New York Dolls Too Much Too Soon (Book) by NIna Antonia

The New York Dolls story has been told numerous times and there isn't a lot of new info in this book, but it does give some salacious details and a good, overall chronology of the ups and (many) downs of their self-destructive careers. Nina wisely does not delve too deeply in any of the characters' childhoods (most kids live unremarkable lives and thus that part of the story can be fair dull) but we meet up with everyone as they become rock'n'roll adled teenagers. There are various permutations of the band until it settles down with the wacky bunch that we all know and love - Arthur, Syl, Johnny, David and Jerry.

Of course, first there was Billy, their original drummer who died tragically of an overdoes in England, the first casualty of their careless, over-the-top lifestyle. Although this could have been the end of their career, they came back stronger than ever with Jerry Nolan keeping the beat and pulling them together in a way they never could before. But excesses continued to plague the band and, even as they managed to get a record deal (which gave us two legendary albums) and tour support, they never stopped shooting themselves in their feet.

It's a truly sad story that could have been very different if they had a better support team behind them who could have kept them in line, kept them from the drugs, developed their strengths and polished their weaknesses. Or, maybe everything was inevitable and it had to happen this way - a quick rise and a massive burnout. Even the help of the then-unknown Malcolm McClaren couldn't revive their career and, in fact, probably hastened their demise.

Antonia brings in a lot of detail and a lot of gossip with interviews with band and crew members and her own personal remembrances. It's a tale mixing lots of rock'n'roll originality and fun with horrible self-destruction and incredibly bad choices. Oddly, Johansen, whose voice was one of the biggest shortcomings of the band (to this day I think with a more traditional singer they would have been much bigger, although not necessarily better), became the biggest star after the fact, although everyone become legendary. In any case, this is a good distillation of the story and something that any fan will want to devour.