New York Dolls

Archetypal “band who the bands you like like” for me. Had so much fun listening to this and can see the influence it had on so many bands I’m in to. Regret not having listened to them before.

This album just annoys me. Not because it's awful; it's fine. It's whatever. The musical equivalent of the color beige contained in a light punk record. But this was just another album that made me think "I don't understand this lists obsession with bland classic rock" It's like this list went to a used record store, grabbed every single record out of the Classic Rock section as is, and just pasted all those albums into a "1,000 must listen to albums" list, and then occasionally sprinkling in a jazz or electronic album to seem more well-rounded; but it comes across as so token. So you're left with a list that is pretty much a boomer's nostalgia trip that thinks "back in MY day, we had REAL music; now let me put on KISS and AC/DC" with a surface level nod to a different genre 1 out of every 10 albums. I do not need another band that is just the Great Value version of Dylan/Strokes/Stooges/Doors for the umpteenth time here. I've had enough of that for a lifetime at this point in this list.

I imagine I have listened to the New York Dolls before, but I didn’t recognize anything on the first listen. This sounds a bit like The Rolling Stones gussied up with lipstick and a chainsaw. The album cover drew me in immediately and perfectly reflects the rough and raw contents right down to the can of Schlitz next to the high-heel clogs. I love it… and I like to think I could make it with Frankenstein!

Sleazy as fuck, messy, trashy and raunchy. The Dolls’ sound was a powerhouse of glam-rock swagger, bluesy attitude, proto punk looseness and 60s rock’n’roll homage. It’s this fusion that gives the record its edge, its timeless sound, and is the essence of its influence and legacy across the decades. It’s also a hell of a lot of fun.

If someone went back in time and killed the butterfly who flapped its wings and set off the events that made New York Dolls a success, would that mean we’d be spared all the insufferable imitators of this vocal style? The band is fine. Can’t stand the singing.

What can you say. It's iconic? Sure is. Utterly irreverent? That's obvious. It changed the music we know today? Wait really. Oh yeah. Without the New York Dolls, there is no punk and new wave. Without punk and new wave, we're still listening to arena rock and suffering through endless drum solos. This album changed everything.

I don't think I've ever actually heard these guys before, although heaps of bands I like rate them. Ok it sounds like a punkier version of the rolling stones, which is about what I expected I guess. But it's catchy in that "fun enough sleaze rock that I would never accuse of being fantastic" kinda way. And it really drives home just how unoriginal Faster Pussycat was, hahaha. 3/5.

The past, the present and the future mingle in this one. Iconic opener "Personality Crisis" winks to the contemporary glam-rock shenanigans occurring on the other side of the pond in 1973 (think Mott The Hopple and Bowie) ; there are sprinkles of T-Rex's boogie and Steppenwolf's road rage in closer "Jet Boy" ; the infectious "Trash", with its instantly likeable high-pitched background vocals, both hearkens back to the early days of rock'n'roll and foretells the 1977 punk revolution ; and so do "Looking For A Kiss", "Vietnamese Baby" and "Subway Train", equal parts Rolling Stones and The Sex Pistols--it's no wonder the New York Dolls' Johnny Thunders would soon partake in said punk revolution across the Atlantic with his own Heartbreakers, even if that's a story for another time, kiddies... "Vietnamese Baby" also logically picks the proto-punk ball that The Stooges had just dropped in those years, which leads us to the sinister "Frankenstein" a couple of tracks later--an incredible centerpiece not only impressive because of its ominous atmosphere, but also because of how its noisy and apocalyptic contents directly point towards what another legendary New York outfit, Sonic Youth, would start to accomplish a decade later... So yeah, this debut is an angular stone for sure. *Very* angular at times. But beyond its pivotal place between classic rock and punk, what makes it stand out today is the reckless, raunchy, devil-may-care artistry and performance on it. Just like the record's provocative artwork showing the Dolls in drag--exactly how the band looked onstage, I hear--its proceedings give you the feeling that danger lurks around the corner at all times. The dynamic tracklisting, cohesive enough to dig a clear groove throughout, yet also varied in its different intents and moods, is to thank for that. And Todd Rundgren's simple and straightforward production is to be praised as well--the band claimed they sounded even wilder live, but given where Rundgren comes from as a rather "baroque" musician enjoying all sorts of mannerism in his own work, the results could have been far less appropriate than what we ultimately had. What matters is that the guitar work is "dirty" enough, with quite a few messy details here and there to make that whole monster of an album come alive in front of your incredulous eyes and ears. Aptly "Frankenstein'-like, as if made out of the disparate, most outrageous bits and pieces of the history of rock'n'roll, from both days yonder and the ones to come... To put it in a nutshell, freaks will "get" this record for sure, and instantly perceive why it should not be confused with most other dad-rock LPs from the early seventies--you think your average "dad-rock" can post that sort of album cover on Facebook anyway??? 😄 As for the other listeners, well, they can get kicked by a platform boot and go find their pleasure elsewhere. After all, there are all sorts of kinks for everyone out there in this list. Even if I doubt a lot of them sound as fun or wild as the transgressive pleasures offered through this seminal album... 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list, rounded up to 5 4.5/10 grade for more general purposes (5+4.5). Number of albums left to review: 130 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 377 (including this one). Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 223 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 281

