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Review of Too Much, Too Soon: The Makeup and Breakup of The New York Dolls by Nina Antonia

by Annzaunt

It's surprising how little has been written on the New York Dolls, one of the founders of punk rock. In fact, few book-length studies of the Dolls exist--the only other is out of print--so Nina Antonia's recent Too Much, Too Soon: The Makeup and Breakup of The New York Dolls (Omnibus, 1998) examines a topic that certainly deserves study. Antonia, a British rock journalist, has written for Mojo< and Record Collector and has also written biographies of Peter Perett and the Only Ones as well as Johnny Thunders. (The Thunders bio is no longer in print.) Although it's always difficult to be the first person to take on a biographical subject and Antonia clearly loves the band and wants to do right by them, Too Much needs a bit of work.

The problems begin in the book's introduction when Antonia sets forth her understanding of the Dolls: That they "put the Chaos Theory into rock'n'roll"; that they "irrevocably altered the course of rock'n'roll"; that they "set new standards for rock'n'roll excess"; and that they were "the archetypal, hedonistic rock'n'roll band." Bear in mind, all of these statements appear in the course of less than a page and are fairly arguable. Fans of Iggy and The Stooges, for example, might disagree. Moreover, an introduction like this makes it difficult from the outset to accept Antonia's objectivity, which is crucial to the success of any biography.

Too Much c overs all of the Dolls' career, from its beginnings through the band's collapse. More exhaustive treatment of band members' individual histories would be helpful, and a stronger establishment of the historical context--especially notions of gender--would also strengthen Antonia's case. She tries to establish the major players as well as their contributions to and detractions from the band: Johansen's amazing talent and his isolating ego; Thunders' guitar work, image, and destructive addiction; Nolan's hold-it-together drumming and his fatal drug abuse. Kane (generally in a drunken haze and sadly under-represented here) and Murcia (who died early in the Dolls' career) also emerge here, though not as strongly as Sylvain does because of his substantial contributions to Antonia's research, whose narrative voice is distinctive yet distractingly homophobic. Antonia's fact-finding is adequate, and she's talked to most of the major players, though more material from those outside the band but also in the New York punk scene would be helpful. (For example, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop get mentioned, but are never quoted or interviewed.)

What would a book about the New York Dolls be without pictures? Antonia has included about 15 pages worth, and the photos she's selected show the evolution of the Dolls' career and look (even those red vinyl outfits Malcolm McLaren had them wearing at the end). These pictures are grouped together in the middle of the text, though they would be more effective if placed throughout the book at appropriate points to underscore Antonia's points.

Very distracting is the poor writing and editing of Too Much. Let me share a few favorites: "Thunders' attack is sharper than a tatooist's needle making its mark, but the outline is coloured by Sylvain" (30), and "Thunders' guitar sound bucked and whinnied like a wild pony" (33). Try this one out: "Life for Clyde was hard without Bonnie Thunders" (192). It took me a minute to figure out that Antonia was describing how Jerry Nolan might have felt following Johnny Thunders' death. This kind of overblown prose pervades the book and, ultimately, undercuts its effectiveness. I suppose the explanation would be that Antonia is trying to replicate with her prose the outlandishness of the Dolls, but in the context of writing a serious biography, her attempt fails.

Similarly, Antonia has only one way of integrating quoted material: After giving exposition, she names the speaker, adds a colon, and then gives the quote. Here's an example: "Then Sylvain spied a tantalising Les Paul cutaway for sale and memorised the serial number. Sylvain: 'Me and Billy forged a receipt with the serial number of the guitar we wanted and antiqued it up . . . '" (32). You get the idea. In doing this, Antonia consistently keeps reader separate from the speaker and, by extension, the band. In fact, there's little sense that those interviewed speak for themselves; Antonia keeps reminding the reader that she's in control by explaining how to interpret something and then giving the text. This style, coupled with grammatical errors, hurts the book's readability and reliability.

And that's too bad because the last two chapters are, at times, compelling. (By this time, I must have gotten used to the quote integration.) At this point, Antonia considers the effect Malcolm McLaren had on the Dolls as well as how he appropriated ideas from them that he would later use to establish the Sex Pistols. Her observations here are good, McLaren's poor understanding of American culture and how it would receive "Red Dolls," the label's abandonment of the Dolls in favor in Aerosmith, the role of ego and substance abuse in the band's collapse. More analysis like this would strengthenToo Much<, and, in addition, the book needs a better introduction, not the gushy one Antonia's written. And the "Afterlife"/Epilogue is a bit troublesome. In the course of 12 pages, Antonia touches on what happened to the band members but is frustratingly vague. For example, Sylvain found himself a single parent driving a cab and Kane was savagely assaulted. Antonia mentions this, but never explains any of it, a real frustration. Indeed, she spends more time describing what happend to the dead Dolls as opposed to those still living.

Too Much Too Soon has its moments, but the New York Dolls are a central American punk band; they need a better biography than this one.