David Johansen on the mic with The New York Dolls in 1973. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Hot, hot and more hot. David Johansen shakes it AND stirs it as Buster Poindexter in 1989. (AP Photo/Wyatt Counts)

I'm still rock 'n' roll skinny, nah-na-nah-na-nah! Today's David Johansen. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)

Had enough of your boring life? Take a tip from rock legend David Johansen and remake yourself every few years. In 1971, Johansen co-founded the New York Dolls, a band that kick started the glam punk movement. Now, over 30 years later, the Dolls are back with a new record "One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This." One look at Johansen today and you'd be hard-pressed to see much of a difference: if you didn't know better, you'd think he'd been on New York Dolls dry ice all these years. Au contraire! Johansen has proven to be one of the more malleable figures in modern rock 'n' roll.

Wanna be a musical chameleon? Let the life of Johansen be your guide.

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DAVID-JO, VERSION 1.0- BEGINNER BANDS

As a Staten Island postwar baby, Johansen spent his teen years in the mid '60s in R&B bands, making high school kids dance the Pony, Madison and Watusi.

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DAVID-JO, VERSION 2.0- DAWN OF THE DOLLS

In 1971, he entered the historical canon, co-founding the New York Dolls with guitarists Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain, bassist Arthur Kane and soon-to-be-OD-casualty drummer Billy Murcia (Jerry Nolan later joined). In a recent phone interview, Johansen elaborated on their plan: "We went back to Little Richard's rock and roll- no garbage like drum solos. Keep it short, sweet, make a big explosion!"

And that they did, blazing into the music scene with two now-classic albums- their self-titled debut (1972) and the appropriately titled "Too Much Too Soon" (1974) -- featuring unapologetic rock, bitchy attitude and women's attire. "We were into dressing up, which was a big thing in the East Village." The tight pants, high heels, wigs and makeup made them super fuggly but definitely noticeable (for the record, Johansen had the nicest pair of legs).

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DAVID-JO, VERSION 3.0- SOLO SLUMMING

By the mid-'70s, the Dolls collapsed into a pathetic drug and ego haze. Johansen decided to roll, launching a solo career, literally sweating it out in nationwide tours, stuffed into a tiny van, traveling hundreds of miles to gigs. From '78 to '84, Johansen cut four albums and a live record but soon decided that his career sucked: "We'd work hand-to-mouth to survive, open for all these... knuckle-dragging, heavy MENTAL acts."

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DAVID-JO, VERSION 4.0- FEELIN' HOT, HOT, HOT

To add some much-needed pizazz back in his life, he gathered a new crew to play '40s/'50s R&B at a Manhattan nightclub. He even took on a new persona: fun-lovin' lounge lizard Buster Poindexter. His little musical diversion caught on and soon he was making as much doing local shows as he had been touring so he kissed "David Johansen" goodbye. On a Caribbean trip, he came across a jiggy dance number that stuck in his head. "Hot Hot Hot" became a crowd pleaser at Poindexter's shows and when he recorded the song in '87, it became a surprise hit and a party anthem for drunken outings everywhere.

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DAVID-JO, VERSION 5.0- THE HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE

By the '90s, Poindexter's tuxedo was taking a beating -- his shows weren't packing them in anymore. At the same time though, he made a dent in Tinsel Town as an actor. "It wasn't something I pursued...someone would just ask me if I wanted to be in their movie." While he wasn't Oscar material, he did land roles in "Married to the Mob," "Scrooged" (with his friend Bill Murray) and a starring role in a remake of the TV series "Car 54, Where Are You?" as well as later TV appearances on HBO's violent prison epic "Oz" and kids' fare like Nickelodeon's "The Adventures of Pete & Pete."

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DAVID-JO, VERSION 6.0- SINGING THE BLUES

In 1999, performing at legendary NYC haunt the Bottom Line for their 25th anniversary, Johansen unfurled obscure blues tunes with another new band. Just as with Poindexter, this weird musical diversion got a good response so he followed his muse again, christening his group the Harry Smiths (after the legendary folk collector/producer).

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DAVID-JO, VERSION 7.0- RETURN TO THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS

In 2004, Johansen came full circle back to his roots. Former Smiths crooner Morrissey phoned him and the other remaining Dolls members Sylvain and Kane (Thunders and Nolan died in the early '90s) to do a reunion show in England. "Right then, I was trying to consider things and not dismissing things out of hand," Johansen explains.

And so after three decades M.I.A., the Dolls resurfaced. "I had even more fun than I even expected to," Johansen admits. Even after cancer K.O.'d Kane shortly afterwards, Johansen and Sylvain decided to keep the Dolls flag flying. "We started putting some (new) songs together...I think the spirit of the Dolls is there and the songs are more world-centric than just being about St. Mark's Place!" The end result is the long-awaited third Dolls album "One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This," on Roadrunner Records which features a gold star guest list including '50s bad-ass guitarist Bo Diddley, R.E.M. emoter Michael Stipe and wildman rocker Iggy Pop.

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DAVID-JO, VERSION 8.0- DR. J?

And how does the former and current Doll see all his roles in perspective? "I still have the same mischievous kind of outlook on things that I've always had." As for the future, Johansen thinks he's got more options than Jay-Z. "I always feel like 'Oh yeah, I could fly this plane or do brain surgery. Hey, no problem!'" Uh, thanks but we'll take another song instead.

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Jason Gross is a music critic in New York City.

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