The epitome of the New York punk scene, absolutely L-U-V this album.

No punk without the Dolls. Not surprised to see Todd Rungrens name over this either, hes been a common denominator in a few 4 and 5 star albums lately

10/10 heard this for the first time today, but I really think this is one of the best punk albums I’ve ever heard perfect from beginning to end

Some dunce gulled me into thinking this was a “haircuts first band”, so I’ve missed out on this pleasure for decades. This belongs to a raunchy lineage of weirdos from Little Richard through MC5, the Stooges and maybe the best of the bunch, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, who tragically almost entirely exist as bootlegs. This doesn’t have any out-and-out revelations, but no song is dull, and most are fascinating - “Frankenstein” seems to avoid chorusing or climaxing out of some perverted need rather than lack - and I’m often caught out by a voice or guitar or some unidentified crash jumping out of the mix. The lyrics are stand out, really rare for me on this list, mainly because they’re the right kind of stupid-deranged. “Subway Train” might be the best train song I’ve heard on this list yet. I’ll be back here again. Yes, Simon, I do prefer this to “Exile…”, great call!

Unquestionably influential New York (proto) punk. Great record.

this slaps hard. good one!

> The Beatles

New York Dolls I was quite into this album around the time of The Strokes etc, although I don’t think I ever completely loved it. It’s definitely one of those albums loved by the bands you like, and you can really see its place in music lineage and its influence, coming 3 years before punk but creating a template; scuzzy Chuck Berry / Stonesy guitars, simple songs and energetic tempos with sneering vocals and attitude. Some of the songs are great proto-punk rockers, I always liked Personality Crisis, Looking for a Kiss, Trash and Jet Boy, and of the moments when they slow it down Lonely Planet Boy is great, with it’s slight country touches. The rest, while not always that memorable or great, is at least all carried along by attitude and enthusiasm, and there are always some great Johnny Thunders licks strewn about each song. I like it, it’s a decent album of trashy proto punk and it’s clearly very influential. Not sure how often I’ll come back to it, so it sticks as a high 3. 🪆🪆🪆 Playlist submission: Jet Boy

A bit uninteresting for me, musically, which I didn’t expect from the vibes/aesthetics/history. Oh well!

The title of track 6 sums up this album perfectly for me 1.25

Beautiful chaos of a record. The grit, the joy and the madness of that time in New York made into music.

Day268 - the same boomers who fight against the gays and drag queens we’re listening to the dolls and wanting to be as cool as them. put them in the rock and roll hall of fame before they’re all dead.

(4/5) This was pretty good and I inflated it a point because it was obviously really groundbreaking at the time. Without any context I would have placed its release solidly 5-10 ('78-'83) years ahead of it's actual release date ('73) as a punk album, but it clearly *influenced* all of those acts during that later period.. The songs were a bit longer, you could smell the glam Bowie on a few of them (he definitely influenced their act), and the heavier songs still had some older rock/blues influences, but the Dolls clearly had a vision that transformed the landscape after them. Kudos! So without context, or ignoring it -- solid '3'. With the context they get extra credit -- so a '4'.

