The Times sure stuck to its style guide pretty firmly with this report...
Yet certain young fans who saw that performance on British television were more impressed. They included Mick Jones (of the Clash) and Stephen Morrissey (of the Smiths), two of many musicians who cite the Dolls as a primary influence. “I grew my hair like Johnny Thunders’s,” said Mr. Jones, recalling the shock-wig crop of the Dolls guitarist. The Clash, he admitted, “took a lot from the New York Dolls. A lot.”
Mr. Morrissey, a huge Dolls fan since he was 13, can be credited with the band’s reunion. He was given carte blanche to curate the 2004 Meltdown festival at Royal Festival Hall in London, and naturally a Dolls reunion was at the top of his list. So he called Mr. Johansen. But he wasn’t optimistic.
“I had met David previously,” Mr. Morrissey said in an interview after the festival, “and I’d known that historically he would always just pull the shutters down at the mention of the Dolls. I expected him to laugh at me and put the phone down.”
Mr. Johansen, sipping Irish breakfast tea with his pinky outstretched, recalled: “I hemmed and hawed. I remember saying, ‘Would you do it?’ ” referring to Mr. Morrissey’s famous unwillingness to reunite the Smiths. That British singer’s reply, which Mr. Johansen repeated in a mock English accent, was “absolutely not.” He laughed, then continued: “But I had this, like, mantra, that I decided to try to not be so dismissive of things, you know? I said I’d think about it. And I figured it’d be fun.”
Full story here...
Return of the New York Dolls, What's Left of Them
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