New York Dolls

The New York Dolls formed in New York City in the early 1970s with David Johansen on vocals, Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain on guitars, Arthur Kane on bass, and Billy Murcia on drums. Their first album came out in 1973, followed by Too Much Too Soon the next year. Songs like 'Personality Crisis' and 'Looking For a Kiss' had a ragged, urgent sound that drew from the Rolling Stones and the Velvet Underground, but felt rougher and more immediate.

They dressed in what looked like thrift-store glamour, with makeup and platform boots, playing loud rock that didn't fit neatly into what was on the radio at the time. Their shows were chaotic, and they developed a following more in underground circles than with mainstream audiences. The band's original lineup didn't last long; Murcia died in 1972, and they broke up by 1977.

After the split, their records kept turning up in the collections of younger musicians. Bands like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols mentioned the Dolls as an early influence, pointing to that mix of sloppy energy and streetwise style. Johansen and Sylvain occasionally revived the name with different players in later decades, but those first two albums from the '70s are what people usually mean when they talk about the New York Dolls.