Listening to this album was like reading the Rosetta Stone for the next two decades of rock music. When I turned this on I heard Kiss, Poison, Billy Idol, Van Halen, The Ramones, Jane's Addiciton, ... and on and on. Just punk attitudes, punk aesthetic, and the some of the grungiest, crunchiest guitar riffs you'll find in 1973. Seriously, that release date is throwing me off big time. I mentioned when we had Bon Jovi recently that "hair metal," a term I grew up using more though now it is often styled as "glam rock" was the first music I found on my own. Well I guess I am indebted to the New York Dolls for a much of what I listen to. So many acts are downstream from these guys. Seems like the majority of entire genres are downstream from them. It was also neat to finally get an American take on the developing punk sound of music after hearing so many British punk acts. Now I enjoyed most of those British Punk acts to an extent, but seeing the scope broaden as this project unfolds is also part of the charm. I'm going to check out some more from the New York Dolls, at least their 70s stuff when I get some time. 4/5

Surprised me a lot. In the same vein as Lou Reed's Transformer album. Some really good tracks.

Add a little bit of glam rock, a touch of the Stooges, and a big dollop of the Rolling Stones. Now mix together and garnish with a sprinkling of camp - Hey presto, it’s New York Dolls. A fun listen and a clear influence to a lot of bands that followed.

High marks for the influence of this album, slightly lower marks for its content after so many decades have passed. Still a great listen, but others ran with it and achieved greater results. That said, I bet Mark likes this better than "Exile On Main St." and he may have a point

I can understand how they inspired so many punk acts that followed. Good history lesson into the genera

I honestly expected to hate this one a whole lot more than I did. The Sex Pistols are one of my least favorite acts of all time, and it's easy to draw a straight line from this to them (especially considering Malcolm McLaren worked with both of them). However, I did find the Dolls to be significantly more palatable and interesting than the Pistols, perhaps because of the wealth of differing sounds and styles on display here. As an 80s kid, it's impossible not to also draw that straight line to every "hair metal" act of the late 70s and most of the 80s, particularly from a style and fashion sense. Given all of those tips of the hat intermixed with a fair amount of wags of the finger, I settled on a 3.5/5 that I don't particularly care to round up.

It's some fun old skool New York punk rock. 1973. A great year for albums. Can hear how these dolls probably influence Ramones and The Cramps. Trash was my favorite song on the album.

Got to give them pre-punk punk chops. The haphazardness belies the forward-thinking energy. Like a seedbed for punk, heavy metal, glam rock, hair metal, post punk, Kiss, the Tubes, you name it. What fun. Best taken in small doses, though, else the repetitiveness gets cloying--stick with a couple at a time.

Old school American punk. I was sorry to read that the lead singer died only 12 days ago ...

Musically it's not punk, not glam, and not really anything special. Being daring doesn't automatically create great art.

For being a genre that lastet like 10 years, Punk surely had a lot of pioneers that ALL belong in this book/list.

Rock but forgettable

I'm sure this is another seminal collection of cutting edge stuff that actually is bereft of melody or originality - its just 60s garage rock with leather and eyeliner

I listened to 2 songs and got bored. Listened to the Smiths instead.

How I imagine every Rolling Stones record before I actually listen to it. 1.5 I understand that one is supposed to hear this album as a crucial forerunner of punk rock, and, granted, there is something obnoxious going on beyond the band merely being bad at their instruments. Two days after Beggars Banquet though, I really struggled to hear the New York Dolls as anything but a shit Rolling Stones. The songs themselves were exhausting. If there’s innovation here it is in the art of making 3 minutes seem like 10. I shouldn’t single anyone out because a record this bad is always the result of a team effort but the drummer here might be the worst we’ve encountered yet on this list. 1/5

