In 1973 a local news report on the "social phenomenon" of "New York street bands" centered around the nightclub Max's Kansas City--where Debbie Harry might very well be your waitress and William Burroughs passed out at the bar--zeroed in on an exotic group of young men called the New York Dolls. In somber tones the newscaster described their music as "rough not polished" with "lyrics [that] are shouted, not sung" and live shows that are "always belligerent, hostile and deafeningly loud." Now there's a sales pitch!
And while the New York Dolls' guitarist Sylvain Sylvain was by all accounts neither particularly belligerent, hostile, or deafening in person--in fact just the opposite, he was credited with holding the highly-volatile band together both personally and musically during their initial five-year run from 1971 to 1976--his guitar playing sure as hell was all three of those things. What's more Sylvain has been credited for coming up with the band's name and their (for the times) highly provocative look and for being their musical anchor with his slashing, rock sold and highly memorable guitar lines.
Rather than trying to tell Sylvain's story here or making a case for his significance, I'll simply point out that Sylvain and his guitar playing are very likely buried deep in your DNA. In other words if you're someone who listens to and/or creates what is routinely referred to "indie" or "alternative" music, the New York Dolls were one of the central bands/central strands in the musical DNA of so-called proto-punk music, alongside the Stooges and MC5 and Death, leading directly to punk rock, obviously, and then to post-punk and alternative and indie rock.
Here's a few good obits that were published today if you wanna know more about the man, the Dolls, and Sylvain Sylvain's post-Dolls career.
A British perspective from The Guardian (without the New York Dolls there'd been no Sex Pistols):
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/15/sylvain-sylvain-the-new-york-dolls
And here's what some obscure old hippie rag has to say about Sylvain Sylvain:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/sylvain-sylvain-new-york-dolls-dead-1114962
...versus a more punk rock perspective from Alternative Press:
https://www.altpress.com/news/sylvain-sylvain-obituary-the-new-york-dolls
And now for some sounds and images cuz that's what matters. Exhibit A: If "Frankenstein" and its glorious twin guitar assault by Sylvain Sylvain and Johnny Thunders, taken from the Dolls' 1973 eponymous debut LP, doesn't send chills up your spine then maybe you should pay a visit to your in network cardiologist:
Probably the New York Dolls' best known song, though there's a case to be made for "Personality Crisis," David Johansen (aka Buster Poindexter) kicks things off by quoting the Shangri-Las' "Give Him A Great Big Kiss":
This may be the best known filmed performance by the Dolls--appearing live on the German pop music show Musikladen with two more songs taken from New York Dolls (1973):
Footage of the Dolls performing live in 1974 after the release of their oft-overlooked follow-up Too Much Too Soon. Announcer and concert promoter Don Kirshner poses the $64,000 question: Are the Dolls "outrageous and bizarre" or "incredibly talented"? I'd like to ask Don why they can't be both!
A nice live set here from Sylvain Sylvain & the Teardrops, again from German TV, a musical project whose one one and only album came out in 1981. Note the retro-rockabilly vibe and note that this was the same year that the Stray Cats' debut album came out. Sylvain was always on the cutting edge and always not getting due credit. Bonus content in this video, you get to see Sylvain talking a little bit about the Dolls during the wonderfully awkward interview segment.
And finally here's a song off One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This (2006), the first of a few well-received New York Dolls' reunion albums featuring/co-written by surviving members Sylvain Sylvain and David Johansen.
