New York Dolls “New York Dolls” 1973. I’m spinning the Dolls’ debut album in tribute to Sylvain Sylvain, the Dolls rhythm guitarist, whose death was reported yesterday (b. Sylvain Mizrahi, February 14th, 1951, d. January 13th, 2021). We got a chance to see Sylvain perform once, sometime between ‘98 and 2000 (probably when he toured to promote his solo album Sleep Baby Doll) in Milwaukee, we think at The Globe, maybe Vnuk’s, but while we can remember exactly what he was wearing (a newsboy style hat, a purple scarf) we cannot recall the exact year or venue. Sylvain’s look was always unique and he was the Dolls member primarily responsible for the band’s over-the-top look

New York Dolls was a commercial failure at the time of its release, its glammy hard rock protopunk lost on pretty much everyone. However in retrospect the album has been recognized as a huge influence to the development of punk rock with the bands DIY and anti-establishment aesthetic and attitude. It had been my intention to focus solely on UK/London punk bands this week. However it is no stretch at all to directly connect Sylvain and the Dolls to 70′s punk; without the Dolls there would have been no Sex Pistols (Malcolm McLaren briefly managed the Dolls very shortly before helping to form the Sex Pistols), no Damned, Buzzcoks, etc., not even The Smiths (Morrissey was a MASSIVE Dolls fan). Anyway! New York Dolls has so many classic tracks: “Personality Crisis” and “Trash” (both tracks released as a double-A-side single; they did not chart), “Pills,” “Frankenstein” and “Jet Boy” (the other single from the LP, I’m fairly certain it also did not chart).