New York Doll
A buddy lent me the documentary New York Doll, and I found myself with a spare hour and a half (always a pleasant surprise), so spun it up.
At first I wasn't impressed. It came off like a lamer episode of VH1's "Behind the Music" at first, but then the Dolls are asked to reform for a festival held by Morrissey, the flick kicks up a notch.
It's about Arthur "Killer" Kane, bass player for the New York Dolls. After the Dolls broke up, he had a rough life, including a sad suicide attempt where he leapt out a 3rd story window, only to break some bones.
I've never been much of a fan of the New York Dolls, and I kinda doubt they were as big a deal as everyone in the film makes them out to be. Yes, Morrissey, Chrissie Hynde, and Bob Geldof were big fans, but we all have groups that mean so much to us, and not much to others.
(I'm thinking of the Flaming Lips, The Presidents of the United States of America, and ELO for myself.)
Perhaps they were like the Velvet Underground where they were more of an influence on fellow musicians than they were on a larger, popular/public audience.
Anyway, check this out if you're a music fan and/or like this kinda doc.
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3 comments:
I think your analogy to the Velvet Underground is probably right on the money. Listening to the Dolls' first (and, really, their only) album from the perspective of 30-plus years later, it's difficult to discern precisely what makes them more memorable than any of the Rolling Stones knock-offs that (I assume) must have been kicking around NYC. But they clearly made a hee-yooooooj impression on the kids who saw them. Among the acts who admit they were influenced by the New York Dolls are The Ramones, Patti Smith, The Sex Pistols, Alice Cooper, KISS ... right there we have a wide spectrum of rock & roll that covers just about everything being foisted on the listening public to this day.
Anyhoo, I was probably more smitten with this flick than you were. SPOILER ALERT: I was incredibly moved that this guy could enjoy another moment in the spotlight, then go back to his job at the library and die. Had he lived to tour the nation's casinos, this would not have packed nearly the same emotional wallop.
Like Whisky and Bladerunner, its in the plasma, baby.
Check this out:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid348520221/bclid686938079/bctid263783118
Whisky, yep, that's what got me, too.
Sleemoth, Yep
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