TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. And as part of the summer series on albums celebrating their 50th anniversary, rock critic Ken Tucker is reviewing the New York Dolls' 1974 record "In Too Much Too Soon." It was the second album by the band, fronted by lead singer David Johansen. The New York Dolls are now considered to be one of the forerunners of punk rock. But as Ken explains, in '74, it was sometimes a lonely situation to be a Dolls fan.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BABYLON")
NEW YORK DOLLS: (Singing) Well, when I woke up this morning, boys, I was gone. My girlfriend asked me, where do I come from? Put my face up in the mirror just to clock my wares. First thing, I know I got to get out of here, oh, back to Babylon. I got to get away to Babylon. I can't stay 'cause in Babylon - having too much fun in Babylon. I got to run. I can't look back. I've got to get back. I've got to get down to Babylon.
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: Of all the albums I've talked about during this 50th anniversary album series thus far, the New York Dolls' "In Too Much Too Soon" is the least known and least appreciated. I know this partly from experience. The vinyl copy of it that I possess was given to me 50 years ago by my friend, the novelist Tom De Haven - not as a gift, but as something he wanted out of his house. Take it, he told me, holding it at arm's length. I hate it, he said.
At the time, this second album by the Dolls was receiving rapturous reviews, minimal sales and audience indifference bordering on hostility. The album thrilled me, and I still grin upon hearing the opening goofiness of the Dolls' version of Archie Bell & The Drells' "(There's Gonna Be A) Showdown."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "(THERE'S GONNA BE A) SHOWDOWN")
NEW YORK DOLLS: (Singing) Say, man, they tell me you're pretty good. Don't you know you're in my neighborhood? They tell me you're pretty fast on them feets. You best be at the dance hall down on 14th Street, you hear? Yeah, there's going to be a showdown. Yeah, there's going to be a showdown. Yeah, there's going to be a showdown. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, there's going to be a showdown.
TUCKER: It's not hard to hear why many people did not dig the New York Dolls. To begin with, there's David Johansen's taxicab honk of a voice - as New York as the band's name. While he later went solo as a witty crooner under the stage name Buster Poindexter, as a Doll, Johansen was all about singing to compete with - or complement - the clattering chaos of Johnny Thunders' garish lead guitar.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PUSS 'N' BOOTS")
NEW YORK DOLLS: (Singing) And now you're walking just like you're 10 foot tall. Well, go ahead. Lickity split, better move quick. Better not slip, better get hip. I don't think they'll fit. Gunning for a hoot, I'm going to shout, where'd you get them boots? Just like Puss in Boots, I hope you don't get shot for trying. Oh, baby, shot for trying.
TUCKER: In New York City, the Dolls were the bridge between the atonal moodiness of the Velvet Underground that preceded them and the terse noise of The Ramones, who would follow them. Arrogant, sloppy and plagued by substance abuse, the band was a slap in the face - no one's idea of a smash hit, at a time when John Denver and the Eagles topped the charts. Paul Nelson, the pioneering rock critic turned A&R man, had to spend months convincing his bosses at Mercury Records to sign the band. Ellen Willis, another inventor of rock criticism, wrote in The New Yorker about being blown away by the band in the Lower Manhattan space that became their launchpad, the Mercer Arts Center, describing Johansen as a, quote, "19-year-old bizarro in his rumpled Prince Valiant hairstyle, lipstick, high-heeled boots and leather pants, radiating a sulky sexuality."
The high point of this album is its final song, "Human Being." It's poignant that the Dolls would feel they had to tell us that they weren't freaks or superheroes, but plain old humans, wrapping the sentiment in their fiercest rock music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HUMAN BEING")
NEW YORK DOLLS: (Singing) Oh, yeah. Well, I may think that this whole scene is just a-too appalling for me, or I may be the type who's just a-mad about every little thing that I see, but I can color that with history or make it just what I want it to be, while I'm blowing my change on the fan magazines with all the Hollywood refugees, screaming, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, yeah. And if I'm acting like a king, I said, well, I'm a human being, and if I want too many things, don't you know, well, I'm a human being. If I've got to dream, baby, baby, baby, I'm a human being, and when it gets a bit obscene, woo, woo, woo, I'm a human being.
TUCKER: The Dolls' first self-titled album had been produced by Todd Rundgren, in hopes of giving it some pop music flare. For the second album, the band made a surprising choice - Shadow Morton, best known for his work writing and producing '60s hits like "Leader Of The Pack" for The Shangri-Las. He turned out to be great for the group, playing up their hard-rock swagger, while also highlighting the sense of humor that could get lost in the noise, steering them toward material like Sonny Boy Williamson's 1950s blues hit "Don't Start Me Talkin'."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T START ME TALKIN'")
NEW YORK DOLLS: (Singing) Going down to Rosie's, going to talk to Fannie May. I got to tell her what I heard her boyfriend say, but don't you start me talking. I'll tell everything I know. I'm breaking this, signifying, because somebody's got to go. Jackie's wife, $2.
TUCKER: Less than a year after this album, the Dolls broke up, in a combination of commercial failure and personal misbehavior. The best summation may have been offered by the late Paul Nelson when asked why he worked so hard to get the Dolls a record contract. It was a wondrous thing, he said, to see a group play rock 'n' roll with the enthusiasm of five people who felt and acted as if they had just invented it.
MOSLEY: Rock critic Ken Tucker revisited the 1974 album "In Too Much Too Soon," by the New York Dolls. Tomorrow on FRESH AIR - Brittany Howard. She became known as the powerhouse singer and guitarist fronting the band Alabama Shakes. Now she has a solo career and a new album called "What Now." We'll talk with her about her new album, writing and singing breakup songs and how her life has changed. I hope you'll join us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHATTERBOX")
NEW YORK DOLLS: One, two, three four.
MOSLEY: Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Ann Marie Baldonado, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi and Joel Wolfram. With Terry Gross, I'm Tonya Mosley.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHATTERBOX")
NEW YORK DOLLS: (Singing) I said, chatterbox. I said, you squawk a lot. Come on, give me some lips. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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