In the seemingly endless parade of loss, another one tonight – David Johanson. Founding member and lead singer of The New York Dolls, a band which proved to be a pivotal link between Glam and Punk. And then his many offshoot projects and persona, one being the irrepressable lounge lizard Buster Poindexter left us earlier today, losing a battle with Stage Four Cancer at age 75.
Since most everyone is doing an homage to The New York Dolls tonight as a remembrance, I thought I would lay a little Buster Poindexter and The Banshees Of Blue on the table as a reminder David Johanson was a lot of things and a lot of different people – and he was memorable in all of them.
This gig is from The Lone Star Cafe in New York and recorded on August 11, 1985 by WNEW-FM in New York.
David Johansen began his career in the late 1960s as the lead singer of the Vagabond Missionaries, a local Staten Island band and later in the early 1970s as the singer/songwriter in the proto-punk band the New York Dolls. The New York Dolls were part of the Mercer Arts Center’s scene, appearing on the bill at a New Year’s Eve 1972 gig with Ruby and the Rednecks. They released two albums, the eponymous New York Dolls (1973) and Too Much Too Soon (1974). The bulk of the material was written by Johansen and guitarist Johnny Thunders. The Dolls were sometimes well received critically but did not succeed commercially.
In the late 1980s, David Johansen achieved moderate commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter, accompanied by the Uptown Horns, performing jump blues, traditional pop, swing and novelty songs. He also appeared as part of the house band on the television program Saturday Night Live. As Poindexter, he scored his first hit song, “Hot Hot Hot”, which, in an interview on National Public Radio’s Fresh Air, he called “the bane of my life” due to its pervasive popularity. “Hot Hot Hot” was initially written and recorded by Montserratian Soca artist Arrow. As Poindexter, David Johansen often appeared with his band, the Banshees of Blue. Early Poindexter releases combined an eclectic selection of covers with Johansen’s own compositions. Johansen went on to issue Buster’s Happy Hour, an album of songs thematically linked by their subject matter: alcohol. It was followed by Buster Poindexter’s Spanish Rocket Ship, which focused on salsa and merengue music.
As a reminder of who we lost today – flash back forty years ago and let Buster Poindexter do the rest.