188. New York Dolls - New York Dolls (1973) 8.29.26 Variety: 5 Adequacy: 5 Listenability: 5 Uniqueness: 5 Emotionality: 4 = 4.8 rounded up to a 5 "Jet boys fly/ Jet boys gone/ Jet boy stole my baby" INTRO I'd read a bit about the New York Dolls by the, but I don't think I ever listened to any of their music until after I read Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain in the early 2000s. I was very surprised to find that Buster Poindexter of "Hot, Hot, Hot" fame was not only the cab driver from Scrooged, but also had an entirely legit and respectable rock music career. I think David Johansen at the time was painted as a Mick Jagger Clone ( and sure you can see the influence in the cocky, petulant delivery) but looking at when this came out, and reading any random bit of rock history I think it's easy to figure out that these guys were HUGELY influential themselves, not matter what they were drawing on. I mean if you go back far enough I think Jerry Lee Lewis's onstage antics, and Little Richard's flamboyant and charismatic stage presence could be said to be punk rock as fuck. Things had advanced enough by the mid 70's though that the culture had been primed for the sort of art school kid meets blue collar outsider DIYer aesthetic to form the two pronged attack that was American ( and later UK punk) based most immediately on the Ego of the trashy but palatable glam performance art stylings of The New York Dolls, the raw, unadulterated Id of Iggy and the Stooges, and the Superego of the more avant-garde intellectuals of the Velvet Underground, and Modern Lovers school. All of this with the core of the do it yourself philosophy practiced by a zillion 60's garage rock bands. There's a many a viable punk family tree that has been drawn, and The New York Dolls figure heavily. And that's not even really counting their aesthetic influence on the 80s glam and hair metal bands. Who the fuck else looked like thee guys at the time? Anyways, it's been a while since I listened to this, but more than a few tracks remain perennial 5-star favorites of mind, not to tip my hand or anything.. THE TRACKS Side One "Personality Crisis" - What a burner of an opening track. The Dolls manage to weave some magic here, summoning up the spirits of the Rolling Stones, the simplicity of 50s Rock ( which T.Rex, and Bowie himself - no doubt at least a visual influence on these guys, having already done a bit of genderbending himself- frequently dipped into as well), and all under a very catchy, hot as hell number full of more energy and personality than most could at the time. When you are listening to this, I think it's important to keep in mind that while, sure, there was plenty of great rock music being made, this was the period that Tony Orlando and Dawn, and Jim Croce were dominating the mainstream airwaves. These guys attitude and general air of aggressive good times would go on to influence a lot of punks, but they sound like professionals here, and they have Todd Rundgren running the production booth for a smaller, but still major label. This is well produced, and slick despite the loose nature. Those whistles, the boogie woogie piano touches, Johansen busting down the door and declaring himself, ex nihilo, as a rock n roll FORCE to be reckoned with. It's a character, of course, but he was so great at playing it. Without him do we get Johnny Rotten, Michael Monroe, Axl Rose, David Lee Roth, or even Morrissey ( a huge Dolls fan who ran their UK fan club)? "Looking for a Kiss" - We start with an awesome spoken word intro that hearkens back to the days of the 60's girl group acts, and then get launched into yet another supremely catchy bit of rock. With everyone on point, Thunders especially absolutely tears it up with his raunchy, loose style. Things end on a bluesy note, and I'm left wondering how big a Chuck Berry fan Thunders must have been. "Vietnamese Baby" - This is the first track that feels especially musically leaning towards that punky sound that would explode over the next few years. I can imagine all the UK kids' minds being completely warped by this sound. Thunders lays down some very basic sustained, and almost snotty sounding guitar chords on us, just daring anyone listening to try and replicate the noise. Those machine gun drum fills from Jerry Nolan that that sound like they are being processed through some sort of electronic filter ar ethe icing on the cake. "Lonely Planet Boy" - The guys show their sensitive side here, with more 50's touches like that dirty sax, the falsetto backing vocals, and the almost sweet, teenaged love sickness theme. Melodically this seems like the group shooting for late period Kinks sort of sound, but tied down by Doo-Wop instrumentation. "Frankenstein" - The pop cultural trash aesthetic of B-movies, only hinted at by the previous track's title is much more on the surface here as we get a more horrific and threatening tone, and Johansen gets to stylishly stretch out those syllables to the point of breaking. The DNA of dozens of Cramps songs are present in this one track. Side Two "Trash" - If you thought side one opened with an all-time classic, this is arguably better. More girl group background harmonies, an awesome drum and bass lead that absolutely makes the verse, and some chaotic, sexy guitar work. If there's one song that exemplifies the kind of dirtbag aesthetic that so much punk, glam metal, and such would come to thrive on, this might be it. Beauty in the dumpster. "Bad Girl" - Speaking of glam metal, this one provides more of a skeleton for any number of those 80s bands, with the scuzzy guitar accents, and the POUNDING drums. There's even a detour into some bluesy pub rock-ish territory that makes me think of Dr. Feelgood, hugely influential themselves. They were already making a name for themselves at this point before the Dolls ever splashed in the UK, so there's definitely a case of parallel evolution going on here. "Subway Train" - A more low key, midtempo number that really only suffers very slightly from the fact that the verses are SO much more interesting than the chorus. It's still pretty damned good though, and feels almost like something the Ramones could have done a couple of years later, just a hell of a lot faster, and with less decoration. "Pills" - We get some blues harmonica in another track that could have com right off of a Dr. Feelgood album, arranged a bit differently, sure. It's also the sole track on here that I think gives a better impression of what their live sound must gave been like. For some reason the production on this one keeps the vocals way back in the mix, so everything sound at the same denseness. If that makes sense. If your worse track on the album is this good, then you're doing something special. "Private World" - Soooooo fucking good. As much as several of the other songs on here are much better overall calling cards for the band, this is the one that is my dark horse favorite. It's just a series of amazing hooks and melodies for the entire running time, and showcases every single thing that is great about the band. "Jet Boy" - And we end on another all-time great. I think with the opener, the side two opener, and this closer we have a perfectly paced album, on top of every other good thing I have to say bout it. This is the track I would send anyone to get them interested in the band. This is the guitar hero track, and I think instrumental bridge on this one song lays a lot of track for 80s glam metal in particular, but can even be felt in a lot of the original post punk bands, and the 2000s post punk revival guitar acts that echoed them. HIGHLIGHTS - "Personality Crisis" - "Looking for a Kiss" - "Vietnamese Baby" - "Lonely Planet Boy" - "Frankenstein" - "Trash" - "Subway Train" - "Private World" MIDLIGHTS - "Pills" LOWLIGHTS - FINAL THOUGHTS This was a treat, and a reminder that I need to revisit more often. I certified, stone cold classic whose influence cannot be overstated, and well deserving of its spot on the list. I don't think any of these guys, in any of their other bands managed to crack the list, but this is maybe their finest work distilled into a chuck of near perfect 42:44. Few albums we've had have been this much fun either. Even when singing about lowlifes, drugs, and mental health issues the band remains upbeat and deliver even the darkest lyrics with a wink and maybe a lick of the lips as well. Chock full of the hookiest of hooks and some top tier melodies, this is one that I think anyone with love of any of the subgenres I mentioned would genuinely like. It's not a difficult or complex lift, like so many of the big influential albums on the list, which often point the way for much more aesthetically pleasing, and fully formed acts to refine and polish up. This one's ready made, and waiting for you to pluck it off the vine. PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - nah FURTHER LISTENING - Kick Out the Jams by the MC5 - Electric Warrior by T. Rex - Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie - Raw Power by the Stooges - Down by the Jetty by Dr. Feelgood - The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! by the Dictators - ramones by the Ramones - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols by the Sex Pistols - Two Steps from the Move by Hanoi Rocks - Too Fast for Love by Motley Crue - Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses

