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New York Dolls

New York Dolls

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Up and Down in Paris and London: The New York Dolls trash Europe

Book Excerpt by Nina Antonia, Omnibus Books, 1998

An extract from Too Much Too Soon: The New York Dolls by Nina Antonia, first published by Omnibus Press in 1998. (208pp, currently available in ...

Audio interviews

Malcolm McLaren on the New York Dolls (1997)

Interview by Nina Antonia, Rock's Backpages audio, 1997

From meeting up in London, Paris and NYC, via the Red Guards debacle, to catching the clap in New Orleans, Malcolm McLaren tells all about his time with the New York Dolls

File format: mp3; file size: 56.9mb, interview length: 59' 19" sound quality: **

List of articles in the library

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They Simper At Times: New York Dolls, Wayne County: The Mercer Arts Center, New York City

Live Review by Miles, New York Dolls/Glam Rock, 1972

"It’s a fact that LA soft rock has been stomped on by glittering lurid day-glo platform shoes worn by a female impersonating, posturing hard-rock singer... ...

The Top of Pop: The Dolls Will Be Heard From

Column by Lillian Roxon, New York Sunday News, 3 September 1972

THREE HEROES. You pay your money and you take your choice. Which one is yours? ...

Subterranean satyricon: New York City's Ultra-Living Dolls

Report and Interview by Ed McCormack, Rolling Stone, 26 October 1972

NEW YORK — David Bowie, a brittle, powdered flake of hermaphroditic humanity, is watching the bodies writhing to the music of the New York Dolls ...

New York: The Dark Side Of Town

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 May 1973

THE GRAFFITI IN the toilets at Max's Kansas City is abysmal. It's the only word that comes to mind – there's not one subversive scrawl, ...

New York Confidential: the New York Dolls

Report by Ed McCormack, Rolling Stone, 5 July 1973

TIMES SQUARE, teeming with amazed tourists by day, becomes the city's funky armpit after midnight. So we step fast under the flaming marquees peddling fake ...

In Defense of the Dolls: New York Dolls

Comment by Jon Tiven, Zoo World, 19 July 1973

OUTRAGEOUS? Ridiculous? Unnecessary? These are typical reactions to the New York Dolls, the hottest group to hit the Big Apple since The Blues Project. Their ...

The "Fun City Sound" Is What's Happening in Rock

Report by Lillian Roxon, New York Sunday News, 5 August 1973

SO THEY'RE saying rock and roll is dead? Not this week, they aren't! What a week! While every newspaper, radio and TV station was telling ...

Mott The Hoople, New York Dolls: Felt Forum, New York NY

Live Review by Dan Nooger, The Village Voice, 9 August 1973

MOTT THE Hoople is a British all-rock band, 'All the Young Dudes' of course. But they're about to break really big, with 'Honaloochie Boogie' already ...

Despite the Complications, The Dolls Will Yet Be a Superstar

Profile by Dave Marsh, Newsday, 12 August 1973

EVEN THOUGH Mott the Hoople is among the most British of rock bands, and the New York Dolls is one of the most American, they ...

Marc Bolan: The Man, The Myth and the Music

Report and Interview by Lillian Roxon, New York Sunday News, 12 August 1973

HE SITS there with his head covered in corkscrew curls, his temples and eyelids gently rouged, his lower lashline ever so slightly outlined in pencil, ...

The New York Dolls: The New York Dolls (Mercury — import)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 18 August 1973

Dolls: Junior Stones ...

All That Glitters Is Not Rock

Report by Dave Marsh, Newsday, 19 August 1973

Being a Partial Compendium of Some of the More (Or Less) Outstanding New York Unknowns ...

New York Dolls/Mott The Hoople: Felt Forum, NYC

Live Review by Michael Gross, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973

THE EVENING SIMPLY reeked of promise. Mott the Hoople, the Anglo glamour band of the moment, billed with New York's very own Dolls. ...

New York Dolls: The Guys In The Dolls

Report by Michael Gross, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973

THE BACK room of Max's Kansas City is generally bathed in a pink glow of lighting effects. Depending on how much liquor you've consumed, it ...

The New York Dolls: The New York Dolls (Mercury Import)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973

THE NEW YORK Dolls are trash, they play rock 'n' roll like sluts and they've just released a record that can proudly stand beside Iggy ...

