New York Dolls

iTunes Review

Drawing on the Stones and a thousand AM radio gems for inspiration, the New York Dolls took raucous, chaotic din to previously unimagined levels. On their 1973 debut, the Dolls introduced themselves with the hoots, hollers, and howls of "Personality Crisis," and not all of those came from the throat of wise-guy frontman David Johansen. Lead guitarist Johnny Thunders wrung squawks and slurs from his instrument that could've made him a free-jazz celebrity if he'd wanted, while the rest of the band pounded like the proverbial Excedrin headache. The songs examined big-city life with hilarious, touching brio, making clear that the insistent and the poignant indeed had their places within the same tune. Still a great listen, it would later become an immense building block of the punk sound (and an eternal favorite of Morrissey's).