Let’s drink a toast to David Johansen, who celebrated his 75th birthday on January 9, 2025. The throaty-voiced singer and songwriter is best-known as the frontman of the influential glam-rock band the New York Dolls and for his party-rock and lounge alter ego Buster Poindexter.
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Johansen co-founded the New York Dolls in 1971, and while the cross-dressing band had little commercial success, they greatly influenced the late-1970s punk-rock scene and 1980s glam-metal groups.
[RELATED: Watch: Martin Scorsese’s Documentary on New York Dolls’ David Johansen]
After the New York Dolls’ initial split in 1976, Johansen launched a moderately successful solo career. In the 1980s, Johansen enjoyed his greatest commercial success when he began recording under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter. As Poindexter, Johansen released four studio albums between the late 1980s and late 1990s that offered a mix of R&B, jump blues, swing, and salsa covers alongside some original tunes.
In the early 2000s, Johansen turned his focus to traditional folk-blues music, touring and recording with his backing band The Harry Smiths.
In the mid-2000s, Johansen re-formed the New York Dolls with fellow surviving bandmate Sylvain Sylvain. The band released three new studio albums and toured extensively until splitting again in 2011.
In honor of Johansen’s birthday, here are four memorable songs from his various music projects:
“Personality Crisis” – New York Dolls (1973)
“Personality Crisis” was the lead track from the New York Dolls’ 1973 self-titled debut, and one of the band’s signature songs. Johansen co-wrote the tune with Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders.
The adrenaline-charged glam-rock anthem is about a woman who’s struggling to find her place in the world.
Johansen howls his way through the classic song, which, like the rest of the New York Dolls album, was produced by Todd Rundgren.
“Melody” – David Johansen (1979)
“Melody” was a track from Johansen’s second studio album, In Style, which was released in 1979. The song is undoubtedly a soulful homage to the legendary Motown group The Four Tops.
David co-wrote “Melody” with Ronnie Guy, who played piano on the album. The track features a soaring string arrangement by Johansen and former David Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson. Ronson co-produced In Style with Johansen and played guitar on the album.
“Animals Medley: We Gotta Get Out of This Place/Don’t Bring Me Down/It’s My Life” – David Johansen (1982)
In the early 1980s, Johansen added a medley to his live shows that featured three classic mid-1960s hits by The Animals—“We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” and “It’s My Life.” David’s deep voice was tailor-made to sing those songs, and the medley became a highlight of his concerts.
In 1982, Johansen released the concert album Live It Up, which included a version of the Animals showcase. He also shot a video for the medley, which wound up in heavy rotation during the then-early days of MTV.
Johansen’s Animals medley wound up peaking at No. 28 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart.
“Hot Hot Hot” – Buster Poindexter (1987)
Johansen’s reinvention as Buster Poindexter led to the commercial peak of his music career. Poindexter’s 1987 self-titled debut album featured a cover of “Hot Hot Hot,” which originally was recorded in 1982 by Arrow, a calypso/soca artist from the Caribbean island of Montserrat.
Bolstered by a fun music video that played regularly on MTV, which featured a cameo by Bill Murray, Poindexter’s version of “Hot Hot Hot” became a hit. The song reached No. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 11 on the publication’s Hot Dance Club Play chart. The Buster Poindexter album, meanwhile, peaked at No. 40 on the Billboard 200.
“Hot Hot Hot” remains a popular party anthem, but Johansen apparently isn’t a big fan of the tune.
In the Martin Scorsese-directed 2022 Johansen documentary/concert film Personality Crisis: One Night Only, David declares, “That was, like, the bane of my existence, that song. I don’t know how I feel about it now. I haven’t heard it lately. It was ubiquitous… they play it at weddings, bar mitzvahs, Six Flags.”
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