the best New York Dolls song from their two 70's records

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Poll Results

OptionVotes
Personality Crisis 3:41 13
Trash 3:08 11
Looking for a Kiss 3:18 7
Frankenstein 5:58 6
Jet Boy 3
Pills 2:47 3
Human Being3
Puss 'N' Boots 3:06 2
Who Are the Mystery Girls? 3:08 2
Vietnamese Baby 3:38 1
Stranded in the Jungle 3:46 1
Lonely Planet Boy 4:09 1
Subway Train 4:20 1
Private World 3:38 0
Don't Start Me Talkin' 3:13 0
Bad Detective 3:39 0
Chatterbox 2:25 0
It's Too Late 4:40 0
(There's Gonna Be a) Showdown 3:38 0
Babylon 3:31 0
Bad Girl 3:03 0


Zeno, Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:10 (eighteen years ago)

vietnamese baby.
the drumming and the nick cave-birthday-party-souting-like vocals at the end is the best minute in their career.

Zeno, Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:11 (eighteen years ago)

trash

n/a, Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:15 (eighteen years ago)

"Looking For a Kiss" would work great in karaoke.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:17 (eighteen years ago)

Impossible...does not compute...HALP!

Oh what the hell--I went with "Frankenstein" cos sometimes I just feel like a...

Could have just as well been "Human Being," or "Vietnamese Baby," or "Subway Train," or "Trash," or "Looking for a Kiss," or "Personality Crisis," or "Jet Boy," or "Who Are the Mystery Girlz," or etc.

JN$OT, Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:26 (eighteen years ago)

Frankenstein

iago g., Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:27 (eighteen years ago)

Who Are the Mystery Girls!

Dr.C, Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:28 (eighteen years ago)

I can hold my head so high, just like a human, a riff raff human being.

Thus Sang Freud, Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:41 (eighteen years ago)

Gotta go with the epic, Frankenstein.

kornrulez6969, Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:42 (eighteen years ago)

I'm with Dr. C,I pick "Who Are The Mystery Girls?"

These guys used to do a good cover of it.

James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:48 (eighteen years ago)

"Mystery. Aaah"

James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:49 (eighteen years ago)

"Pills", even though it's a cover.

Euler, Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:50 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, they really were the best cover band since the mid '60s Stones.

JN$OT, Thursday, 27 September 2007 13:52 (eighteen years ago)

FRANK
N.
STEIN

gabbneb, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:10 (eighteen years ago)

Who's song is Pills?

iago g., Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:38 (eighteen years ago)

Bo Diddley!

JN$OT, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:41 (eighteen years ago)

I know the Lurkers version.

Mark G, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:46 (eighteen years ago)

^^^Bo Diddley's, rather.

xp

JN$OT, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:46 (eighteen years ago)

"Trash"

Alex in NYC, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:15 (eighteen years ago)

almost impossible to decide, went with "Personality Crisis," in part because its first on the album.

da croupier, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:22 (eighteen years ago)

i like frankenstein of course,it's their most new wvish post punk song,but it's kinda repetetive, and i could never really listen to it till the end

Zeno, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:35 (eighteen years ago)

"Trash"
Don't pick it up.

James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:50 (eighteen years ago)

Uh, how do you call your lover boy?

Myonga Vön Bontee, Thursday, 27 September 2007 16:47 (eighteen years ago)

trash

am0n, Thursday, 27 September 2007 17:03 (eighteen years ago)

Though I really love the the way the first side of the first album hangs together, "Human Being" seems definitively Dollsy to me. It's the last song on what turned out to be their last record. They've reached the end of the line, but they're still barely holding it together. More precisely, just holding it together exactly enough and no more. The threat of collapse, of failure, never disappears. It sounds loose but it doesn't sound easy. The train's hurtling down the track, but off in the distance you can see the bridge has been washed out.

