SCOTT LEGATO/GETTY
The band might not have been a commercial success, but the New York Dolls’ 1973 eponymous debut was a pivotal record in my life and crossed over from classic rock to punk. When I was about 13, I’d hang out with kids who were a few years older than me, and they were not like the long-haired pot smokers who were only interested in how Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon sounded when played backwards.
As a teenager, I wasn’t bothered about all those middle-class bands that blithered on about dragons, I wanted excitement and danger. When I heard that dual-guitar attack of Sylvain Sylvain and Johnny Thunders, I was absolutely gripped. Then I saw Whispering Bob sneer down his nose at them on The Old Grey Whistle Test and immediately knew: if he was going to hate them, I had to love them.