New York Dolls

New York Dolls是摇滚史上极其重要的一支乐队，他们是朋克音乐最早的先驱者之一。如果说，The Velvet Underground开创了地下音乐的先河，Stooges开创了朋克的源头，那么New York Dolls则开创了音乐融合的先例。人们很容易被他们华丽的服饰装束和荒诞的舞台行为所迷惑，以为他们在搞华丽摇滚。时至今日，仍有许多人把New York Dolls的音乐等同于滑稽、嘲讽。事实上，New York Dolls是一支被忽视了的伟大乐队，他们的音乐内涵是极其丰富的，讽刺和闹剧只是他们音乐的一个部分而已。New York Dolls真正的音乐价值要远远超出简单的行为主义艺术。
他们揉合了The Velvet Underground、Stooges、Rolling Stones的音乐特点，尽管从音乐表象上你可能感觉不出六十年代乐队给他们带来的深刻影响，但New York Dolls的确吸收了许多老乐队的精华：The Velvet Underground的实验符号，Stooges的分裂状态，Rolling Stones的叛逆狂放。
从音乐类型来讲，他们是典型的朋克乐。不管New York Dolls制造出多少滑稽可笑的情节，他们的音乐本质还是十分彻底的。判断一种音乐的好坏，除了看技术和思想性以外，还有一点是很重要的：这种音乐是否纯粹。New York Dolls决不是一支仅仅停留在滑稽氛围中的乐队，公正地说，他们的音乐内容发挥得淋漓尽致，涉及面相当宽泛。在音乐长河的承接使命中。New York Dolls的作用是不可替代的，他们既向人们展现了传统的布鲁斯元素，又使人依稀看到Rolling Stones的影子。但最终，他们的音乐先锋性是无庸置疑的。New York Dolls总览似地回顾了上一代音乐家的伟大贡献，同时又极为个性化地延伸出了独一无二的朋克。从音乐感觉来说，他们似乎更靠近前朋克，但他们没有走入极端的自我中去，他们对音乐结构的破坏带有浓重的实验色彩和艺术快感，这和Sex Pistols革命风暴一般的艺术反叛是有区别的。Sex Pistols的音乐更具侵略性，相比较之下，New York Dolls的音乐底子更厚实，包容性更强。Sex Pistols的音乐是狭小管道里的爆炸，而New York Dolls的音乐则仿佛在饱和的空间里反复凝固。同时，New York Dolls是一支时代责任感很强的乐队，他们关注了这个社会：在某些极具嘲讽意味的片断背后，你能发觉，他们的艺术态度是相当严谨的，New York Dolls并没有闭起眼睛搞艺术，他们时时刻刻睁大眼睛在观察这个世界。从他们的音乐里，你可以找到几分人文主义精和对一些敏感问题的隐喻。
即使是成为他们“音乐特色”的滑稽、讽刺，也是有深厚的文化根基和音乐根源的。至少，它说明了New York Dolls摧毁偶像的决心，在他们身上，你找不出一丝一毫的崇拜因素。New York Dolls不像Rolling Stones在打破偶像的同时建立起悲剧意义上的英雄，他们仿佛根本不关心这些，他们的早期朋克就是要让人感到别扭，感到不可理喻。David Johnson是很有艺术天赋的，这是一个骨子里很狂妄的艺术家。从本质上讲，他应该是目空一切的。但他却偏偏反其道而行之，去搞什么滑稽效果。人们对事物审美价值的观念是不断变化的，在经历了轰轰烈烈的朋克运动后，Stooges得到了歌迷疯狂的崇拜，一切先前被遗忘的东西又不合时宜地出现在赞美的圣坛前。但在当时，这种音乐是被误解的。David Johnson的观念超越了普通大众，他是一个走在时代前列的人，他使New York Dolls的作品和人类固定理念中的美保持距离，甚至不惜与之相背离。David Johnson在制造滑稽通感的同时，把观众也一块嘲笑了。这很像一个天才用智慧纺织出一系列看似荒诞不经的东西，而他本人则坐在角落里望着发笑的人群暗自好笑。
New York Dolls的音乐是对一切自以为崇高的事物的彻底反叛，它的真正内涵是很难把握的。人们可能感受到了音乐背后所要表达的含意，但始终无法将它固定下来。因为这音乐属于另一种形式的内在化，它的不朽就在于它超越了不朽。New York Dolls在朋克史上的地位是不可动摇的，The Clash、Ramones……Nirvana，一个又一个出色的名字都或多或少受到过New York Dolls的启发和影响。
The New York Dolls created punk rock before there was a term for it. Building on the Rolling Stones' dirty rock & roll, Mick Jagger's androgyny, girl group pop, the glam rock of David Bowie and T. Rex, and the Stooges' anarchic noise, the New York Dolls created a new form of hard rock that presaged both punk rock and heavy metal. Their drug-fueled, shambolic performances influenced a generation of musicians in New York and London, who all went on to form punk bands. And although they self-destructed quickly, the band's two albums remain two of the most popular cult records in rock & roll history.
