My first exposure to New York Dolls singer David Johansen was back in the 80s, when he ditched his glam rock persona for the alter-ego known as Buster Poindexter. He was responsible for that 80′s single “Hot Hot Hot,” along with a bizarre collection of mambo/salsa/synth-dance songs that were so many shades of shit, it ranked with Murray Head and The Power Station as the worst of the bad. But now glam is back in style, Johansen with it, and I must say he sounds ready to seriously kick all our asses. I don’t know what he’s been smoking, but their songs are a full throwback to the attitude that made tracks like “Trash” and “Personality Crisis” so effing cool, and re-establish the Dolls as one of the few glam bands who combined hard rock attitude with existential pondering — lyrically of course. Guitar-wise, drum-wise, bass-wise, JOHANSEN-wise, they tear it up, and it’s so damn good to have them back. For more existential pondering, here’s a self-deprecating David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain on the RBMA, looking back at the good and bad while they promote their latest album, Coz I Said So.
