Under The Influence: Difference between revisions

A reference point of human squalor, The New York Dolls irked all the little square priggish men who controlled the music business at every level, and to whom the Dolls meant only one thing : trouble. In 1973, I could not think of any band who resembled The New York Dolls. Daydreaming in Religious Studies, I read how David Johansen says he models himself on Carol Lombard, to which I laugh out loud. "We're like Herman's Hermits" says Johansen, "everyone's gotta sneer" But we're not butch." At 13 I fully realise - this is most certainly IT. I back my school books with pictures of the Dolls, and to hell with Man Ure. My older school-free friends travel to Leeds to spend the night with the Dolls at the Dragonara Hotel after the Dolls' university gig, and return to me with tales that witness madness. The New York Dolls are indeed the roughest of trade, David Johansen is [[Mention::Leo Gorcey]], Johnny Thunders is [[Mention::Billy Halop]] - and they sing about Diana Dors. A 13 year old Manchester schoolboy could want for no more. "Trash" reminds me of "All Grown Up" by [[Mention::The Crystals]], and of [[Mention::John Garfield]]'s far-away gaze in the film '[[Mention::Saturday's Children (1940 film)|Saturday's Children]]' (1940). It is a fantastic achievement for five boys who otherwise would have ended up in hotel catering, or amongst the heroined dead. The New York Dolls were the world's most perfect pop group, but they were far too free, far too happy, far too un-hung up, and thus their end was foredoomed.