The 1970s band The New York Dolls made only two studio albums, but the group was hugely influential, setting the stage for punk rock. We listen back to Terry Gross' 2004 interview with the band's co-founder David Johansen, who died last week. The group was described as flashy, trashy and drag queens — but Johansen didn't care. He later went on to perform under the persona of the pompadoured lounge singer Buster Poindexter. Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews Mickey 17, a futuristic action-comedy by Parasite director, Bong Joon Ho.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. David Johansson, a founding member of the legendary 1970s band the New York Dolls, died last week. He was 75. The New York Dolls never sold many records, but the band had lasting influence, paving the way for punk rock. He also performed in his persona Buster Poindexter, a pompadour-wearing lounge lizard.
And he played the blues with his band David Johansson and the Harry Smiths. Johansson was the subject of a 2022 Showtime documentary co-directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi called Personality Crisis, One Night Only. Much of the documentary is built around Johansson's 2020 performance as Buster Poindexter at the Cafe Carlisle in New York City.
The film also featured newly discovered and archival interviews with him and others. Here's a clip from the documentary with English singer and songwriter Morrissey. He says he was obsessed with the New York Dolls as a teenager because they brought a sense of danger to rock. Their music was loud and rough, but more than that...
So here were boys who were calling themselves dolls, and they looked like prostitutes, male prostitutes, which at the time, you have to remember it was a long time ago, and all of that kind of thing was really taboo.
English singer Morrissey from the Showtime documentary about the New York Dolls. Terry Gross spoke to David Johanson in 2004. The surviving members of the band had just reunited at Morrissey's request for a festival in England. Their performance was recorded on a CD and DVD titled The Return of the New York Dolls, live from Royal Festival Hall.
Terry's interview starts with a track from the album called Looking for a Kiss. The Dolls used to play this one in the 1970s. It was written by David Johansson, who also sings lead.
When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, M.U.V. I always saw you just before the dawn All the other kids you're just draggin' along I couldn't believe the way you seemed to be Timber in the place they used to say to be I could go off every waste of time cause I gotta have my fun I gotta get some fun I gotta keep on movin' Can't stop till it's all done I've been looking for a kiss
So when you were on stage with the Reunited and the new version of the Dolls, and you were doing the old Dolls songs, did you have any flashbacks to things that you had totally forgotten about? Did memories surface of things that were really interesting that you had completely forgotten about until you were back in that setting again?
Well, I have memories, but God, they're vague. I mean, I remember the first time We made a record with Todd Rundgren, and the only thing I remember is the lights on the control board. I thought they were really pretty. And that's really the only memory I have.
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