Questions about Morrissey in recent New York Dolls interview

[goinghome]

Valerie Siebert from The Quietus converses at leisure with David Johansen about the New York Dolls' latest album Dancing Backward In High Heels and Malcolm McLaren and Morrissey.

- ...And how about your own legacy – particularly in the New York scene? What do you see when you survey your kingdom these days – with the new New York scene bands like The Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs who seem quite at home on the cover of fashion mags?

DJ: I think they're great. Whenever I see them on TV or we're on a bill together or something, I think that they're really good and they're good rock'n'roll bands.

Have you met any of them? Have any come forward as fans?

DJ: Yeah, sure I've met them, but I'm sure they wouldn't come forward as fans because that would just make things weird. Don't you think that would be weird? Like if someone comes and says to you 'Wow I'm such a big fan of you' wouldn't you think 'Wow, that's weird?'

Really? But what about Morrissey? He's a massive fan and is very vocal about it and brought you all together in 2004… so obviously he's door-stepped you to that effect – did that make things weird?

DJ: Uh. Well I don't remember… but it probably was, yeah.

But it is still weird if you see him now?

DJ: Well no, I mean, I haven't really thought about it. I just think 'Oh, there's Morrissey, OK cool.' He's not going to be like going gaga or anything...
http://thequietus.com/articles/05785-new-york-dolls-interview-david-johansen

 

[not_me_not_I]

He's just hiding it well.

 

[CrystalGeezer]

Hang the DJ!

 

[DAVIE]

Hang the DJ!

Best comment of the week

 

[CrystalGeezer]

Best comment of the week

Would you like me to go into detail about the symbolism of the hanged man dropping his coins and revealing truth in DJ's comments or should I just leave it at the cool factor of best comment of the week? Cuz I can nerd up in a heartbeat. I'll just shut up.

 

[Raphael Lambach]

DJ should remember/consider gratefully that if NYD came back years ago he oughtta thank Morrissey.

 

[goinghome]

In a similar vein, Vanity Fair's Eric Spitznagel prefaces a recorded chat with both DJ and Sylvain, with proof positive that Morrissey's nature as a fan is not of the gaga variety :

- Morrissey, back when he still went by the name Steven Morrissey and was years away from discovering veganism and ironic cardigans, wrote what is probably the definitive treatise on the New York Dolls. In his 1981 book, the long out-of-print The New York Dolls, the future Pope of Mope made the following observations about the band that made it O.K. for heterosexual punks to wear women’s clothing:

“Their unmatched vulgarity dichotomized feelings of extravagant devotion or vile detestation. It was impossible to look upon the Dolls as adequately midstream, just as it was impossible to ignore them ... They served as a stark contrast to the tempo of the times with their “crude musicality.” They were transsexual junkies. They were downed out high school toughs posing as bisexual psychopaths. They were this, they were that. Their music was unfaltering gall faced garbage. The music industry hated them. Their record company hated them. The Dolls’ teen slop would slip under after 3 years of moving a lot and getting nowhere ... The Dolls became a derelict monument to devastated teenage America ... And it was all harmless fun, being eagerly adopted by a considerably larger number of groups and cherry red lipstick became as symbolic of the early '70s as goatees and leather sandals to the late '60s. But the New York Dolls, to many people, just weren't very funny. Theirs was a sinister sense of transvestitism ... They wanted as much as they could get and they wanted it NOW. But technically, the Dolls couldn't really play very well ... They looked like haggard hookers from a 50's B-movie.”

This, it should be noted, was written by somebody who actually liked their music. Adored it, in fact... -
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2011/03/new-york-dolls.html

 

[SparkleBoy]

David Johansen mentions (briefly) Morrissey

Whole interview here: http://thequietus.com/articles/05785-new-york-dolls-interview-david-johansen

Interviewer: And how about your own legacy – particularly in the New York scene? What do you see when you survey your kingdom these days – with the new New York scene bands like The Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs who seem quite at home on the cover of fashion mags?

DJ: I think they're great. Whenever I see them on TV or we're on a bill together or something, I think that they're really good and they're good rock'n'roll bands.

Have you met any of them? Have any come forward as fans?

DJ: Yeah, sure I've met them, but I'm sure they wouldn't come forward as fans because that would just make things weird. Don't you think that would be weird? Like if someone comes and says to you 'Wow I'm such a big fan of you' wouldn't you think 'Wow, that's weird?'

Really? But what about Morrissey? He's a massive fan and is very vocal about it and brought you all together in 2004… so obviously he's door-stepped you to that effect – did that make things weird?

DJ: Uh. Well I don't remember… but it probably was, yeah.

But it is still weird if you see him now?

DJ: Well no, I mean, I haven't really thought about it. I just think 'Oh, there's Morrissey, OK cool.' He's not going to be like going gaga or anything.

 

[CrystalGeezer]

In a similar vein, Vanity Fair's Eric Spitznagel prefaces a recorded chat with both DJ and Sylvain, with proof positive that Morrissey's nature as a fan is not of the gaga variety :

- Morrissey, back when he still went by the name Steven Morrissey and was years away from discovering veganism and ironic cardigans, wrote what is probably the definitive treatise on the New York Dolls. In his 1981 book, the long out-of-print The New York Dolls, the future Pope of Mope made the following observations about the band that made it O.K. for heterosexual punks to wear women’s clothing:

“Their unmatched vulgarity dichotomized feelings of extravagant devotion or vile detestation. It was impossible to look upon the Dolls as adequately midstream, just as it was impossible to ignore them ... They served as a stark contrast to the tempo of the times with their “crude musicality.” They were transsexual junkies. They were downed out high school toughs posing as bisexual psychopaths. They were this, they were that. Their music was unfaltering gall faced garbage. The music industry hated them. Their record company hated them. The Dolls’ teen slop would slip under after 3 years of moving a lot and getting nowhere ... The Dolls became a derelict monument to devastated teenage America ... And it was all harmless fun, being eagerly adopted by a considerably larger number of groups and cherry red lipstick became as symbolic of the early '70s as goatees and leather sandals to the late '60s. But the New York Dolls, to many people, just weren't very funny. Theirs was a sinister sense of transvestitism ... They wanted as much as they could get and they wanted it NOW. But technically, the Dolls couldn't really play very well ... They looked like haggard hookers from a 50's B-movie.”

This, it should be noted, was written by somebody who actually liked their music. Adored it, in fact... -
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2011/03/new-york-dolls.html

He's very funny.

 

[Raphael Lambach]

ok but I still don't like what DJ said

 

[SparkleBoy]

ok but I still don't like what DJ said

What is it that you don't like? Moz ain't of the gaga-fan variety? That quote in VF was from 30 years ago.