it’s impossible to determine when punk rock began. but if it were possible, here’s a contender. still love this over 50 years later

the sound of my people

Classic ❤️

New York’s finest rock 'n' rollers between The Velvet Underground & the Ramones, & the best interpretation of The Rolling Stones I think we've e'er seen, the New York Dolls generated two of the hardest, dirtiest, rockiest, & most profound records this rock thing has known. 'Cus we keep on / Ridin,' ridin' ridin.' It recalls the rottener content of '71's The Panic in Needle Park ('Pills') at the same time that it puts you in the upbeat moods of the city's machoest bars, i.e., this has got unironic continuities w/ ZZ Top & the lot. I know they're beloved by most of the right people, & that adds to their wide mystique as still unappreciated innovators, but I promise you, these songs sound & feel really good. 'Oh, trash, don't kick my night away / Oh, trash.'

I was going to give this a 4 because I feel like I’ve been giving out way too many 5’s. The album is too good for that.

The instrumentation is sloppy, the lyrics are nonsensical, he quality sounds like it was recorded in an abandoned basement and the vocalist sounds drunker than Barney from Simpsons I love it

4.5 rounded up because it was ahead of its time and obviously influential. The music is a 5 for sure, but the vocals aren't nearly as good.

Fuck yeah. I'm here for David Johannsen's crazy vocals and Johnny Thunders' guitar. I know they call this proto-punk and maybe it is, but I call it straight up badass rock and roll.

Pretty great. Starts to get a bit samey in the middle and then bursts back at the tail end

4/5

Strutting, snotting, snorting faux-transvestites from the gutters of Scorsese's New York. They presaged punk and maybe no one ever made glamorous sleaze to the same level. A perfect album from a perfect band.

Such a phenomenal album. The sleaze is palpable. Super influential and great in it's own right. 5.0/5.0: Iconic

early glam punk, no complaints here

9/10 Er, how have I never listened to this? Anything I say is going to sound stupid, but fundamentally this is my favourite kind of pink - a wee bit of polish, the relentless hooks and melody overlaid with some crunch and fuzz and a bit of danger. Excellent 👌 Gets an extra star in response to the review complaining of too much Classic Rock

Great album!!!

