Growing up, my old man (God rest his soul) ruled our house like a dictator, using a hair-trigger temper and a military approach to discipline as intimidation factors, dancing a fine line between tough love and raising two trained seals. After The Beatles popped up on "The Ed Sullivan Show" one Sunday night in 1964, his attention was temporarily diverted from my sister and I (well, uh, mainly me) to long-haired guys from England, as he sputtered, fumed, and worked himself up into a fine lather, gracing us with a surreal stream-of-consciousness rant punctuated with many bad words and the occasional mad chuckle thrown in for texture. About 10 years later, after riding my bike up to Dearborn Music in my suburban Detroit hometown and returning with the New York Dolls' first album, having read about the band in "Creem" and "Rock Scene" and stayed up late to catch them on "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert," I figured the big guy's attitude toward rock and roll had if not reached the point of acceptance, then at least relaxed somewhat. Feh... After he saw the cover photo of Arthur Kane, Syl Sylvain, David Johansen, Johnny Thunders, and Jerry Nolan in all of their platformed, spandexed, and roller-skated splendour, he not only questioned their sanity and sexuality, but mine as well. Thirty years and three kids later, the state of my mental being is open for debate but one thing's for sure - the Dolls have been alternately iconized, lionized, and blamed for everything from punk rock to Hanoi Rocks, having displayed a hip sense of heroin chic and total indifference to the mechanics of the music business in the process.

Up to this point, other entries in the voluminous "20th Century Masters" series have anthologized everyone from Rare Earth to Hank Williams to Rainbow, with a few odd ducks like The Tubes and Oingo Boingo thrown in for good measure, all solid, workmanlike compendiums targeted at the casual fan who's only going to get one disc by a particular artist. Taken at face value, this collection does a fair job of accomplishing what it sets out to do - show what the big fuss was all about in the span of 11 songs and 30-some-odd minutes. Although the band's first album understandably led some to believe they were not of this world, "Too Much Too Soon" may be more representative of their trainwreck approach to record making, Johansen braying over the din of Thunders' Chuck Berry-in-a-padded-cell leads and the unheralded but perfect drumming of Nolan, unafraid to to tip their hats to their R&B roots in covers of "Stranded In The Jungle," "Don't Start Me Talkin'," and "(There's Gonna Be A) Showdown." Track selection is evenly divided between each of the two albums and while part of me wants to grouse about what songs should have been included (I'd swap Thunders' sneering "Chatterbox" for strutting, no-big-deal "Lone Star Queen"), it's somehow oddly encouraging to see the boys getting shelf space somewhere between Madonna and Outkast. Besides, in addition to getting the tawdry piano that drives "Personality "Crisis" and Thunders' tortured backing vocals in "Trash" (perhaps their finest moment), the inclusion of their cover of Bo Diddley's "Pills," showcasing Johansen's honking harp work, the rest of the band chugging along behind him and sounding as if it could all fall apart at any moment, is worth celebrating.

A few years back, I had an epiphany, coming to the grudging conclusion that most of what the old man told me was basically true, but he couldn't have been further off the mark when it came to the New York Dolls. At this juncture, showering them with praise has almost become a cottage industry, but whether looking for a kiss or lookin' fine on television, their twisted, tattered genius appears to be a given.

I remember walking into the local record store and seeing the 1ST LP jump out of the shelves at me; I mean you just couldn't ignore a cover like that! With that in mind, I immediately picked it up and left. Short of the first MC5 LP, the Stooges, and discovering beer, I can't think of anything more important in my musical education. Combining Chuck Berry 50's riffage, early 60's girl group arrangements, and yes, good ol' RnR, the Dolls helped pave the way to the Punk world along with the Stooges and the MC5. Thunders guitar inspired 1000's of new guitarist in the punk world, out to set the world on fire. I mean, how many guitarist attitude actually comes through their playing on vinyl? Not many. And Jerry Nolan; man what a drummer's drumer. The dude was all over the place; a controlled Keith Moon at the least. Even though this LP was the first album, the next one, "TOO MUCH, TOO SOON" was even better for me; Shadow Morton's slightly creepy polished to the bone production makes it a keeper for the ages. The band never got their dues when they were starting; it seems this stuff took years to perk. All hail rock n'roll...and the NEW YORK DOLLS

A strange melting pot was brewing in New York in the early 70's. A group of guys decided they would mix the glam rock of the day(David Bowie, Sweet) with the heavy metal of the day(Led Zeppelin, KISS) and the quasi-punk(Iggy and the Stooges.) What a strange brew. Punk rock and glam are the obvious influences, but ther is some heavy metal thrown in there, too. It's obvoius where Nikki Sixx of the Crue got that hairdo. It was from Johnny Thunders of the Dolls! Although this kind of music isn't exactly my taste, I fugure it's pretty good.

I too recall reading a lot about the New York Dolls in CREEM, HIT PARADER, & CIRCUS Magazines back during the era of their two albums. They recieved a lion's share of press in all the major rock magazines and then some. At the time, in the early to mid-70's - I totally avoided any rock groups that dressed like drag queens with the teased hair, makeup, spandex, etc. cos their image alone made them questionable to me and I preferred the much better sounding music of mainstream rocker dude type bands. I did like an occasional David Bowie and Kiss track though. I can see now where all the image influence of the 1980's metal banger bands - Motley Crue, Ratt, Etc. - which I refer to as drag queen rockers, got their inspiration. I had never heard any of New York Dolls music till now though. Is this what all the fuss was about?!!! It gives one a great perspective [years later] while exploring their reissued music, that they were not "ahead of their time" as implied by their fans, but more typically along the line, musically, of what David Bowie & Kiss[who were a safer and more conservative bet at the time on several levels]were hashing out on the recording front. Definitely so, musically, - BOWIE & KISS were already covering/breaking that ground and gained the mass appeal, commercial success. Whenever a heralded 'critics' darling' band fails to ignite the expected commercial success and fall to 'cult status', they are usually lamented as "well ahead of their time", which in reality is not the case. In music, there is an audience and room for everyone and for preferred musical taste, and there is a vast and expansive field of sounds in the music spectrum in each respective era. NEW YORK DOLLS 70's recordings sound okay, nothing memorable nor classic here, just trash rock, yet they paved the way for those 80's rockers and possibly Boy George to gain mass acceptance of their respective visual kinky sides.