was not only moved to form his own influential group, The Smiths ... but would eventually convince the surviving Dolls to reunite [in 2004]". According to The Mojo Collection (2007), New York Dolls ignited punk rock and could still inspire more movements because of the music's abundant attitude and passion, while Encyclopedia of Popular Music writer Colin Larkin deems it "a major landmark in rock history, oozing attitude, vitality and controversy from every note". Writing for AllMusic , Erlewine –
40788-467: Was on Christmas Eve 1971 at a homeless shelter, the Endicott Hotel . After getting a manager and attracting some music industry interest, the New York Dolls got a break when Rod Stewart invited them to open for him at a London concert. While on a brief tour of England in 1972, Murcia was invited to a party, where he passed out from an overdose. He was put in a bathtub and force-fed coffee in an attempt to revive him. Instead, it resulted in asphyxiation. He
40994-400: Was released as Dawn of the Dolls. When Thunders decided that he no longer wanted to be the front man, David Johansen joined the band. Initially, the group was composed of singer David Johansen, guitarists Johnny Thunders and Rick Rivets (who was replaced by Sylvain Sylvain after a few months), bass guitarist Arthur "Killer" Kane and drummer Billy Murcia. The original line-up's first performance
41200-458: Was released on March 15, 2011. On March 1, 2011, it was announced the New York Dolls would be the opening act for a summer tour featuring Mötley Crüe and Poison . They announced a new lineup for the tour, featuring guitarist Earl Slick , who held previous stints with David Bowie and John Lennon , bassist Kenny Aaronson , who had toured with Bob Dylan , and drummer Jason Sutter , formerly of Foreigner . Between late March and October 2011,
41406-411: Was taken up by bands including Pentangle , Steeleye Span and the Albion Band , which in turn prompted Irish groups like Horslips and Scottish acts like the JSD Band , Spencer's Feat and later Five Hand Reel , to use their traditional music to create a brand of Celtic rock in the early 1970s. Folk-rock reached its peak of commercial popularity in the period 1967–68, before many acts moved off in
41612-548: Was taking place globally in the aftermath of the Second World War . Cliff Richard is credited with one of the first rock and roll hits outside of North America with " Move It " (1959), effectively ushering in the sound of British rock . Several artists, most prominently Tommy Steele from the UK, found success with covers of major American rock and roll hits before the recordings could spread internationally, often translating them into local languages where appropriate. Steele in particular toured Britain, Scandinavia, Australia,
41818-439: Was the first commercially successful folk song to be recorded with rock and roll instrumentation and the Beatles " I'm a Loser " (1964), arguably the first Beatles song to be influenced directly by Dylan. The folk rock movement is usually thought to have taken off with the Byrds ' recording of Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man " which topped the charts in 1965. With members who had been part of the café-based folk scene in Los Angeles,
42024-430: Was the major force in American record sales and crooners , such as Eddie Fisher , Perry Como , and Patti Page , who had dominated the previous decade of popular music, found their access to the pop charts significantly curtailed. Rock and roll has been seen as leading to a number of distinct subgenres, including rockabilly, combining rock and roll with "hillbilly" country music, which was usually played and recorded in
42230-400: Was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s. Rock musicians in the mid-1960s began to advance the album ahead of the single as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, with the Beatles at the forefront of this development. Their contributions lent the genre a cultural legitimacy in the mainstream and initiated
42436-439: Was voted 199th in Paul Gambaccini 's book Rock Critics' Choice: The Top 200 Albums , which polled a number of leading music journalists and record collectors. Christgau, one of the critics polled, ranked it as the 15th best album of the 1970s in The Village Voice the following year – 11 spots behind the Dolls' second album Too Much Too Soon (1974), although years later he would say the first album should be ranked ahead and
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