Can’t deny this album. The prototype for GnR, glam rock, and even sadly Kiss.

Early glam punk. This was an incredibly fun listen.

The album the Stones should have made after Exile on Main Street.

Phenomenal and influential, incorporating the sound of the Rolling Stones with the glam look and feel of Bowie, Mott the Hoople and T. Rex.

i love this, can't believe I never heard it before

One of the few 10s

Always cited as a direct successor to punk rock when it clearly even more so is the musical and visual blueprint for 80s hair & glam metal. Kicks hella ass no matter what it inspired!

💄💄💄💄💄

Another great debut album on this list! Hugely influential and still holds up!

Great, underrated album and band! Like a bridge between the Stones and punk. Love it!

One of my all time favourites, Personality Crisis is the perfect opener.

Like the Rolling Stones as an early punk band

So fun

music is love

Quintessential record although when I first encountered it as a teenager it was like an alien life form. There was nothing like this being played on the record. I recall being 14 years old in 9th grade in Winnipeg, Manitoba and hearing it in a record store as I was picking up an Alice Cooper record. They had just played the Pink Fairies record - What a Bunch of Sweeties and then they threw this on the turntable. I did not pick it up at the time but the songs that caught my attention on the first pass were definitely Personality Crisis, Jet Boy and Trash. When I really discovered the record again was in late 79 when I was reading Melody Maker and NME as those papers were being carried in Vancouver. Thus began the reexamination of this record and the other Dolls records. The music finally clicked. The outrageous outfits no longer were relevant because the band was more than image. The Sex Pistols, another boy band, suddenly made sense. In the end the fashion was not the focus but the songs. And the Dolls on this album, had all the songs. Having enjoyed this record hundreds of times over the years you discover that it’s the not so well songs that resonate deeply. Vietnamese Baby is a gem. As are Lonely Planet Boy and Subway Train. To be fair, I’m a lot older now and my tastes have changed over the years. Also the weight of both knowledge and experience adds to my appreciation of tracks that in my teens had no context. I certainly didn’t have a personality crisis at that point. As a jumping off point for punk rock n roll the Dolls with the Stooges really were the play book for everything that followed. As for debut records, this one is pretty hard to beat. 5/5

Good old rock n roll. Still the best genre, very hard to go wrong. This reminds me a bit of the Stones, but with a bit more of a punk edge.

Excellent punk.

High energy transformed rock ‘n’ roll into something more gritty and dirty setting up foundation for punk to come songs are super catchy David Johansson‘s voice is so great and there’s sex sex sex thrown all over this album one of the greats. I agree that everyone should hear this album before they die OK thank you bye

Love it!

Early punk at its best!

I audibly celebrated when I saw this was the pick of the day. The best combo of glam/punk as far as I’m concerned. Great album.

One of my favorites. There are no bad songs here.

Awesome mix of glam and punk rock!

Sleazy, campy,.classic

revolutionary groundbreaking icons

Fun Punk

Hot Damn! There was a point in my life when I had three copies of this album in my record collection. I wonder what happened to all my old albums? This is also my third debut album in three days- Van Halen, John Prine, and New York Dolls. Merry Christmas to me! This is going to be the perfect soundtrack to whatever prep I'm doing today for tomorrow's dinner. Hell yeah! The swagger and attitude and ambition are pure rock and roll.-We're doing this and you can't stop us. Hitting as hard as diner coffee at 3am.

Classic proto-punk. The foundational inspiration to more than half my usual listening.

This album sounds like punked-up, glammy Stones-rock. I love their energy, their anarchism, and their individuality. I also love the context of the band - a bunch of heroic-addicted, sexually ambiguous young men causing people to walk out of their gigs - the fact the they were voted both best and worst band in the Creem reader poll - a teenage Morrissey being enraptured with them on the Old Grey Whistle Test - Bowie at their gigs taking notes. The story of Johansen falling asleep at the record company meeting and waking up when Todd Rundgren’s name was mentioned and him reluctantly taking the gig. The chaos of the recording and mixing sessions. The supposedly bad musicianship (but I guess it doesn’t sound so bad when you know what punk is) and, as Pitchfork said, “as if the lyrics in Grease had been re-written by Bukowski”. I love the whole package.

