"Trash" is the debut

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band the

New York Dolls New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial succe ...

. It was recorded for their 1973 self-titled album and released as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

with the song " Personality Crisis" in July 1973. "Trash" did not

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

upon its release, but has since been hailed by music critics as an anthemic glam rock and

proto-punk Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music played mostly by garage bands from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock movement. The phrase is a retrospective label; the musicians involved were generally not originally associated wit ...

song. In 2009, the band recorded a reggae-styled remake of the song for their album '' Cause I Sez So''.

Music and lyrics

"Trash" begins immediately with its

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

, in which lead vocalist David Johansen sings dramatically and implores the song's subject—"my sweet baby"—to not throw her "life away." 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." Johansen quotes the lyric "how do you call your lover boy" from

Mickey & Sylvia Mickey & Sylvia was an American R&B duo composed of Mickey Baker and Sylvia Vanderpool, who later became Sylvia Robinson. They are best known for their number-one R&B single "Love Is Strange" in 1957. Baker and Vanterpool began recording toget ...

's 1956 song " Love Is Strange". According to music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

, Johansen used

ambiguity Ambiguity is the type of meaning in which a phrase, statement or resolution is not explicitly defined, making several interpretations plausible. A common aspect of ambiguity is uncertainty. It is thus an attribute of any idea or statement ...

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. 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." "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". 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."

Release and reception

"Trash" was released by Mercury Records as a

with the song "Personality Crisis" in July 1973. The single did not

. 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". 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." 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." ''Treble'' named it one of 10 Essential Proto-punk tracks. 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: According to Strongman, "Trash" may have been the most "passionate" of all the New York Dolls' songs. Music journalist

Tony Fletcher Tony Fletcher (born 27 April 1964) is a British music journalist best known for his biographies of drummer Keith Moon and the band R.E.M., and also as a show director for the Rock Academy in Woodstock. ''Jamming!'' Born in Yorkshire, England, ...

later said that, as with "Personality Crisis" and "

Jet Boy "Jet Boy" is the closing track and second 7" single from New York Dolls' self titled debut album. It was written by Dolls lead singer David Johansen and guitarist Johnny Thunders. The lyrics are simply about a jet boy who stole his baby. There is ...

", the addition of background vocals and piano helped make "Trash" into an anthemic glitter rock song, while Kirk Lake cited it as a

classic in '' The Rough Guide to Rock'' (2003).

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes for ''

''. * David Johansen – vocals *

Arthur Kane Arthur Harold Kane Jr. (February 3, 1949 – July 13, 2004) was a musician best known as the bass guitarist for the pioneering glam rock band the New York Dolls. Kane was a founding member of the Dolls in 1971 and remained an integral part of the ...

– bass guitar * Jerry Nolan – drums * Todd Rundgren – additional piano, producer * Sylvain Sylvain – piano, rhythm guitar, vocals *

Johnny Thunders John Anthony Genzale (July 15, 1952 – April 23, 1991), known professionally as Johnny Thunders, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of the New York Dolls. He later played with ...

– lead guitar, vocals

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

*
"Trash"
at lescharts.com {{New York Dolls 1973 debut singles Song recordings produced by Todd Rundgren 1973 songs Mercury Records singles New York Dolls songs American pop rock songs Songs written by David Johansen