Personality Crisis (song) explained
| Personality Crisis |
| Cover: | PersonalityCrisis.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | New York Dolls |
| Album: | New York Dolls |
| A-Side: | Trash |
| Released: | August 1973 |
| Recorded: | The Record Plant, New York City |
| Length: | 3:41 |
| Label: | Mercury Records |
| Producer: | Todd Rundgren |
| Trash |
| Title2: | Personality Crisis |
| Next Title: | Jet Boy |
| Next Title2: | Vietnamese Baby |
| Next Year: | 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 Stones 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (#271 on the 2010 list).[7]
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 recorded "Personality Crisis" with Kim Gordon on lead vocals in July 1990. It was first released as a write-in offer promo 7" single in the November 1990 issue of Sassy Magazine,[8] then included on the 1993 Whores Moaning e.p. and later added to 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.
- Scott Weiland included it on his 2011 album A Compilation of Scott Weiland Cover Songs
- Todd Rundgren included "Personality Crisis" in a 2011 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.
Notes and References
- Web site: Personality Crisis – New York Dolls. Nightly Song: Musings on Songs that Strike a Chord Tonight. June 9, 2010.
- Web site: New York Dolls – Personality Crisis. Discogs®. 1982 .
- Web site: New York Dolls 'Personality Crisis'/Classic Tracks. Buskin. Richard. December 2009. Sound on Sound.
- Book: Fletcher, Tony. Tony Fletcher. 2009. All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927–77. registration. W. W. Norton & Company. 978-0393334838. 319.
- Book: Szatmary, David. 1996. A Time to Rock: A Social History of Rock and Roll. Schirmer Books. 3rd. 0028646703. registration. Personality Crisis.. March 22, 2015.
- Web site: New York Dolls (Review). Glover. Tony. September 13, 1973. Rolling Stone.
- 271 New York Dolls, 'Personality Crisis'
. Rolling Stone. April 7, 2011.- Web site: Sonic Youth - Personality Crisis (Vinyl) . Discogs . November 1990. October 8, 2016.
