T-Rex or the New York Dolls?

Please vote and comment.

 

Two necessities of live but the Dolls absolutely indispensable. Certainly T.Rex was an influence (Syl's rhythm break on Looking for a Kiss after "I been hauling boogie all night long baby!"). Dolls a much better live act as well, with three great performers (ok, two and a half) and a kick-ass, swinging drummer. Marc and company never fared very well trying to stretch their live show past a Teenage Dream. Made a few great records though. Not as many as David and Johnny made separately and together. David 's records are still a kick in the head.

 

T.rex

 

Always liked T. Rex but always LOVED the Dolls. So now you can figure how i voted.

 

One's an innovator, the other imitators.....simple as that. Shouldn't even be lined up against each other....not fair on the Dolls

 

I find it incredible that any time there is a poll, inevitably someone will come along and make a comment like this. "Oh, well, this is an unfair comparison", or "You just cannot compare the two", etc.. quite fascinating, actually.

 

They are 100% right. It is a ridiculous comparison, 2 completly different bands.

 

New York Who?

Darryl

 

Yeah, I came along and I meant it...funny about that

 

Very easy for me. I listen to T.Rex at least once per week. I might listen to the New York Dolls once per year.

 

New York ( with a frog in your hand).

 

Wrong. Same era, both glam rock. It doesn't get any more appropriate.

 

T-Rex for me.

 

T. Rex. The few times I ever heard the Dolls over the past several years would have been occasionally on internet radio or a 'Where Are They Now?' segment on TV somewhere. T Rex has been featured in movies (Billy Elliot) and singles are regularly on FM or internet radio.

I have 3 T Rex in vinyl, paid good money and listen often. Dolls, no. I LIKE the Dolls, not enough to spend any dough. Maybe if they had stayed together longer there would be more of a legacy and a more listenable catalog.

 

^^^ I refer to the original Dolls, with two studio LPs. Dolls #2 started up in the last decade is not something I would think should be compared to T Rex.

 

Oh god, T-Rex.

 

Marc Bolan and T. Rex were overflowing with good songs...

 

T-Rex by a long way - arguably the greatest of the pure glam rock bands.

 

I'm a New York Dolls fan, never much cared about T. Rex, or glam rock for that matter. Don't dislike the handful of T. Rex radio songs I know, but never owned a T. Rex record.

FWIW, I never really thought of the Dolls as playing "glam rock" at all, despite the East Village cross-dressing look the band effected. The Dolls were much more of a proto punk band playing really primitive, crude, DIY kind of punky rock more in line with the music of, say, the Stooges, than with T. Rex. Glam rock tended to be a lot slicker with more of a pop sensibility and with greater care taken with arrangements and a clean, clear vocal presentation. I mean, if you just heard "Frankenstein" without seeing the band, would you call it an example of "glam rock"? What musical characteristics does it share with T. Rex or Bowie or Sweet? I get that the band is seen as a predecessor to the kind of glam metal bands of the '80s and the band's influence seems to cut across that kind of bubblegummy hard rock and punk. But I'm not sure musically in their day they were quite doing the same thing as the English glam acts. Maybe glam's a mischaracterization of the Dolls.




To my ears, musically there's much more that unites glam and the power pop of, say, The Raspberries or even Big Star, than that unites glam and the music of the Dolls. For the most part glam is power pop in lipstick and heels. That's not really the kind of music the Dolls played.

 

Robert Christgau spoke well of the Dolls. I don't always agree with him but he is usually well-considered in his opinions. They were a great act, but I do consider them glam. I don't think you hear glam, it's the totality of the band as an "act". Be it the Dolls or Edgar Winter for a couple of years.

Maybe it's a tough call, especially for anyone who lived though that era (yes I did), but I go for T Rex per the OP's question.

 

A tough one, but T-Rex edges it for me. New York Dolls made the better album with their debut, but T-Rex hsd a succession of great singles which tips the balance in their favour.

 

Easy, T. Rex.

Never have been able to get into the Dolls. Saw them live about 10 years ago and was left cold and slightly annoyed. Go figure.

 

Nicely put....

 

It would have been a tougher call had The original Dolls managed a third album for an additional comparison, and if Electric Warrior had never existed.

As it is ...they didn't and it does...

Give me some T-Rextacy ...