new york dolls

The list of talented artists nominated to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame this year has finally been announced. Among the 2021 nominees are Foo Fighters, Rage Against The Machine, Iron Maiden, Kate Bush, Tina Turner and Mary J. Blige among others. Read more: Halsey channels ‘Mean Girls’ for her new […]

When Evergreen State College student Bruce Pavitt began his Subterranean Pop fanzine in the early ’80s, covering American independent bands and recordings, he had no idea he would virtually invent an entire rock genre. He was just looking to earn a course credit at the freewheeling Olympia, Washington, higher education outlet. But the ‘zine had […]

When pub-rock singer Joe Strummer of the 101ers first met with former London SS guitarist Mick Jones in 1976 to brainstorm material for a new band eventually named the Clash, Strummer was shown one of his songs, “I’m So Bored With You.” He wasn’t having it: “‘Ere, let’s rewrite this now!” The rather wimpy romantic […]

Sylvain Sylvain Mizrahi—born in Cairo, Egypt on Valentine’s Day, 1951—died Wednesday, losing a battle with cancer. He was 69. You knew him as Sylvain Sylvain, or Syl Sylvain, the corkscrew-haired guitarist bopping at stage right in vintage videos of punk-rock architects the New York Dolls. “As most of you know, Sylvain battled cancer for the […]

Welcome to Alternative Press’ pick of the 15 best punk guitarists of the ’90s. One notable difference between this list and the other two we’ve compiled is the inclusion of several women. Punk did much to democratize rock ’n’ roll in the ’70s, with many pioneering all-female (the Runaways, the Slits) or mixed-gender lineups (X-Ray […]

Christmas is quite possibly the most musically controversial holiday of the year. Not everyone digs the varying styles of seasonal music, though it’s a genre unto itself. You have the ancient carols, full of religious imagery, usually sung by hoary old choirs. The early 20th century’s awash with hokey Tin Pan Alley Christmas standards, sung […]

Welcome to Alternative Press’ 15 best punk albums of 1989. It’s easy to look at the final year of the decade and see it as transitional. But there are portents of the future all over this list. Yet, truth be told, haven’t we seen that with all these lists? As we’ve worked on this series, […]

Part of the initial hype around punk rock was it had “no guitar heroes.” That was an exaggeration. To clarify, punk (in part) was meant to destroy the cult of technique. The obsession with 15-minute guitar solos, cramming in every note and lick you know at lightning speed. After all, what’s the point of playing […]

For many, first-wave punk was the sound of liberation. Chainsaw guitars, locomotive drums and screaming singers delivered brutal street poetry about the times. It saved us from a lifetime of dull progressive rock, snooze-worthy singer-songwriters and six-string heavy metal. For certain die-hards, ’70s punk is the only punk. For them, both the music and the […]

This week’s Must-See Music selections make us want to slap people who complain that there’s “no good music anymore.” There is great music out there—the complainers simply don’t know what’s going on. If you’re seeking alt-rock icons, punk lifers, guitar rockers and pensive singer-songwriters,you’ve come to the right spot on the web. This is Must-See […]

Let’s think about this for a second. Why do we love horror movies? What makes the medium (and its attendant subgenres) so attractive? It’s doubtful anyone reading this would actually enjoy violent disfigurement or death at the hands of a deranged human or mythical monster. Perhaps it’s the idea of psychic release, the search for […]

Beginning with their 1979 single “Night Of The Living Dead,” the Misfits have made a career of mining classic, cult and B-grade movies for fodder for their hard-driving, melodic brand of patented horror punk. With results ranging from the sublime fury of the classic Glenn Danzig-fronted lineup’s “Astro Zombies” to the unabashedly ridiculous “The Devil’s […]

Punk festered the entire ’70s: The Stooges and New York Dolls cleared the field as all the misfits on the margins waited their turn, marinating in a stew of poverty, filth, midnight John Waters screenings, scratchy thrift-store garage and rockabilly 45s, ancient dimestore William S. Burroughs paperbacks and clothes stolen out of Goodwill dumpsters, then […]

“HEY! HO! LET’S GO!” You know the chant well. It’s been shouted at every sporting event since at least the mid-’90s. It is one of the foundational texts of punk, the Ramones‘ “Blitzkrieg Bop.” Of course, Australian punk drumming YouTube sensation Kye Smith has cut a skate-punk arrangement with members of Teenage Bottlerocket. It’s where […]

“People try to put us down,” protest punk artist YUNGBLUD snarls over two viciously downstroked guitar chords. “Just ’cause we get around/The things they do look awfully cold/Hope I die before I get old…” “My Generation,” he spits out further before the rest of his band kick in during a live video filmed in the […]

Britpunk was born out of a movement. However, England no more invented punk rock in 1976 than McDonald’s invented the hamburger. Punk was an idea airborne worldwide across 1975. Local freaks who’d bought Stooges and New York Dolls records formed bands in their image, unaware anyone else shared their disgust with the day’s dominant culture.  […]

Glen Matlock and Sylvain Sylvain, members of legendary punk bands the Sex Pistols an New York Dolls, respectively, have announced that they will embark on an acoustic tour together this spring.  The tour was also set to feature Tommy Ramone, who has had to post-pone his appearances due to illness, and the Canadian leg will […]