Mott The Hoople/New York Dolls: Felt Forum, NYC

Live Review by Michael Gross, Interview, September 1973

THE EVENING simply reeked of promise. Mott the Hoople, the Anglo glamour band of the moment, billed with New York's very own Dolls. ...

The New York Dolls, the Tubes: the Matrix, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 5 September 1973

THE REMARKABLE thing about the rock group called the New York Dolls, who began a three night engagement last night at the new Matrix (once ...

Jethro Tull, Livingston Taylor: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Dan Nooger, The Village Voice, 6 September 1973

WHERE THERE'S SMOKE ...

N.Y. Dolls Real Teen-Age Rock And Roll Band

Interview by Anne Moore, Los Angeles Free Press, 7 September 1973

THE NEW YORK Dolls finally arrived in Los Angeles. Aside from an abundance of street talk, little is know of them except that they are ...

The New York Dolls: The New York Dolls (Mercury)

Review by j. poet, The Berkeley Barb, 7 September 1973

j poet guilty: DISGUSTING DOLLS DELIGHT ...

New York Dolls: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles

Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 8 September 1973

Living Dolls ...

New York Confidential: the Mercer Arts Center

Report by Ed McCormack, Rolling Stone, 13 September 1973

THE MERCER Arts Center, home hatchery for New York's indigenous glitter rock scene and erstwhile social headquarters for its proletarian neodecadents, has gone the way ...

New York Dolls: Matrix, San Francisco CA

Live Review by j. poet, The Berkeley Barb, 14 September 1973

j. poet loves dolls: BEST BAND YET! ...

Blue Oyster Cult, the New York Dolls: New York's Beasty, Brutal Music Explosion

Overview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, October 1973

The N.Y. Dolls & Blue Oyster Cult Revive Manhattan ...

New York Dolls Greatest Hits Volume 1

Profile and Interview by Ben Edmonds, Creem, October 1973

(They're not a fag band. -Ed.) ...

New York Dolls: The Legendary Mercer Concerts

Live Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, October 1973

THE HEADLINER was Satan the Eternal-Fire-Eater, and the place was the Mercer Arts Center. The room was the Kitchen —approximately 13' x 60' in size. ...

Pipeline

Column by Mark Shipper, Phonograph Record, October 1973

ONE OF ROCK'S great unanswered questions (due to the fact that nobody cares enough to ask it) is this one: exactly what is bugging Leon ...

The New York Dolls: An Insider's View

Profile and Interview by Ron Ross, Phonograph Record, October 1973

THE NEW YORK DOLLS are going to prove to be the ultimate rock critics' band, because, along with David Bowie, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, and ...

Oh, Those New York Dolls

Report and Interview by Anne Moore, Valley Advocate, 3 October 1973

LOS ANGELES – The New York Dolls are waiting to play a gig. The dressing room is crowded with well-wishers, friends, and groupies, this generation's ...

New York Dolls: New York Dolls (Mercury)

Review by Wayne Robins, Zoo World, 25 October 1973

THERE DOESN'T seem to be any argument about what the Dolls look like, since even for '73 they're a bit scary: glitter mutants escaped from ...

Mott The Hoople/The New York Dolls/Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show: Live in Masillon, Ohio

Live Review by Lester Bangs, Phonograph Record, November 1973

I'VE SEEN WORSE towns than Masillon but not many. Gila Bend, Arizona is worse by dint of being the asshole of the world, and I ...

New York Dolls: Waldorf‐Astoria, New York NY; New York Central, Harlots of 42nd Street: Manhattan Center, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 2 November 1973

Pop Music: Dolls Fans Visit Waldorf for Halloween ...

They Weren't Dolls at the Waldorf Concert

Report by Dave Marsh, Newsday, 4 November 1973

PROMOTER HOWARD Stein wanted to add some glamor and sophistication to the rock scene, so he put on rock's first show at the Waldorf Astoria ...

The New York Dolls: Music in a Doll's House

Report by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 24 November 1973

From America MM previews the New York Dolls, who start a British tour this week ...

New York Dolls: Band They Love To Hate

Comment by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 8 December 1973

I'VE SEEN the New York Dolls five times in New York, and London's Biba's last week made it six. ...

First Annual N.Y. Dolls Trivia Quiz

Special Feature by Jim Esposito, Zoo World, 3 January 1974

Do you think you can make it with Frankenstein? Or with David Jo Hansen? Or with Jerry Nolan? Or with Billy Murcia? Now that the ...

