David Roger Johansen aka David Jo Hansen is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of The New York Dolls but also for what the writer Glenn O’Brien dubbed his café incarnation, Buster Poindexter.
The New York Dolls were proto-punks. Their two albums, New York Dolls (1973), and Too Much Too Soon (1974) were well received critically, but failed to succeed commercially.
Johansen pursued a solo career for several years and began performing as Buster Poindexter in the late 1980s accompanied by The Uptown Horns. The music was a mixture of jazz, lounge, calypso, and novelty songs, and in his Buster persona he appeared as part of the house band on the television programme Saturday Night Live. He had his first hit with Hot Hot Hot which he called "the bane of my existence," due to its pervasive popularity.
The increased profile that Johansen enjoyed led to his landing acting roles in a variety of movies – from playing the Ghost of Christmas Past in the Bill Murray seasonal vehicle Scrooged through to the movie re-imagining of the sixties TV sitcom Car 54, Where Are You.
These two albums combine an eclectic selection of covers with Johansen's own compositions in an attractive mid-price package.
BUSTER GOES BESERK
All Night Party, Hit the Road Jack, International Playboy, Poorest People, Juicy Lucy, Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well, At the Party, Imitation of Life, Hollywood, Debourge Yourself, Deep in a Dream
BUSTER POINDEXTER
Smack Dab in the Middle, Bad Boy, Hot Hot Hot, Are You Lonely for Me, Baby?, Screwy Music, Good Morning Judge, Oh Me, Oh My (I'm a Fool for You Baby), Whadaya Want?, House of the Rising Sun, Cannibal, Heart of Gold