Substack Remembers David Johansen: The Tribute Collection
30 who were inspired: Fans, musicians, professional rock critics from the time, and record buyers. David was the last New York Doll to make it home. Together, we remember his music, talent, & heart.💝
The New York Times’ Gavin Edwards, on March 1, 2025: “David Johansen, the singer and songwriter who was at the vanguard of glam rock and punk as the frontman of The New York Dolls, died [February 28] at his home on Staten Island. He was 75. His death was confirmed by his stepdaughter, Leah Hennessey.
“Mr. Johansen revealed last month that he was suffering from Stage 4 cancer, a brain tumor and a broken back. He announced a fund-raising campaign through the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund to assist with his medical bills, saying, ‘I’ve never been one to ask for help, but this is an emergency.’
“Mr. Johansen was prolific in multiple genres, from blues to calypso, and achieved his greatest commercial success in the late 1980s and early ’90s with his pompadoured lounge-lizard alter ego, Buster Poindexter. But his 1970s heyday with the New York Dolls, a band of lipstick-smeared men in love with trashy riffs and tough women, had the most cultural impact, inspiring numerous punk, heavy metal and alternative musicians.
“‘We used to wear some really outrageous clothes,’ Mr. Johansen said in the prologue to the 1987 music video for Buster Poindexter’s hit song, ‘Hot Hot Hot.’ He added, playing on the name of the genre, ‘These heavy mental bands in L.A. don’t have the market cornered on wearing their mothers’ clothes.’”
👉So many #MusicStack writers on
were moved and inspired to compose their own heartfelt memories and love for the late David Johansen. I wanted to compile them into one place for the enjoyment of new, as well as regular readers.I tried to grab them all, but if you wrote one on Substack, and I haven’t featured it here, please feel free to leave a link to your tribute in the Comment section below!
👍And, by all means, please consider subscribing to one, some, many, or each!🎵
It’s only appropriate we begin with The Dean of Rock Critics,
, from his And It Don’t Stop Substack:
Next, another stellar, veteran rock critic,
, from his Critical Conditions on Substack. I’m proud to have Wayne on board as a longtime annual subscriber to FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE! In the ‘70s, I was a voracious reader of both Wayne (mostly in CREEM Magazine) and Christgau in their various rock publications!If the records comprised “the ballgame,” Wayne and Christgau’s fine writing offered me the game “program” so I could tell who the players were! Needless to say, each has played a large part in helping inform my rock’n’writing point of view!
…..and, this, as well:
Somebody else I used to read so frequently, I subscribed to the publication he founded, Punk Magazine (and even wrote to him a couple times back in the late-’70s…I do believe he wrote back, too)! If anyone knew the man and musician, David Johansen, it was
, now creator of Holmstrom’s Newsletter:
The former senior editor for AllMusic,
, creator of So It Goes, gives his take:
From
and her Punk Turns 30 Again: on a brush with the man, on the bay: remembers:
Houston and Dallas: I chronicle my two Texas weekends with David and the Dolls, September 1973:
Into The Doll House With Todd Rundgren
👉This article was originally published on Substack on August 5, 2021. It was the debut…the actual launching-off point for FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE! Now, after 730 days and 312 articles, I thought it was time to dust off this inaugural gem, give it a proper face-lift, up-date it with music, and maybe add a few more photos!
Alex Rawls remembers the New York Dolls’ frontman, who indeed was
of the crop:
The
Overshare offers his memories:
Underground Transmissions’
: and his EchoLocator follows through on his titillating title: “That Time I Traded Tapes with David Johansen.” Push play:
Who knew? As comfortable at Johnny’s as he was at Max’s: David, the all-around entertainer few ever saw…Buster at NBC/Burbank, 1988, and fully invested: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson:
A fellow singer/songwriter/recording artist,
, in his The Land That Time Forgot, offers his recollections (as well as a photo taken with David), here: and his This Is Not Music! take he’s titled “Heaven Stood Still”:
Jet boys fly
And y’know he’s gone
I said he been gone
And he been flyin’
And he been flyin’
He been flyin’
He been flyin’—“Jet Boy” by David Johansen, Johnny Thunders
It’s too bad David Johansen’s death (and life) didn’t inspire any writers or musicians….😆
Thank you for the shout out Brad. From the Dolls to Buster Poindexter to his solo albums and the Harry Smiths, David Johansen was a unique man with a generous vision. He is Mr. New York. He rolled down his sleeves, his arms and his voice and let us not forget his fabulous HAIR! We were all on the list, yet we would line up anyway, our thumbs out, looking for a way to get to the Johansen Expressway to our hearts and skulls.