New York Dolls: Dead End Kids On The Champs-Elysées

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974

"NOW JOHN LENNON... y'know, that song 'Gimme The Truth'?" The Dolls' David Johansen's cracked Brooklyn drawl appears from the side of his mouth while a ...

New York Dolls, Elliott Murphy: Academy of Music, New York NY

Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 23 February 1974

NEW YORK: A noticeable aspect of the current rock scene here is the number of artists who are very directly influenced by musicians of the ...

Standing in the Shadow of Rock: Shadow Morton, Pt. 1

Interview by Lenny Kaye, Melody Maker, 2 March 1974

"I don’t consider myself a good producer. I’m one of the best." Shadow Morton, producer of the New York Dolls, talks to Lenny Kaye. ...

You Can't Make Heroes Out Of Guys In Black Leather Jackets, They Told George 'Shadow' Morton. He Did...

Interview by Lenny Kaye, Melody Maker, 9 March 1974

Part two of the Shadow Morton story by Lenny Kaye ...

Farewell Androgyny n. hermaphroditism (Gr. Gyne, woman)

Overview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 March 1974

Is it time to shut the closet door? OUR HERO SEES THROUGH THE SEE-THROUGHS AND COMES TO THE CONCLUSION THAT ELEGANCE IS MORE THAN A LIMP ...

New York Dolls/Eliott Murphy: The Academy of Music, New York

Live Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, April 1974

VALENTINE GLITTER: DOLLS & ELLIOTT MURPHY, THE SWEETHEARTS OF NEW YAWK CITY ...

New York Dolls: Too Much, Too Soon

Review by Ron Ross, Phonograph Record, April 1974

"WE DON'T PLAY too good, but we dance as bad as we want," Archie Bell once said by way of introduction to his fabulous Drells ...

The New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon (Mercury)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 April 1974

Sloppy seconds ...

The New York Club Scene

Report by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, May 1974

THE NEW York club scene had its heyday during the mid-sixties. On Long Island, the Action House ruled over the suburban scene featuring house bands ...

The New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon

Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 20 June 1974

Lotta Goin' Nowhere Goin' On ...

New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon (Mercury)

Review by Wayne Robins, Zoo World, 1 August 1974

TOO MUCH Too Soon is a great album by an increasingly more mature band whose only limitation seems to be their dubious association with a ...

The New York Dolls: Broken Dolls

Report by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 7 September 1974

NEW YORK: The many critics of the New York Dolls will doubtless be pleased to hear that their fortunes recently have spiralled downwards. Unless a ...

New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, Hollywood Stars, the GTOs: Hollywood Street Revival and Trash Dance, the Palladium, Hollywood CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 15 October 1974

Glitter-Rock Stages a Symbolic Wake ...

Les Dolls' petit Altamont

Report by Wayne Robins, The Village Voice, 31 October 1974

EXPLAINING THE attraction of the New York Dolls, one tells an out-of-towner about their aggressive intelligence, nearly jingoistic hometown pride, and effortless projection of the ...

Glitter Rock's Lingering Shadow

Report by Dave Marsh, Newsday, 3 November 1974

I like sex, because sex is not dangerous. Violence is dangerous, that's why I leave my violence on stage. But we've never been into glitter. ...

The Stooges, Dolls et al: First Annual Hollywood Street Revival & Trash Dance, Hollywood Palladium

Live Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, December 1974

THAT'S WHAT THEY called it, and if one were to believe the advance publicity, which spread by word of mouth through the Hollywood environs like ...

Letter from Panorama City: The New York Dolls

Profile by Metal Mike Saunders, Heavy Metal Digest, Winter 1974

I LIKE the Dolls. A lot. But there’s one thing I don’t understand: out of all the rave reviews on the Dolls, not one has ...

New York Dolls: Little Hippodrome, NYC

Live Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, April 1975

AFTER EXAGGERATED reports heralding their impending demise, the New York Dolls returned in early March to the Hippodrome in mid-Manhattan. They were supposedly to sport ...

Dolly Mixture Wasn't Right

Readers' Letters by uncredited writer, Sounds, 27 December 1975

THE BRITISH public are very wary of new bands. Anything that aims to change the day-to-day routine of the rock world is carefully observed before ...

The New York Dolls Don't Look Back

Interview by Alan Betrock, Hit Parader, April 1976

IF THE NEW York Dolls were ever guilty of one serious miscalculation in their notorious career, it would be their distinct absence of pretension! They ...

