New York Dolls: Johansen Looks Back

"We might as well been called the Tehran Dolls."

This morning I got an email via long-ailing but resilient New York rocker Jesse Malin and the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. A fund has been established for David Johansen, founder of the New York Dolls, who is suffering from Stage 4 cancer, a broken neck from a fall, and other disasters. Click on the red Sweet Relief link for more information. I thought it would be nice to repost this essay from the archives, originally published here Dec. 22, 2022.

When I came to New York in fall 1972 to work for CBS Records, there was so much happening at the world's most major label, or collection of labels, it took a while for me to notice that in the city itself, not much was going on at all. It was a time between scenes: the Greenwich Village folk scene had passed, the uptown clubs were passé. Except for a one-band scene of its own: the New York Dolls.

The Dolls best known formation was ringleader and singer David Johansen; bassist Arthur Kane; drummer Billy Murcia (died Nov. 6, 1972, London, repl…