Punk icon and "Scrooged" star David Johansen dies at 75

In terms of the general public, Johansen is best remembered for an odd, esoteric side project. During the 1980s Johansen created an arch persona known as Buster Pointdexter. In that guise, Johansen had his biggest commercial success, the one-hit wonder "Hot, Hot, Hot."

That's notable enough, and Johansen was also an occasional actor, appearing in works such as "Scrooged" and one episode of "The Adventures of Pete & Pete." Before all that, though, Johansen was the frontman of the proto-punk band New York Dolls. The Dolls were culturally significant, so much so they played a significant role in the pilot of Martin Scorsese's HBO misfire "Vinyl." Truly, the New York Dolls were exceedingly influential to the way the New York music scene would begin to grow and evolve.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a punk (or proto-punk) band, Johansen was the last surviving member of the New York Dolls. Unfortunately, a vital figure of '70s and '80s counterculture is no longer with us.