It's "In Memoriam" week on CSOTD.
Today we remember the lead singer of probably one of the most influential bands of the 20th century, who also had a fun and successful solo career, and was also a well known and well respected actor: David Johansen.
David Roger Johansen (January 9, 1950 – February 28, 2025) was born in the New York City borough of Staten Island, to a librarian mother, Helen (Cullen), and an insurance sales representative father, Gunvold Johansen, who had previously sung opera.
Johansen began his singing career in the late 1960s but it would be his work in the 1970s with the New York Dolls where Johansen would first come to prominence. Formed in 1971, the Dolls were a ragged blend of British Invasion melodies, hard rock swagger, and gender-bending glam, decked out in lipstick, platform boots, and leather. The lineup solidified around Johansen, guitarists Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain, bassist Arthur "Killer" Kane, and drummer Jerry Nolan.
Despite only releasing two albums in their original run—New York Dolls (1973) and Too Much Too Soon (1974)—the band laid the groundwork for what would soon become punk rock. Produced by Todd Rundgren, their debut album was a raw, ferocious, and utterly uncommercial record at the time, but its influence would later loom large over bands from the Sex Pistols to Guns N' Roses.
The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and the Dolls implosion, which started in 1975, was complete by 1977. Johansen, however, pivoted in an unexpected direction. In the 1980s, he reinvented himself as Buster Poindexter, a pompadoured, tuxedoed lounge lizard alter ego, complete with a cocktail in hand and a big band behind him. Trading in punk sneer for cabaret cool, Johansen-as-Poindexter embraced jump blues, calypso, and swing, dazzling audiences with wit and musical versatility.
His biggest hit under this persona was the 1987 novelty smash “Hot Hot Hot,” a party anthem originally written by Arrow, a calypso artist from Montserrat. Though Johansen would later call the song “the bane of my existence,” it made him a familiar face far beyond punk circles. As Buster Poindexter, he also became a regular presence on TV, notably as a guest on Saturday Night Live and even as a member of the house band for the show for a time.
Even with all that, where do you, dear reader, recognize David Johanson from? His most famous role remains the Ghost of Christmas Past in the 1988 holiday classic Scrooged, where he played a chain-smoking, wisecracking cab driver who ushers Bill Murray through time. Beyond Scrooged, though, his flamboyant charisma and quick wit translated easily into a successful film and television acting career, including cameos and supporting roles that leaned into his gritty NYC charm.
But, honestly, the legacy will always, and rightfully so, be about the Dolls.
New York Dolls bridged the gap between the Stooges’ raw power and the Sex Pistols’ anarchic fury. They were the missing link between the garage rock of the 1960s and the punk explosion that would follow. The Dolls showed that rock and roll could be simultaneously tough and feminine, primitive and sophisticated, trashy and transcendent. They proved that authenticity didn't require conformity to masculine rock stereotypes, paving the way for generations of artists to explore their own identities on stage.
They inspired generations of young bands, including The Ramones, The Clash, Guns N’ Roses, Morrissey, The Smiths, Hanoi Rocks, and even KISS. Johnny Thunders’ slashing guitar riffs became a blueprint for punk, while Johansen’s swaggering stage presence set the standard for frontmen like Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler.
RIP to, truly, one of the greats.