Malcolm McLaren: Meet The Colonel Tom Parker of the Blank Generation

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976

MEET MALCOLM McLAREN. He runs a shop called "SEX". He manages a group called THE SEX PISTOLS. He sincerely believes that he and his band ...

Meet The Boys In The Band: The New York Dolls

Retrospective by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976

Prime movers of P**K, this gang of poseurs were wearing safety pins when they were still in diapers. ...

The Ramones: Punk City Night

Interview by Gary Kenton, Circus, 17 March 1977

The Ramones Leave Home While Talking Heads and Mumps Play the Bowery ...

Motorhead, Mighty Diamonds et al: Singles Reviews

Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 25 June 1977

REVIEWED BY PAUL SIMENON (BASS) AND RODENT (ROADIE) OF THE CLASH. TRANSCRIPTIONS: GIOVANNI DADOMO (AMATEUR) ...

Trash: The Story of the New York Dolls

Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, Sounds, 25 June 1977

THE ONE gig I'm never ever gonna forget happened in early 1974 at the opening night of the Rainbow Room on the sixth floor of ...

The Sex Pistols: Kick out the jams

Comment by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 25 August 1977

IT CONTRAVENES logic, but there is little doubt in my mind that the most important record of the past year is the Sex Pistols' 'God ...

The Jerry Nolan Story!!

Interview by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, July 1978

JERRY NOLAN is 32 years old. He has been in the New York Dolls and the Heartbreakers. He has made three albums which did not ...

Up from the valley of the Dolls: David Johansen returns

Report and Interview by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 27 July 1978

ONSTAGE IN Philadelphia in late May, David Johansen is dressed in solid white, his hair swept back, looking like the Staten Island greaser saint he ...

David Johansen: This Time It's For Real

Profile and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Sweet Potato, December 1978

"When you look back at every cultural music scene, there were always a couple of bands that came first-like the Beatles and Rolling Stones – ...

Funky (But Chic): David Johansen At Point Blank

Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 December 1978

RIGHT BETWEEN the eyes, pilgrim. Yeah, he does look like Lee Marvin. In walks the supposed progenitor of all this punko nonsense, ex-New York Doll ...

The Rise And Fall Of Malcolm McLaren Part One: Tin Pan Alley Meets An Idea Whose Time Has Come...

Retrospective and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 16 June 1979

The Man Who Sold The World ...

The New York Dolls: The New York Dolls (Mercury)

Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1980

This seminal slab of early-70s punkitude, produced by unlikely Todd Rundgren, defines the sound and style of New York’s contribution to new wave: a raunchy ...

Beyond The Valley Of The New York Dolls

Report and Interview by Roy Trakin, Musician, October 1981

THE FIRST TIME I ever laid eyes on the New York Dolls was New Year's Eve, 1972, at the old Mercer Arts Center, and, quite ...

Suicide: Half Alive/New York Dolls: Lipstick Killers — The Mercer Street Sessions (Both ROIR import cassettes)

Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 2 January 1982

Tart, amoral, stupid, crass, vulgar… and nearly very famous ...

Traditional Discs: Is It R.I.P. FOR R.P.M.?

Report and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 15 May 1982

IS THE phonograph record on its deathbed? Neil Cooper, who runs a record company that doesn't sell records, thinks so. "Within five years, vinyl will ...

Sylvain Sylvain and Johnny Thunders: Lonely Planet Boys

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 22 May 1982

Two of the original New York Dolls are in London. BARNEY HOSKYNS charts their destinies. ...

Cassette rock comes on with a "Roar"

Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 27 May 1982

IN THE competitive record business, how can a company that releases dated rock 'n' roll and aims well below the top of the pops prosper? ...

The New York Dolls: A retrospective

Retrospective by Miles, The History of Rock, 1983

ALTHOUGH THEY WERE one of the most influential bands of the early Seventies, the New York Dolls remain one of the least known. The ...

Johnny Thunders: Punk and Drugs and Warhol

Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 April 1991

JOHNNY THUNDERS had long been a by-word for self-destruction through drugs and hard living. In 1981, Trouser Press magazine cynically declared Thunders "legally dead" alongside a cartoon ...

Hairspray and Hard Drugs: The New York Dolls

Retrospective and Interview by Mat Snow, Q, January 1995

The Stones in drag, the proto-Sex Pistols, Aerosmith's role models, Morrissey's mad aunts. What were the legendary New York Dolls about, other than leather, leopardskin, ...

