Say goodbye to the seventies. (Sing this to the tune of Billy Joel’s “Say Goodbye to Hollywood,” ironically from the year 1976.)
We have sent many bands off, wishing them safe travels into the next lifetime, including some of our most beloved – like The Band, as of late. It is never easy.
In one weekend, though – scratch that – in one day, the world lost two musical giants and subsequent bands of yesteryear: David Johansen – the last member of the insanely influential New York Dolls – and Joey Molland – the last member of the melodious Brit-rock outfit Badfinger. Individually, these two bands shaped an era, but also many eras to follow, and it pains us that they are both fully, completely gone from this planet as of this March 1.
The New York Dolls were an amalgamation of counterculture trendsetters and dive bar inspirations, but no one was more of a pioneer of what they were doing and the world they were changing than frontman David Johansen. Johansen, a friend of ours, was able to walk the line between being ahead of the times and shaping the times with his night-after-night masterclass in entertaining the masses (even those in the masses who didn’t want to admit to enjoying the ruckus of the Dolls or the buoyancy of his alter-ego, if you will, Buster Poindexter). He wiggled and wailed and had NYC wound tight around his finger – especially after the release of the band’s self-titled LP, and our personal favorite, Too Much Too Soon.
Johansen was a New York legend and a staple in the city’s underground. He was a collection of skills and connections both made and earned at the likes of CBGB’s, Studio 54 (where he hung out with Freddie Mercury and more), The Roxy, and The Bottom Line (where he and the Dolls notoriously trashed the green room). His wild and free Staten Island self roared life into rooms around the world for decades, including when we saw him last in 2019 right here in the heart of the Big Apple (his heart). Every show was The Midnight Special all over again – fiery and confrontational and relatable, albeit charged with such confident, well-oiled stage presence that someone only of his stature could muster.
Alongside the New York Dolls, as well as their peers in the Stooges and Velvet Underground, David Johansen not only rode the punk rock wave, but he shook up the scene and culture so hard that he himself made the wave. To know that he gets to return to his bandmates and do the same up above for a whole new audience of angelic rockers brings a smile to our faces. The New York Dolls are reuniting as we speak. Johansen is no longer suffering. The show is going on, and it might be just out of reach for us down here, but we had a lot of time with the Dolls and Mr. Poindexter and friends (on stage and off), so we’re not in a place to be greedy… but we can hope and pray that Johansen rests in true rock’n’roll peace with his original punk rock bandmates.
Joey Molland, on the other hand, was more of a subtle influence with a whirlwind career upon joining Badfinger in late 1969 – a band we loved who were posed to be the next Beatles after hooking up with one Sir Paul McCartney – the man behind arguably their biggest hit, “Come And Get It.” Like their peers of the time, the Raspberries, it was this Welsh band’s blend of British Invasion era harmonies and the hints of lilting Woodstock-esque guitar riffs that got us all hooked, and also balanced out the cool moment in time and the changing of the guards.
The Beatles and The Monkees were falling by the wayside at the turn of the decade, even with devoted fanbases respectively, and although we still had The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and The Who, we had yet to reach the age of Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, or the peak of Queen (or the Ramones, or KISS, or the New York Dolls, for that matter). Badfinger was still easy-listening, fun and spirited, radio-ready and comfortable in its pop-adjacent sway but secure in its rock’n’roll origins. Molland’s guitar work in the group for some five years helped keep the band afloat in the UK, but also globally, with its ear-worms of melodies and sweet riffs as they navigated the new ‘progressive’ decade… and internal label issues with Apple Records and Warner Bros. Records.
We’ll be the first to admit that as much as we adore the record Wish You Were Here, a sentiment very apropos for today, Badfinger peaked with their fourth album Straight Up, which came right before the turmoil of the mid-seventies era of the band. Not only were some very notable singles on this record (“Day After Day“), but it was produced by Todd Rundgren and George Harrison. That is a winning duo. The band was also getting along and impressing the world – us included – in a way that a post-Beatles world didn’t see coming. Everything was catchy, irresistible, charming, and dazzling in its power pop nature. And, damn, do those songs still hit today or what? Even singer-songwriter Harry Styles sampled (or ripped off?) Badfinger in 2017, over 40 years after their rise-and-fall and overarching influence ran rapid.
Molland, with Badfinger, lived slightly the shadows of their Macca-penned hits and their timeless Straight Up breakthrough, but they had hits nonetheless, and the guitarist paid tribute to that year-after-year by touring as Joey Molland’s Badfinger and attending events like the Fest for Beatles Fans (right here in New Jersey) to engage with generations of fans. This was a man living in the wake of mishandled album releases, solo jaunts, sessions with The Quiet Beatle, a short lived side project (called Natural Gas, who actually had some success upon opening up for the great Peter Frampton), multiple reunions and break-ups, and two of his former bandmates’ suicides/one of his former bandmates’ gruesome aneurysm and death. Yet the determined and always talented Molland relived his glory days with appreciation, with much of the credit going to the adoring audience who believed in the group, its sound, and its history even decades later. He greeted every person and every memory with a hug and a kiss on the cheer; a proper gent, a true Englishman, and a genuine pop-rocker to his core.
Rest in peace, Joey Molland. Rest in peace to all of Badfinger. Maybe they’ll open up for the New York Dolls sometime soon? They’ll be the lightning to the Dolls’ thunder during our next storm – that’s how we’ll know the show is going on and each band is back to rocking once more. Hey, Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson might be in that audience! So, maybe we’re not quite saying goodbye to the seventies, just merely saying ‘see you later’ to those that made it what it was and letting them take the musical reigns of another time and place.
