Morrissey Persuades New York Dolls to Reunite
Manssiere stock up 12% in Detroit

According to the Boston Globe, glam rock archetypes The New York Dolls are reuniting to perform this June as part of the 12th annual Meltdown Festival in London. Frontman David Johansen's manager Darren Hill reportedly pieced together a lineup for the festival upon receiving an invitation from this year's Meltdown curator/artistic director (and longtime Dolls fan) Morrissey.

An early influence on punk rock and the model by which all 80s hair metal would one day judge itself, the Dolls put drug-abusing cock-rock (albeit with a slight dose of rockabilly) on the map in 1973 with a Todd Rundgren-produced eponymous debut album. A second record followed a year later, but poor album sales forced the group into the hands of Malcolm McLaren. McLaren, in turn, learned a valuable band management lesson in his trial run with the Dolls, upon dressing them up in hammers and sickles like a gang of pro wrestling heels: Don't sell communism during the Cold War. It's a lesson he would later cling to whilst pushing the Sex Pistols' vague notions of anarchy on the world.

Regardless of their lacking commercial viability and association with pinko commie queers, the Dolls played an immense role in the development of punk rock's eventually compact, consumable personality. Much like the innocent scientist from Terminator 2, who knew not what he'd done when he created an artificially intelligent metal arm, the New York Dolls took the blank slate of "punk rock" and incited legions of copycats in both England and the U.S.

Punk's originally wide-ranging ideals (well-informed by artsy, literate minds like Richard Hell, Patti Smith, The Velvet Underground, and Talking Heads) notwithstanding, the broader conception of a "punk sound" grew to chiefly consist of Dolls, Stooges, and MC5 imitators bouncing increasingly diluted ideas back and forth across the Atlantic.

Original Dolls members Johansen, guitarist Sylvain Sylvain, and bassist Arthur Kane will be joined by some interesting alternates at this summer's festival gig. Former Guns 'n' Roses principal songwriter and lead Ju Ju Hound Izzy Stradlin will stand in for the late guitar god Johnny Thunders. And Gary Powell of London's own Libertines will act as a substitute for deceased drummer Jerry Nolan. According to unsubstantiated, possibly complete bullshit rumors, Pretender Chrissie Hynde and members of Primal Scream will appear in London alongside these New Fangled Dolls as well. Gigs beyond the Morrissey-requested June date are not planned at this point, but then, you know, if it goes over well, they're probably looking at a world tour.

The Meltdown festival takes place June 11-27. Daily schedules are not yet available.

Meltdown Festival: http://www.rfh.org.uk/meltdown/