STOOGE YOUR ENTHUSIASM (20)
By:
November 28, 2023
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of proto-punk records from the Sixties (1964–1973, in our periodization schema). Series edited by Josh Glenn. Also check out our proto-punk playlist (a work in progress) at Spotify.
THE NEW YORK DOLLS | “HUMAN BEING” | 1974
“Human Being” closes the Dolls’ last album (I don’t count the reunions), with one of their great philosophical texts, as David Jo addresses an ex. On their first album he inquired whether you could make it with Frankenstein; here he limns out humanity itself: grandiose dreams with obscenity and kings, hanging his head like riff-raff. Not a plastic doll, some saint he ain’t. He’s not defiant, nor mean, just a little bitchy, but generous. It’s a good roadmap for where David’s career would go.
The part of this song that was bequeathed to punk, though, is Johnny Thunders’ guitar. As was typical with the Dolls’ twin guitar attack, Sylvain plays his part with both feet planted in R&B and girl groups and Stonesy blues stings, and Johnny plays the part that sounds familiar but unprecedented. Syl plays the licks and accents and Johnny stomps down into the riff with his platform heel, creating the filthiest guitar tone, a thick relentless chaotic assault that’s my favorite thrill ride.
Not even Ron Ashteton’s best Stooges riffs nor the MC5’s treble-blasted buzzsaw are so clearly the immediate template for punk. The Ramones extracted that guitar texture and dropped it into a streamlined chassis and took off. The Sex Pistols emulated the sound directly on “New York” where Steve Jones sounds like Johnny’s raw primitivism ripping through Sylvain’s Chuck Berry moves.
“Human Being” ends with a sexy little sax coda that directly ports a safe passage for Punk Saxophone from Fun House to X-Ray Spex. Also a little nod to one of Punk’s secret well springs, which is skronky Free Jazz.
It’s almost impossible to imagine what Punk would’ve sounded like without the Dolls: the speed, the chaos, the sonic density, the joie, the sass, the playfulness. Theoretically, Punk might have existed without the New York Dolls, but what a sad, sour racket it would’ve been.
STOOGE YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Josh Glenn | Mandy Keifetz on The Trashmen’s SURFIN’ BIRD | Nicholas Rombes on Yoko Ono’s MOVE ON FAST | David Cantwell on ? and the Mysterians’ 96 TEARS | James Parker on The Modern Lovers’ SHE CRACKED | Lynn Peril on The Pleasure Seekers’ WHAT A WAY TO DIE | Lucy Sante on The Count Five’s PSYCHOTIC REACTION | Jonathan Lethem on The Monkees’ YOUR AUNTIE GRIZELDA | Adam McGovern on ELP’s BRAIN SALAD SURGERY | Mimi Lipson on The Shaggs’ MY PAL FOOT FOOT | Eric Weisbard on Frances Faye’s FRANCES AND HER FRIENDS | Annie Zaleski on Suzi Quatro’s CAN THE CAN | Carl Wilson on The Ugly Ducklings’ NOTHIN’ | Josh Glenn on Gillian Hill’s TUT, TUT, TUT, TUT… | Mike Watt on The Stooges’ SHAKE APPEAL | Peter Doyle on The Underdogs’ SITTING IN THE RAIN | Stephanie Burt on Pauline Oliveros’s III | Marc Weidenbaum on Ornette Coleman’s WE NOW INTERRUPT FOR A COMMERCIAL | Anthony Miller on Eno’s NEEDLES IN THE CAMEL’S EYE | Gordon Dahlquist on The Sonics’ STRYCHNINE | David Smay on The New York Dolls’ HUMAN BEING | Michael Grasso on the 13th Floor Elevators’ YOU’RE GONNA MISS ME | Holly Interlandi on Death’s ROCK’N’ROLL VICTIM | Elina Shatkin on Bobby Fuller’s I FOUGHT THE LAW | Brian Berger on The Mothers of Invention’s WHO ARE THE BRAIN POLICE? | Peggy Nelson on The Kingsmen’s LOUIE LOUIE.
JACK KIRBY PANELS | CAPTAIN KIRK SCENES | OLD-SCHOOL HIP HOP | TYPEFACES | NEW WAVE | SQUADS | PUNK | NEO-NOIR MOVIES | COMICS | SCI-FI MOVIES | SIDEKICKS | CARTOONS | TV DEATHS | COUNTRY | PROTO-PUNK | METAL | & more enthusiasms!