1
He was a survivor.
Until he wasn't.
I won't say he reinvented himself as much as Bowie or Madonna, then again Johansen was forced to, because nothing he seemed to do broke through, rained down cash.
So if you were a child of the sixties, you didn't want to go into tech, never mind finance, you wanted to be in a rock and roll band. That was the highest goal. We'd all seen the Beatles, watched the scene mutate from the British Invasion to the Jefferson Airplane and Hendrix and Cream and we wanted some of that. The lifestyle, the fame...the women.
Now most people gave up. They couldn't throw off their upbringing, couldn't go all in on something with such low odds of success. Or else they played and realized they just weren't that good. But some...some carried on.
David Johansen didn't start as a scenester at the Mercer Arts Center, he worked his way up to that. From Staten Island to Manhattan. And in the mid-seventies, that's where it was happening, New York City. Sure, there was the country rock scene in Los Angeles, inspired by the Byrds and culminating in the Eagles, but in New York it was dirtier. Everything happened late at night, whereas in L.A. everybody was already in bed. It was about being there, having the experience.
Or else being outside and looking in, as a result of the little press that leaked out.
Yes, there was this band playing at the Arts Center who dressed as women but everyone said were great. Then again, how many people actually saw them? This was not Max's Kansas City, this was something new, something closer to the edge, the progenitors of punk, albeit inspired by the glam scene in England to push the fashion envelope.
Then the Mercer Arts Center collapsed. Just when the New York Dolls' first LP was released, on one of the worst labels extant, Mercury. However, it was produced by Todd Rundgren, who was at the peak of his powers.
2
Now if you listen to the scuttlebutt of those who were there, in the band, Rundgren didn't capture the excitement, the power of the Dolls on wax. We hear this all the time. Outsider band finally gets signed, they're hooked up with a professional and when the album stiffs, it's the producer's fault.
But the truth is the Dolls' first album was way ahead of the audience. It was noisy and in your face in an era where acts were growing their hair long and smoking dope and laying back. It was out of time, like in that Rolling Stones song. And it was still out of time when the Ramones pressed on, inspired by the sound. But then, punk exploded in the U.K. and it was fed back to us over here. But the truth is, punk didn't really break through in America until Nirvana in the nineties.
So that very first album...
To succeed in the recording world you must have a hit. Something listeners can glom on to quickly, hopefully that radio will pick up on. But when Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their first LP in '76 it was seen as too outside, classified as punk, and success had to happen over in England before the band was embraced first in Los Angeles, and then across the nation.
"Personality Crisis"?
If you were a hipster, if you were a denizen or observer of the scene, you got it. But despite everybody being against the Vietnam War at this point, there was a clear line between those in the know and those outside. In most of the nation the FM airwaves were dominated by meat and potatoes rock. "Personality Crisis" could not be understood.
And there were a few more tracks on the debut that deserve mention, like "Jet Boy" and "Looking for a Kiss" and "Lonely Planet Boy," but either you were in the know or you were not, and most were not, and didn't care a whit.
I went to see the Dolls at their first L.A. show, at the Whisky, promoting the album at the end of the summer of '73. The venue was not full. Hipsters were checking them out, but L.A. hipsters are laid back and even though Johansen and company gave it their all, it didn't resonate, it didn't convert those who were not already converted. You can take the band out of New York City, but odds are outside the metropolis most people won't get it. And they didn't.
But there was a second album, produced by Shadow Morton, whose credits were with the Shangri-Las and Janis Ian. And, of course, the Vanilla Fudge, but was this a good fit for the Dolls?
OF COURSE NOT!
But Shadow was seen as dark. And the Dolls were dark. And you'll find people who love the second album, but it had even less commercial impact than the debut. I enjoyed "Stranded in the Jungle," but most people didn't hear the album if they even knew it existed and then the Dolls were done. Bands without commercial success implode. And that's what the Dolls did. Leaving their legend and recorded output to be discovered by future generations. Then again, the legacy of the Dolls is akin to that of the Ramones, the music has become secondary to the image, of testing the limits, of doing it your own way.
But what was David Johansen supposed to do?
Go solo.
3
What you've got to understand is most failed rockers have no options. They didn't graduate from college, if they even went. Their business skills are limited. Which is why they keep trying, believing ultimately it will all work. Otherwise, what was it for?
We thought Johansen had disappeared. It had been four years since the last Dolls album. He'd gotten his shot, the Dolls were overseen by Leber and Krebs, the biggest managers on the east coast, with Aerosmith already in their stable. The music continued to evolve. Dressing up in women's clothing was passé, there was no room for David Johansen. Or was there?
Now Johansen was managed by Steve Paul, who had his own label with Columbia, Blue Sky. And when Johansen's solo debut was released...
