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Jul. 15th, 2011 09:34 amSo . . . the New York Dolls. My friends and I used to buy all the music magazines, as music-obsessed teenagers, but in the pre-Internet age, it was hard to hear things that didn't get mainstream radio play -- you had to save up your allowance, take a risk, and it was safer just to buy another Who or Beatles album you didn't already have. (And yes, the Beatles had already broken up then, and the Who's heyday was past -- I'm not THAT old.) Later on, I relied on my brother and on one of my college friends in particular, who'd pretty much turn me on to stuff that was going to resonate for me.
And sometimes you'd take a chance on buying something legendary in the pre-sound-files-sharing and Youtube age, and it just wouldn't resonate. The friend I shared most of my musical interests with found that the Sex Pistols just didn't do it for her (I like them); I finally bought a Stooges album because of the legendariness factor and because I love "I Wanna Be Your Dog", but I found that they kind of bored me for the most part. I want to like Patti Smith's music more than I do (I like some of it but I want to love all of it and I don't) because *she's* so cool. Etc.
Mostly now I think about music when it's presented to me -- I go along to hear a band, or there's a song I like in a film, or someone plays something for me. M. and I don't tend to like a lot of the same music -- he prefers classic rock and I like more . . . I guess alternative rock is what it used to be called, plus I also like Latin jazz and classical. I love the Clash and he loves the Pistols, which is I guess the punk rock version of Coke and Pepsi?
I've been reading about the New York Dolls since junior high when my friends and I used to buy music magazines to obsess about Tommy and such like, and I've clearly heard them without knowing it, but . . . wow. I'm working on this book on the NYC music scene in the mid 70s, and they are a big part of it. Just went to YouTube, and they were doing a proto-punk sound in 1973-74, and they had an amazing look -- not before Bowie, but a look that a lot of people copied in the 80s, but theirs was better -- and the Mercer Arts Center where they had a resident gig (in the Oscar Wilde room!) was on the site of my later law school dormitory -- seriously . . . if I had the time to get obsessed about anything these days I would be madly googling more and more . . .
But I have put their early 1970s studio CDs on my Amazon wishlist. (I like my music in hardcopy, thank you.) I don't think I care about their reunited music now, although I love that it was Morrissey that got them back together. I did see David Johansen once in concert in his Buster Poindexter persona -- it was the 80s, my yuppie lawyer boyfriend got the tickets, don't judge me, okay, judge me).
And sometimes you'd take a chance on buying something legendary in the pre-sound-files-sharing and Youtube age, and it just wouldn't resonate. The friend I shared most of my musical interests with found that the Sex Pistols just didn't do it for her (I like them); I finally bought a Stooges album because of the legendariness factor and because I love "I Wanna Be Your Dog", but I found that they kind of bored me for the most part. I want to like Patti Smith's music more than I do (I like some of it but I want to love all of it and I don't) because *she's* so cool. Etc.
Mostly now I think about music when it's presented to me -- I go along to hear a band, or there's a song I like in a film, or someone plays something for me. M. and I don't tend to like a lot of the same music -- he prefers classic rock and I like more . . . I guess alternative rock is what it used to be called, plus I also like Latin jazz and classical. I love the Clash and he loves the Pistols, which is I guess the punk rock version of Coke and Pepsi?
I've been reading about the New York Dolls since junior high when my friends and I used to buy music magazines to obsess about Tommy and such like, and I've clearly heard them without knowing it, but . . . wow. I'm working on this book on the NYC music scene in the mid 70s, and they are a big part of it. Just went to YouTube, and they were doing a proto-punk sound in 1973-74, and they had an amazing look -- not before Bowie, but a look that a lot of people copied in the 80s, but theirs was better -- and the Mercer Arts Center where they had a resident gig (in the Oscar Wilde room!) was on the site of my later law school dormitory -- seriously . . . if I had the time to get obsessed about anything these days I would be madly googling more and more . . .
But I have put their early 1970s studio CDs on my Amazon wishlist. (I like my music in hardcopy, thank you.) I don't think I care about their reunited music now, although I love that it was Morrissey that got them back together. I did see David Johansen once in concert in his Buster Poindexter persona -- it was the 80s, my yuppie lawyer boyfriend got the tickets, don't judge me, okay, judge me).