The lyrics are great too. They feel almost improvised. Johansen goes from telling off some girl about she wants "a plastic doll (Doll?) with a fresh coat of paint" instead of a human being like him, almost your standard rock star bitching. But then the words kind of swirl outward. He's a riff raff human being, he wants too many things, he has to dream, it's bit obscene... he keeps working himself up until he's yelling that "In fact I'm talking about the human race! You're trying to cover up the big disgrace!" Which seems like as clear as The Dolls ever got about their mission: to uncover the big disgrace and and scream, "Yeah Yeah OHHH Yeah!" about it. And by the end he's got his head hung down and his head held high in the same breath, he's a "first class human being". It's like a Tony Robbins self-help tape for fuck-ups. Not to be a hippy, but it makes me glad to be alive.

fritz, Thursday, 27 September 2007 18:10 (eighteen years ago)

"Looking for a kiss" edges "Trash" for me, but only just. I've got a lot of time for "Jet Boy", but I don't know if that's down to the endlessly recycled - but still great - OGWT clip.

Soukesian, Thursday, 27 September 2007 18:23 (eighteen years ago)

"Human Being" is indeed the Dolls' fight song. But the GNR version was so ace (and for the unDolls-like reason that their rhythm section cooks) that it took away some of the song's singularity. So I'm going with "Puss 'N' Boots," the song that made me realize that Johnny Thunders was the greatest guitarist of all-time. Just listen to the fun he's having up and down the neck from 2:30-2:34. Pure joy.

The greatest non-disco guitar-drum-bass band of all-time.

Kevin John Bozelka, Friday, 28 September 2007 06:06 (eighteen years ago)

Trash, all the way.

Johnny Fever, Friday, 28 September 2007 08:15 (eighteen years ago)

More Trash

Stewart Osborne, Friday, 28 September 2007 08:28 (eighteen years ago)

Lonely Planet Boy - why has Morriseey never covered this?

bham, Friday, 28 September 2007 08:54 (eighteen years ago)

Lonely Planet Boy - why has Morriseey never covered this?

Well he did pinch the title for that Jobriath compilation album.

Anyway, I voted for "Personality Crisis". The obvious choice, but it does sum up a lot of the Dolls' best qualities: great observational lyrics, lead guitar that serves the song rather than stomping all over it, and a tight band who also sound loose at the same time.

snoball, Friday, 28 September 2007 12:47 (eighteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

ILX System, Saturday, 29 September 2007 23:01 (eighteen years ago)

"Yeah, they really were the best cover band since the mid '60s Stones."

not really looking for an argument at all, but what about the Ramones(do you wanna dance, california sun, surfin' bird, let's dance, baby i love you)!? not to mention the Clash (brand new cadillac, armagideon time, police and thieves, pressure drop, etc.)

outdoor_miner, Saturday, 29 September 2007 23:11 (eighteen years ago)

these are two of my favoritest records, i.e. very tough to pick. today it shall be "jet boy"

outdoor_miner, Saturday, 29 September 2007 23:13 (eighteen years ago)

Right. So the Ramones/Clash were maybe the best cover bands since the Dolls then? (Although, I suppose which one of the three you prefer would be a matter of personal taste.)

JN$OT, Sunday, 30 September 2007 08:40 (eighteen years ago)

"Lonely Planet Boy" and "Trash". All the other songs seem to be performed in a slightly stagey way that doesn't do them justice.

PhilK, Sunday, 30 September 2007 16:43 (eighteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ILX System, Sunday, 30 September 2007 23:01 (eighteen years ago)

Aw, I forgot to vote (for "Trash"). Eh well.

Telephone thing, Monday, 1 October 2007 04:05 (eighteen years ago)

"Lonely Planet Boy" and "Trash". All the other songs seem to be performed in a slightly stagey way that doesn't do them justice

yeah, and what's up with those costumes?

gabbneb, Monday, 1 October 2007 15:01 (eighteen years ago)


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