AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The New York Dolls were just about everything parents hated in the early '70s - loud, obnoxious...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PERSONALITY CRISIS")
NEW YORK DOLLS: (Vocalizing).
RASCOE: ...And more than happy to twist up gender norms, looking fabulous. And lead singer David Johansen, who died Friday, was the strutting voice at the front of the stage, in your face and in six-inch platform shoes.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PERSONALITY CRISIS")
NEW YORK DOLLS: (Singing) Got a personality crisis. You got it while it was hot. It's always hard to know when frustration and heartache what you got.
RASCOE: Part glam rock and part punk, the Dolls had a fierce fan base in New York and were critical darlings. Their self-titled debut album released in 1973 is considered a classic now. But they never had huge commercial success and broke up in 1976. It took David Johansen until 1987 to get his Billboard hit but under the name Buster Poindexter. He had moved on from snarling in a blouse to swinging in a suit and pompadour, and his cover of the Calypso hit "Hot Hot Hot" became a staple of celebrations for decades.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOT HOT HOT")
BUSTER POINDEXTER: (Singing) Me mind on fire. Me soul on fire, feeling hot, hot, hot.
RASCOE: Johansen was also an actor, probably most famous for "Scrooged," as a cigar-chomping taxi-driving Ghost of Christmas Past, terrifying Bill Murray with the cab ride from Hell.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SCROOGED")
BILL MURRAY: (As Frank Cross) God. You're going the wrong way.
DAVID JOHANSEN: (As Ghost of Christmas Past) Relax, Frank. Enjoy the ride.
MURRAY: (As Frank Cross) How do you know my name?
JOHANSEN: (As Ghost of Christmas Past) I know absolutely everything, Frank. You see, I'm the ghost (laughter). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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