All of the members of the New York Dolls played in New York bands before they formed in late 1971. Guitarists Johnny Thunders and Rick Rivets, bassist Arthur Kane, and drummer Billy Murcia were joined by vocalist David Johansen. Early in 1972, Rivets was replaced by Syl Sylvian and the group began playing regularly in lower Manhattan, particularly at the Mercer Arts Center. Within a few months, they had earned a dedicated cult following, but record companies were afraid of signing the band because of their cross-dressing and blatant vulgarity.
Late in 1972, the New York Dolls embarked on their first tour of England. During the tour, drummer Murcia died after mixing drugs and alcohol. He was replaced by Jerry Nolan. After Nolan joined the band, the Dolls finally secured a record contract with Mercury Records. Todd Rundgren — whose sophisticated pop seemed at odds with the band's crash-and-burn rock & roll — produced the band's eponymous debut, which appeared in the summer of 1973. The record received overwhelmingly positive reviews, but it didn't stir the interest of the general public; the album peaked at number 116 on the U.S. charts. The band's follow-up, Too Much Too Soon, was produced by the legendary girl group producer George "Shadow" Morton. Although the sound of the record was relatively streamlined, the album was another commercial failure, only reaching number 167 upon its early summer 1974 release.
Following the disappointing sales of their two albums, Mercury Records dropped the New York Dolls. No other record labels were interested in the band, so they decided to hire a new manager, the British Malcolm McLaren, who would soon become famous for managing the Sex Pistols. With the Dolls, McLaren began developing his skill for turning shock into invaluable publicity. Although he made it work for the Pistols just a year later, all of his strategies backfired for the Dolls. McLaren made the band dress completely in red leather and perform in front of the USSR's flag, all of which meant to symbolize the Dolls' alleged communist allegiance. The new approach only made record labels more reluctant to sign the band and members soon began leaving the group.
By the middle of 1975, Thunders and Nolan left the Dolls. The remaining members, Johansen and Sylvain, fired McLaren and assembled a new lineup of the band. For the next two years, the duo led a variety of different incarnations of the band, to no success. In 1977, Johansen and Sylvain decided to break up the band permanently. Over the next two decades, various outtakes collections, live albums, and compilations were released by a variety of labels and the New York Dolls' two original studio albums never went out of print.
Upon the Dolls' break up, David Johansen began a solo career that would eventually metamorphose into his lounge-singing alter ego Buster Poindexter in the mid-'80s. Syl Sylvain played with Johansen for two years before he left to pursue his own solo career. Johnny Thunders formed the Heartbreakers with Jerry Nolan after they left the group in 1975. Over the next decade, the Heartbreakers would perform sporadically and Thunders would record an occasional solo album. On April 23, 1991, Thunders — who was one of the more notorious drug abusers in rock & roll history — died of a heroin overdose. Nolan performed at a tribute concert for Thunders later in 1991; a few months later, he died of a stroke at the age of 40.
In 2004, former Smiths vocalist Morrissey — who was once the president of a British New York Dolls fan club — invited the surviving members of the New York Dolls to perform at the 2004 Meltown Festival, a music and cultural festival that was being curated that year by the singer. To the surprise of many, David Johansen, Syl Sylvain, and Arthur Kane agreed to the gig, with Steve Conte (from Johansen's solo band) standing in for Thunders and Gary Powell from the Libertines sitting in on drums. The group's set was well received by critics and fans (and was recorded for release on DVD and compact disc), which led to offers for other festival appearances, but only a few weeks after the Meltdown show, Kane checked himself into a Los Angeles hospital with what he though was a severe case of the flu. Kane's ailment was soon diagnosed as leukemia, and he died only a few hours later, on July 13, 2004, at age 55. With Sam Yaffa (of Hanoi Rocks) on bass, the remaining Dolls played a hometown tribute to their fallen brothers at Little Steven's International Underground Garage Festival in New York City on August 14, 2004, reuniting again in 2006 for the all-new CD/DVD One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This.