Aww fuck yeah! L-U-V

I found that my new favorite kind of 70s music is people singing weirdly with funny rock beats. Thank you, 1001 Albums List. I like these guys for the same reasons as a band like Roxy Music, just these guys are a bit more directly punky. The dichotomy of 5 guys in drag makeup screaming and making punk-before-punk style music is the real fun of it. Frankenstein and Subway Train in particular are really fun. Granted, this whole album is really fun, and really good. Really really good. Side note, I would so dress like the guy on the far left.

Good proto punk

One of my fave albums from this era.

Si la palabra influencer hubiese estado de moda en los primeros 70 los New York Dolls se la habrían apropiado. Pese a su discreto éxito en su momento, este álbum se ha convertido en el comienzo de muchas cosas que vinieron después, sobre todo en la escena punk-rock tanto a un lado como a otro del Atlántico. Ramones, Blondie, Guns’n’Roses e incluso Morrissey le deben mucho a las muñecas de Nueva York. Hoy el disco suena fresco como el primer día, demostrando que, a veces, el éxito no está en las inmediatez, sino en la perdurabilidad.

By 1973 rock and roll had become a straight-laced, no nonsense, testosterone laden behemoth with too many bodies having been and were looking to be accumulated. There was, however, a small pocket that was increasingly being filled by people who were seen as too strange, too touchy, too out there. And there was no better representative of that growing ideology than the New York Dolls. With chutzpah, gall, nerve and balls, these faux queens from the lowest dregs of the City set out to deliver the best rock and roll of the era, and possibly the best rock and roll of the decade. Underneath the glamour came successive kicks to the gut as it pertains to the realities of what was staring them, and the listeners, in the face and that combo proves so potent more than a half century on. Of all the bedrocks to lain ones head, this remains amongst the sturdiest.

Classic!

One of the most influential albums going. Still feels fresh and raw now. Undeniable 5 5.0/5.0 Best Song: Trash

Huge, I can't believe its 1973 it sounds so much latter, what a fucking cool band, you could argue that Trash is the first punk song. Davey Johansen was a cool frontman.

This album kicks ass! From the very first song "Personality Crisis" I was dancing lol. Love the interplay between the guitars in "Trash" as well. I think also the sequencing is perfect honestly. Just that there is enough variety of the songs that no songs similar vibe to each other is next to each other, maintaining my interest even more. All the guitar solos are great. I think builds on the classic blues/rock song structure really well. I like the occasional breaks, like the stop and start of the vocals or the little guitar lick break in "Bad Girls." I think every song has those little things to appreciate. 5 stars! 27/09/2025

As much glam as they are punk. It's a fun twist that still hits hard, albeit with a silk glove.

RIP David Johansen.! It's hard to overestimate how incredible and influential this band is. This is 1973, 1973! So much of what people consider the Punk song in the late '70s is exactly ripped right from this.

David Johansen was an American treasure.

New yorkian

Good sloppy rock and roll, the way it was meant to be played.

Was für eine Überraschung! Nach lesen vom Jahrgang und Sichtung des Albumcover erwartete ich nichts. Und dann wow! eine echte Entdeckung!

superb protopunk

I'm sure if I can really fully grasp the impact this album and this group has had on rock music. I mean, true, they didn't have influence on the scale of The Beatles or anything like that, but you just go and look at the New York Dolls' Wikipedia page and find out for yourself just how many rock bands and artists they influenced. You've got stuff like the Sex Pistols and David Bowie, all the way up to Alice In Chains and Soundgarden. I'd long known the name "New York Dolls," but I never woulda guessed how wide-reaching their influence was. And as it turns out, they're not just influential; they're actually a dang good band, too. I mean, it could have been like that, huh? Influential in its time, but far outclassed by what they've inspired and can't hold up to modern sensibilities? But, nah, this is some electrifyingly good and fun rockin' shit. It makes me even more surprised at the 1 outta 5's I've seen in the reviews. How burned out on 70's rock do you hafta be to hate on **this**? In fact, I don't even wanna write too much more about this album. You'd really get more out of just listening to it than readin' me tryna describe it. And that's not a cop-out; it's just that this album really is just that simple and fun. So, y'know, all the props to the Dolls for pulling off performances that're such a blast that I doubt Todd Rundgren had to do much else to 'em, and for influencing so much music that came out after them.

Proto-punk might not be all that prevalent, but it still kicks major ass. 4.5 bumped up to 5.