Some call them glam, some call them the Godfathers of Punk (I think Iggy owns that title), some call them the fathers of the New York rock scene (The Ramones, Blondie, etc), some call them outrageous, and some thought they were a joke. I thought they rocked and I loved them. Come on, how could you not love these guys? They are the only group that I know of that was honored as both the best and worst new group in the same year….in the same magazine.
Let’s listen to Jet Boy from their self titled first album released in 1973.
I love the guitar (Johnny Thunder & Silvain Silvain), love the vocals (the awesome David Johannson) and love the song. Jet Boy closed the album, let’s balance that out by listening to the first song on the album, Personality Crisis.
The Dolls deserve more than a crummy two song post so here is their entire first album. You better listen….and you better crank up the volume!
Todd Rundgren did a great job on the production of this album. I thought he perfectly captured the Doll’s sound. The original band managed to hang on and produce one more great album, Too Much Too Soon, but they were gone by 1975. To paraphrase Neil Young, better to burn out than to rust away.
Yes…various incarnations of the surviving members of the Dolls have reformed, recorded, and toured during the last 10 years but to be honest I just don’t care. The Dolls left us in 1975.
RIP – Johnny Thunder, Arthur Kane, and Jerry Nolan
thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard 