| "Trash" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by New York Dolls | ||||
| from the album New York Dolls | ||||
| A-side | " Personality Crisis" | |||
| Released | July 1973 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:09 | |||
| Label | Mercury | |||
| Songwriter(s) | David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain | |||
| Producer(s) | Todd Rundgren | |||
| New York Dolls singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Trash" is the debut single by American hard rock band the New York Dolls. It was recorded for their 1973 self-titled album and released as a double A-side with the song " Personality Crisis" in July 1973. "Trash" did not chart upon its release, but has since been hailed by music critics as an anthemic glam rock and proto-punk song. In 2009, the band recorded a reggae-styled remake of the song for their album Cause I Sez So. [1]
Music and lyrics
"Trash" begins immediately with its chorus, [2] in which lead vocalist David Johansen sings dramatically and implores the song's subject—"my sweet baby"—to not throw her "life away." [3] Journalist and author Phil Strongman interpreted the singer's appeal to his subject as being in the context of a socially deviant New York City: "in under four minutes, it tells a bittersweet'n'sour low-life love story – how does the girl call her lover-boy? 'Trash!' – in majestic trash- Glam style. These people might be hookers, rent boys, junkies, sneak thieves – or so the lyrics imply – but they're still human beings and their subject matter is still tragedy." [3] Johansen quotes the lyric "how do you call your lover boy" from Mickey & Sylvia's 1956 song " Love Is Strange". [4]
According to music critic Robert Christgau, Johansen used ambiguity as a lyrical mode on the song, particularly when the lyric "please don't you ask me if I love you" is followed by "if you don't know what I do", and later by "'Cause I don't know why I do". He replaces the phrase "life" in "Don't take my life away" with "knife", "night", and "lights" when singing the lyric at different times throughout the song. [5] Both Strongman and rock photographer Bob Gruen felt that the other chorus about needing to "pick up" trash gave the song an ecological theme: "Trash, pick it up, don't throw my life away." [3]
"Trash" concludes with a double-beat ending that producer Todd Rundgren embellished with high-pitched background vocals, which were inspired by The Herd's 1968 song "From the Underworld". [2] According to Strongman, "The song's soaring finale suggests that all these problems – chemical, emotional, environmental – might just be overcome by the sheer power of love'n'lust – young rock'n'roll romance, by the passion of young people." [3]
Release and reception
"Trash" was released by Mercury Records as a double A-side with the song "Personality Crisis" in July 1973. The single did not chart. [6] In her review for The New Yorker at the time, music critic Ellen Willis wrote that the song is a "transcendent" highlight on an album full of "instant classics". [7] She interpreted the single's second A-side, "Personality Crisis", as "a statement about the band — about clashing cultures and the dilemma of preserving one's uniqueness while reaching out to others." [8] In a retrospective review, Jon Matsumoto of the Los Angeles Times praised Johansen's "bratty vocalizing" on "Trash", which he called a "punky pop-rock anthem." [9] Treble named it one of 10 Essential Proto-punk tracks. [10] Music writer and broadcaster Jon Savage named it the 13th best glam rock song of all time in a 2013 list for The Guardian, in which he wrote:
Simultaneously ludicrous and tough, sloppy and hard, vicious and tender – just listen to those soaring, girl-group harmonies – 'Trash' was, along with 'Jet Boy', the Dolls' big pop move. [11]
According to Strongman, "Trash" may have been the most "passionate" of all the New York Dolls' songs. [2] Music journalist Tony Fletcher later said that, as with "Personality Crisis" and " Jet Boy", the addition of background vocals and piano helped make "Trash" into an anthemic glitter rock song, [12] while Kirk Lake cited it as a proto-punk classic in The Rough Guide to Rock (2003). [13]
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the liner notes for New York Dolls. [14]
- David Johansen – vocals
- Arthur Kane – bass guitar
- Jerry Nolan – drums
- Todd Rundgren – additional piano, producer
- Sylvain Sylvain – piano, rhythm guitar, vocals
- Johnny Thunders – lead guitar, vocals
References
- ^ Leebove, Laura (April 18, 2009). "Doll Parts". Billboard. p. 30.
- ^ a b c Strongman 2008, p. 43.
- ^ a b c d Strongman 2008, p. 44.
- ^ Fricke 2000, p. 74.
- ^ Christgau 1998, p. 197.
- ^ Strong 2002, p. 126.
- ^ Willis 1973, p. 234.
- ^ Willis 1974, p. 145.
- ^ Matsumoto 1994.
- ^ Terich 2015.
- ^ Savage 2013, p. 12.
- ^ Fletcher 2009, p. 319.
- ^ Lake 2003, p. 723.
- ^ Anon. 1973.
Bibliography
- Anon. (1973). New York Dolls (liner notes). New York Dolls. Mercury Records. SRM-1-675.
- Christgau, Robert (1998). Grown Up All Wrong: 75 Great Rock and Pop Artists from Vaudeville to Techno. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-44318-7.
- Fletcher, Tony (2009). All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927–77. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0393334838.
- Fricke, David (2000). "Review: New York Dolls". Rolling Stone. No. April 27. New York.
- Lake, Kirk (2003). "The New York Dolls". In Buckley, Peter (ed.). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN 1858284570.
- Matsumoto, Jon (1994). "The New York Dolls". Los Angeles Times. No. September 29. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
- Terich, Jeff (November 5, 2015). "10 Essential Proto-punk tracks". Treblezine. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
- Savage, Jon (2013). "The 20 best glam-rock songs of all time". The Guardian. No. January 31. London. section G2. Archived from the original on September 21, 2014. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
- Strong, Martin Charles (2002). The Great Rock Discography. The National Academies. ISBN 1-84195-312-1.
- Strongman, Phil (2008). Pretty Vacant: A History of UK Punk. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1556527524.
- Willis, Ellen (1973). "Frankenstein at the Waldorf". The New Yorker. No. November 19.
- Willis, Ellen (1974). "Rock, Etc". The New Yorker. Vol. 50, no. April 1.