Personality Crisis (song)

"Personality Crisis"
Single by New York Dolls
from the album New York Dolls
B-side Trash
Released August 1973
Format vinyl record (7"), 12", CD single
Recorded The Record Plant, New York City
Genre Glam rock, protopunk
Length 3:41
Label Mercury Records
Writer(s) David Johansen, Johnny Thunders
Producer(s) Todd Rundgren
New York Dolls singles chronology
"Trash" / "Personality Crisis"
(1973)		 "Jet Boy" / "Vietnamese Baby"
(1973)

"Personality Crisis" is the lead track from the New York Dolls' self-titled debut album. It was written by Dolls lead singer David Johansen and guitarist Johnny Thunders.[1] An early demo version of it appears on the 1981 collection Lipstick Killers – The Mercer Street Sessions 1972.

Release

Mercury Records originally released "Personality Crisis" in 1973 as a double A-side single with "Trash" to coincide with the album's release. Promo singles of "Personality Crisis" were also distributed to radio stations. Following the band's break-up, it was rereleased by Bellaphon Records as a double A-side with "Looking for a Kiss" in 1978. In 1982, a 12" single of "Personality Crisis" & "Looking For A Kiss" b/w "Subway Train" & "Bad Girl" was released by Kamera Records. The same track listing appeared on the See For Miles Records CD single released in 1990.[2]

Reception

Jack Douglas, who engineered New York Dolls, named "Personality Crisis" as his favorite song on the album.[3] Music journalist Tony Fletcher called it an "instant glitter rock anthem",[4] while writer and historian David Szatmary called it an anthemic and dynamic protopunk song.[5] In Rolling Stone magazine, Tony Glover wrote that "Personality Crisis" serves as "a jumping companion piece to classics" such as The Doors' "Twentieth Century Fox" and "Cool, Calm & Collected" by the Rolling Stones.[6] It is number 267 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (#271 on the 2010 list).[7][8]

Covers

"Personality Crisis" is the closing track on David Johansen's 1982 live album, Live It Up. It is the only New York Dolls original on the album. Sonic Youth offers a version of "Personality Crisis" on the Deluxe Edition bonus disc of Dirty. Teenage Fanclub featuring Donna Matthews of Elastica cover the song for the soundtrack to the 1998 Todd Haynes ode to glam rock, Velvet Goldmine. It appeared on two cover albums in 2011; Scott Weiland included it on A Compilation of Scott Weiland Cover Songs, and Todd Rundgren included "Personality Crisis" in a collection of covers of songs that he'd produced, entitled (re)Production. Rockhead covers it on the various artist collection, Sin City: Dirty Rock Anthems inspired by the Sin City comic books.

References

  1. ↑ "Personality Crisis – New York Dolls". Nightly Song: Musings on Songs that Strike a Chord Tonight.
  2. ↑ "New York Dolls – Personality Crisis". Discogs®.
  3. ↑ Richard Buskin (December 2009). "New York Dolls ‘Personality Crisis’/Classic Tracks". Sound On Sound.
  4. ↑ Fletcher, Tony (2009). All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927–77. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 319. ISBN 039333483X.
  5. ↑ Szatmary, David (1996). A Time to Rock: A Social History of Rock and Roll (3rd ed.). Schirmer Books. ISBN 0028646703. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  6. ↑ Tony Glover (September 13, 1973). "New York Dolls (Review)". Rolling Stone.
  7. ↑ "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. April 7, 2011.
  8. ↑ "#271 New York Dolls, 'Personality Crisis'". Rolling Stone.

External links

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