Too Much, Too Soon: The Dolls take New York

Book Excerpt by Barney Hoskyns, 'Glam!' (Faber), 1998

Note: this is a piece adapted in edited form from Glam! Bowie, Bolan & the Glitter-Rock Revolution (Faber, 1998) ...

The New York Dolls

Retrospective and Interview by Ian Fortnam, Kerrang!, July 2000

WHILE IT was the Rolling Stones who pretty much defined and trail-blazed the cavalier pursuit of decadence and debauchery in rock 'n' roll, it was ...

Various Artists: Cash From Chaos: The Complete Punk Collection

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, February 2002

Perverse selection – from New York Dolls to Gonads, Buzzcocks to Toy Dolls — misses chance to be definitive summary ...

The New York Dolls: Fast and Louche

Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 20 June 2004

The New York Dolls: Royal Festival Hall, London ...

New York Dolls: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Fortnam, Classic Rock, September 2004

The best advice to bands that delight in near-mythic status is "let it lie". Can the reformed Lipstick Killers disprove the rule? ...

Little Steven's International Underground Garage Festival: Randall's Island, N.Y.

Live Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, October 2004

Forty-five bands plus Van Zandt's Boss defy failing weather and technology for New York's biggest garage rave-up. ...

The First Punk: Johnny Thunders

Retrospective by Nina Antonia, MOJO, March 2005

FOR THE GENERATION of kids who became punks, the New York Dolls' appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test in November 1973 was an epiphany. ...

New York Dolls: Make-up America!

Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, June 2006

In 1971 Manhattan, five teenage toughs in make-up, tried to kick-start the punk revolution. By 1976 the New York Dolls seemed finished, poleaxed by drugs, ...

The New York Dolls: 'Before Us, There Was Nothing'

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 14 July 2006

Punk pioneers the New York Dolls imploded in a haze of heroin three decades ago. Now they're back – and this time, finds Ian Gittins, ...

New York Dolls Release Fourth Studio Album

Interview by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 26 April 2009

Only David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain remain from 1970s line-up for mix of classic rock and roll and reggae-style 'Trash' ...

New York Dolls: Cause I Sez So (Atco) ****

Review by Jeff Tamarkin, The Boston Phoenix, 28 April 2009

THE BIG NEWS regarding the New York Dolls' second album since their reactivation five years ago is the return of Todd Rundgren as producer.  ...

New York Dolls: Dancing Backward In High Heels

Review by Johnny Sharp, bbc.co.uk, 14 March 2011

Reanimated glam-punk pioneers get dafter as they get older. ...

New York Dolls: Dancing Backward in High Heels

Review by Johnny Sharp, bbc.co.uk, 14 March 2011

Reanimated glam-punk pioneers get dafter as they get older. ...

Various Artists: Oh Yes We Can Love – A History Of Glam Rock

Sleeve notes by Barney Hoskyns, Universal Records, August 2013

GLAMOUR HAS always been pivotal to pop music. Elvis Presley was Glam, and so were Little Richard ('Ooh My Soul') and Billy Fury ('Jealousy'). The ...

David Johansen: The MOJO Interview

Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, March 2015

DAVID JOHANSEN sits on the couch in the living room of his wife's long-time, walk-up apartment on a nondescript block of Manhattan's Upper West Side. ...

Behind the music on Vinyl: Martin Scorsese's premiere gets the New York Dolls right — and Led Zeppelin so wrong

Comment by Caryn Rose, salon.com, 15 February 2016

Set inside the New York music industry in 1973, Vinyl is a fascinating and frustrating chronicle of the era. ...

Bob Harris: Whistle Test is back…

Report and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 10 February 2018

… not with a bang but a WHISPER, as its softly-spoken host Bob Harris recalls being hit by Sid Vicious, paying John Lennon in chocolate ...

In the Hot Seat with Larry LeBlanc: Toby Mamis, manager, Alive Enterprises

Interview by Larry LeBlanc, Celebrity Access, 30 August 2018

YOU ARE GOING to have to wait for a film to make much sense of Toby Mamis' fabulously winding career. ...

Peter Stanfield: Pin-Ups 1972 (Reaktion)

Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Critic, August 2022

ROCK'N'ROLL years are all the rage these days. Ever since Jon Savage published his monumental 1966 (in 2015), the anni – particularly the 1970s – ...

see also Idols, The

see also David Johansen

see also Johnny Thunders

see also Sylvain Sylvain

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