Professional ratings
Retrospective reviews
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Chicago Sun-Times
Christgau's Record Guide	A+
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
The Great Rock Discography	7/10
Music Story
MusicHound Rock	3/5
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Spin Alternative Record Guide	9/10

Too Much Too Soon is the 1974 second studio album by American hard rock band the New York Dolls. The group was dissatisfied with the recording of their 1973 self-titled debut album, leading the band's frontman David Johansen to enlist veteran producer Shadow Morton for Too Much Too Soon. Morton had become disenchanted by the music industry, but felt motivated by the band's energy and agreed to work with them as a challenge. They recorded the album the following year at A&R Studios in New York City.

Although the New York Dolls shared an affinity for Morton, they produced little original material with him. To complete Too Much Too Soon, they covered older songs and re-recorded their past demos. Johansen impersonated different characters while singing some of the novelty covers, and Morton incorporated many studio sound effects and female backing vocals in his production. For the album, lead guitarist Johnny Thunders wrote and recorded "Chatterbox", his first recorded performance singing lead.

Too Much Too Soon was released by Mercury Records on May 10, 1974, to poor sales and only charted at number 167 on the Billboard 200. After a problem-ridden national tour, the New York Dolls were dropped by Mercury and disbanded a few years later. The album received positive reviews from most critics, some of whom felt Morton's production highlighted the group's raw sound and made it a better record than their first. Like their debut album, Too Much Too Soon became one of the most popular cult records in rock music and has since been viewed by music journalists as a precursor to punk rock.

After being signed by Mercury Records, the New York Dolls released their self-titled debut album in 1973 to poor sales. Although it was praised by critics, the band members were not satisfied with producer Todd Rundgren's sound for the album and had disagreements with him before recording Too Much Too Soon. Songwriting and production partners Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were originally enlisted to produce their second album, while the band's guitarist Johnny Thunders wanted to produce it himself. However, Leiber and Stoller withdrew shortly before recording was to begin. The group held a single session with Mercury A&R executive Paul Nelson at Media Sound Recording Studios, where they recorded 14 songs, most of which were cover songs.

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