Martin Scorsese used the music of the New York Dolls to “rile up” his actors.
The 82-year-old director was at the helm of the 1973 crime drama ‘Mean Streets’ and following the death of lead singer David Johansen – who passed away on Friday (28.02.25) at the age of 75 – it has been noted that he would utitlise the punk band’s self-titled debut album on set to prepare stars such as Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel for a fight scene.
His obituary printed by The Times reads: “He made his last public appearance in 2023 to promote Martin Scorsese’s documentary ‘Personality Crisis: One Night Only’, about Johansen’s life and career and which included footage of his final gigs at Café Carlyle in New York a week before the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.
“It transpired that Scorsese and Johansen had long enjoyed a mutual appreciation: during the making of ‘Mean Streets’, the director had played the first New York Dolls album on set to ‘rile up’ his actors before shooting the film’s fight scenes.”
David passed away at his home in New York City just a month after it was revealed that he had been battling stage 4 cancer for the past 10 years.
A spokesperson for the star told Rolling Stone: “David Johansen died at home in NYC on Friday afternoon holding hands with his wife Mara Hennessey and daughter Leah, surrounded by music, flowers, and love. He was 75 years old and died of natural causes after nearly a decade of illness.”
As part of the New York Dolls, he recorded the influential albums ‘New York Dolls’ and ‘Too Much Too Soon’ in 1973 and 1974 respectively, but also enjoyed musical success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter during the 1980s.
His stage presence attracted the attention of Hollywood and he went on to star as the Ghost of Christmas Past in the 1988 movie ‘Scrooged’ alongside Bill Murray.
Following the death of Sylvain Sylvain in 2021, David had been the last surviving member of the band.