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Elsewhere, I alluded to the New York Dolls as other gender-benders on the American protopunk scene and promised to go on at infinite length (my dear) about them.
The Dolls (named for speedy pills, not toys) were perhaps the only band that could have inspired both KISS and the Sex Pistols. KISS for the make-up and bombastic rock; the Sex Pistols for sheer spirit in the face of varying musical competence.
There were several line-ups of the Dolls, including a later one featuring a member of metal's WASP, but the classic formation was: DAVID JOHANSEN (vocals/harmonica); JOHNNY THUNDERS (guitar/vocals); SYLVAIN SYLVAIN (guitar/piano/vocals); ARTHUR KANE (bass) and JERRY NOLAN on drums (THUNDERS and NOLAN are dead now, thanks to heroin). Their heroes were bluesmen; the Rolling Stones; the Velvet Underground and the Stooges. However, they threw in one more element that made them distinct and doomed - drag.
Unlike the other 70s glam-bands who did that sort of thing, there was nothing cutesy about the Dolls. There was fire in their fun, and fun in their fire - but there was a lot of fury and destructiveness as well.
If Mick Jagger had REALLY wanted to erase societal lines, the Stones could have been the Dolls.
As someone once opined, the Dolls said 'fuck you' to mainstream life before the Pistols did. They did it with two classic albums (NEW YORK DOLLS and TOO MUCH TOO SOON, '73 and '74, Mercury Records) and just their whole stance. So what if they were really bad musicians at first, and collapsed in 1976 under the dubious management of Malcolm McClaren? They left their mark.
Today, their influence can be seen in the likes of the Chainsaw Kittens (yaay!) and Guns 'n' roses (eek!). They did such fabulous songs that I can forgive David Johansen for becoming Buster Poindexter, a lounge singer, or doing parts in mostly bad movies. Johnny Thunders, though - to be brilliant and waste it on smack...tragic...
Both of their albums are dirt cheap on CD - check 'em out.
News Flash! The Cowboy Junkies did not write 'Sweet Jane'. David Bowie did not pen 'White Light/White Heat'. Bauhaus had nothing (good) to do with 'Waiting For The Man'. Neither Mitch Ryder nor even the fabulous Runaways gave birth to "Rock 'n' Roll". No - these classic tunes were the product of Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground.
From 1965 to 1970, this great band, consisting of: LOU REED (vocals/guitar/piano); JOHN CALE (bass, viola, keyboards, vocals from 1965-1968); STERLING MORRISON (guitar, bass and vocals); ANGUS MACLISE (drums in 1965 only); MAUREEN TUCKER (drums and vocals from 1965-1970); NICO (vocals, 1965-1966); DOUG YULE (bass, guitar, keyboards, etc. from 1968-1970) and BILLY YULE (drums in 1970 during Maureen's maternity leave) paved the way for punk, new wave, goth and trance music.
They got little airplay and few sales, because Lou insisted on writing about drugs, drag queens, S/M, murder and all kinds of love - what little attention they got came early because of the Andy Warhol connection they had.
By the time Atlantic got them in 1970, they were worn out, and collapsed soon afterwards (it's true that DOUG continued the band in some fashion for three more years - but the less said the better...).
(1) VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO - beauty and vileness.
(2) WHITE LIGHT WHITE HEAT - your neighbours will flee - the roaches will die - or vice
versa...
(3) VELVET UNDERGROUND - redemption through pain.
(4) LOADED - some of Lou's poppiest moments, which he evidently does not care for.
(5) SQUEEZE - a Doug Yule album, really, despite the Velvet Underground name (it came out in 1973, by which point even the Doug-led Velveteen Underground was no more - it was some contractual/exploitative thing, no doubt, and HE regrets its release) - not hideous, not in print.
(6) LIVE AT MAX'S KANSAS CITY - bad sound, but a historic moment as the last Lou-led
Velvets show.
(7)LIVE 1969 - Kill to get!
(8) VU and ANOTHER VU - rarities, tidied up for the Eighties...
(9)VELVET UNDERGROUND MCMXCIII - live during their brief comeback.
(10)PEEL SLOWLY AND SEE - 5 CD box. Rarities, and a whole CD of early rehearsals.
*Jonathan Richman, Rockin' Leprechaun/Rounder Music, 1992
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