The New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon (1998)

Hard to believe The New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon is the first bio of this seminal, star-crossed band, which spearheaded glam rock and set the stage for punk. Nina Antonia (author of In Cold Blood, an earlier book about the Dolls' late guitarist, Johnny Thunders) delivers a lively blow-by-blow account of the volatile group's career, which imploded after four drug-and-sex-fueled years ('71-75) and has since become the stuff of rock mythology. While it's nice to have the salient facts about the Dolls between two covers, one wishes Antonia had done more digging into the members' formative years (she doesn't even reveal the boys' birthdates) and undoubtedly complex family relationships. Until another biographer rises to that task, though, this will have to stand as a decent-if-not-definitive gloss on the most fascinating bunch of platform-booted bozos ever to stagger around a stage. B-