Timing looked good.
David had left the glam behind. He was a straight ahead rocker now. You could fit him in with Elvis Costello and the rest of the new wave, conceptually anyway. Then again, he had that New York attitude.
But that's what made the music so great.
The album started off with "Funky but Chic," delivering on all the promise of the Dolls. If you were a fan, this was an elixir, this was what all the hype had been about.
"I got a pair of shoes I swear that somebody gave me
My mama thinks I look pretty fruity but in jeans I feel rockin'
I don't wear nothin' not too fussy or neat
I just want somethin' baby to be able to walk down your street
Hey come on baby, let's get on down to the boutique
Let's bring back somethin' that's a funky but chic, I said now"
This was the flip side of "Saturday Night Fever." Fashion counted, but there was no slickness involved. And certainly no disco. But ultimately radio never bit, so "Funky but Chic" became a fan favorite.
But the piece-de-resistance was the closer, "Frenchette," the best thing David Johansen ever did.
"You call that love in French, but it's just Frenchette
I've been to France, so let's just dance
I get all the love I need in a luncheonette
In just one glance, so let's just dance
I can't get the kind of love that I want
Or that I need, so let's just dance"
It was a different era, just because you were not educated, that did not mean you were not intelligent, that you did not have insight, and a sense of humor.
But "Frenchette" was too sophisticated for the hoi polloi. Yet if you were a David Johansen fan... This was all you needed.
4
But the follow-up, 1979's "In Style," co-produced with Mick Ronson, missed the target. It's not that it was bad, it's just that none of the tracks stood out and deserved attention. And honestly, if you were a fan, you were disappointed.
And in 1981 there was another Blue Sky album that got even less attention.
But then came the live album, "Live It Up."
Sure, it had "Personality Crisis," even "Stranded in the Jungle" and "Funky but Chic" and "Frenchette." But despite the greatest hits lineup, it was the covers that delivered, and finally resonated with radio programmers, hip radio programmers in the city.
The Animals were a sixties curio, they'd been forgotten, but Johansen brought them right back with a medley of "We Gotta Get Out of this Place, "Don't Bring Me Down" and "It's My Life." A killer trilogy. Then again, just "Don't Bring Me Down" is enough to seal the deal. Johansen was a modern day Eric Burdon. With the same darkness and attitude. Man, was that medley great... It killed at the Roxy when I saw him. Yes, David Johansen still couldn't sell any tickets. By this time many knew his name, but not many wanted to pay to see him.
The other gem on the live album was a cover of "Build Me Up Buttercup," long before it became a movie staple later in the century. Johansen sped it up and added attitude and then...
That was it. There was another studio album, on indie Passport. And it was the heyday of MTV and there was no place for David Johansen.
So he reinvented himself as a lounge singer, the antithesis of his previous incarnation out on the ledge. Then again, Buster Poindexter had an edge. It was all a joke. Or was it? There was even a hit, "Hot Hot Hot," that penetrated the consciousness of America, everybody knew it.
But most didn't know who David Johansen used to be.
5
And to survive you've got to have relationships. David leveraged his to secure acting roles. He was a man about town in New York City, you saw him on TV, never mind movies. He was staying alive, which is the hardest thing to do as a musician.
And there were the lounge shows. And ultimately a Dolls reunion. Yes, some of the audience had caught up with what had happened decades before. But even though there was a new album, this was nostalgia. Because people grow up. And you can try to suspend disbelief, but you can't. You can be young and dangerous, but very few can be old and dangerous. David Johansen grew up. And so did we. But since Johansen had morphed, just hadn't repeated the same damn formula, he continued to be thought of, to be hip, he had a place in the firmament.
And then he died.
6
Music is a hard game. Sure, you hear about the money of the titans. Billy Joel could lose it all and then make it back.
But most people don't make it in the first place.
And we all need money to live.
Most of Johansen's contemporaries faded away into irrelevance, or died. But he soldiered on, figuring it out along the way.
Will he be remembered by the masses?
I don't think so. I doubt he'll be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, unless it's in some special category.
But if you were there...
You were paying attention to the scene. I went to see the Dolls in '73 because that's the only way you could experience them. There was no TV, never mind internet. There was just a little bit of press.
And there were those of us who lived on the edge, who needed to know about the new acts, who had to check them out. And some of them broke through, and a ton of them did not. But still, we have our favorites.
Despite the brashness of his character in the Dolls David ended up beloved. And I think he knew that.
The circus lost another act yesterday.
But if you were there, you'll never forget David Johansen.
--
Visit the archive: lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, Unsubscribe
To change your email address this link
No comments:
Post a Comment