Oh, hell, @2, I've been saying that for more than 40 years now — and I actually knew these guys. Yeah, it helped a lot if you were part of the whole Lou Reed/Todd Rundgren/Bebe Newell that was going on in New York at the time, but deep down, if anyone really told the truth, we were all kinda like "huh?"
The kids have been saying New York Dolls were more signifiers than good for at least a decade now. We like them, but they're not particularly good. It's almost harbingers.
When the Dolls played Bumbershoot in 2005 (opening for Iggy Pop in a one-two punch of nostalgia), they put on a really good show. I was shocked at how much I enjoyed them.
@7, Check a documentary called All Dolled Up: A New York Dolls Story. Terrific live footage in not just the film, but the extras.
@6, if it wasn't for the Dolls, we wouldn't have Hair bands (and some may say that would have been a good thing)--No Motley Crue, no Poison, no WASP, no LA Guns.
So there was regular glam rock, like Marc Bolan in T. Rex and Sweet, and it did what it did and stayed there.
But then there were the New York Dolls which spawned punk and new wave because it simultaneously performed and mocked its own genre, it both created...and destroyed rock flamboyancy.
Their influence on other bands was much more than their talent, but they did some decent stuff. Their albums put out more recently are actually pretty good. It is garagey, punk music, but good
I'm glad you picked up on the fun aspect of the Dolls, sure they wasn't anything “new" or “groundbreaking" about them, very few bands are. I liked them for their sloppy tung in cheek version of the music they obviously loved and grew up on. Motown girl groups, 50's pioneer Rock n' rollers etc. they were the punk Rolling Stones IMO, witch were born of good old American Blues witch came from gospel witch came from the field songs sung by the slaves witch originated from their various ancestral African tribes... Phew! Yeah I guess I'm a music nerd. But you have to admit, it was a long strange & not always pleasant journey from ancestral African tribal music to the N.Y. Dolls.
This wasn't a review of the Dolls or their music. This is someone - I'm guessing a kid - spouting a hipper than thou little joking ditty of a writing project. Same with most music 'reviews' in the last decade or so. I get that.
But anybody who actually cares about, and has sufficient knowledge of rock music will recognize that the Dolls weren't only *directly* responsible for seismic shift bands like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols - those guys fell all over themselves at the time acknowledging as much - but they were a great, sloppy, loud, damn fun, damn wonderful band on their own, as well.
And btw, holy creeping shit - only the truly ignorant would blame the Dolls for putrid 80s hair bands. Outside of hairspray, the two have absolutely zero in common. That's like blaming or equating Bowie or Bolan with Warrant or Poison. Not their fault, and not their doing.
PS to whoever ragged on them: I know it maybe feels rad and cool to say otherwise, but, like the Dolls, Nirvana were genuinely better than the hype.
AMEN!
The second and last NY Dolls album is much better and grittier.
@6, if it wasn't for the Dolls, we wouldn't have Hair bands (and some may say that would have been a good thing)--No Motley Crue, no Poison, no WASP, no LA Guns.
We wouldn't have KISS either.
Yes, the Dolls were a trend...inside a trend!
So there was regular glam rock, like Marc Bolan in T. Rex and Sweet, and it did what it did and stayed there.
But then there were the New York Dolls which spawned punk and new wave because it simultaneously performed and mocked its own genre, it both created...and destroyed rock flamboyancy.
Thanx! I recall seeing the Stooges, but thought that I was going Old Timers, since I had no recollection of NYD opening for them.
This wasn't a review of the Dolls or their music. This is someone - I'm guessing a kid - spouting a hipper than thou little joking ditty of a writing project. Same with most music 'reviews' in the last decade or so. I get that.
But anybody who actually cares about, and has sufficient knowledge of rock music will recognize that the Dolls weren't only *directly* responsible for seismic shift bands like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols - those guys fell all over themselves at the time acknowledging as much - but they were a great, sloppy, loud, damn fun, damn wonderful band on their own, as well.
And btw, holy creeping shit - only the truly ignorant would blame the Dolls for putrid 80s hair bands. Outside of hairspray, the two have absolutely zero in common. That's like blaming or equating Bowie or Bolan with Warrant or Poison. Not their fault, and not their doing.
PS to whoever ragged on them: I know it maybe feels rad and cool to say otherwise, but, like the Dolls, Nirvana were genuinely better than the hype.