Oh, that fertile New York music scene of 1973-78
Got a Chapters gift card for Christmas and used it to pick up Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five years in New York that changed music forever, by Will Hermes.
Think about it: Punk, salsa, hip hop, new wave, new minimalist classical music from Philip Glass … all were born in New York in the early to mid-1970s. Man, what self-respecting music fan wouldn’t want to know more about the roots of those scenes?
CBC Radio’s The Current interviewed Hermes, who has a Love Goes to Buildings On Fire website, where he posts YouTube vids and whatnot related to the book (plus an interesting top albums of 2011 list).
Here’s the Ramones playing at CBGBs in 1974:
Another stalwart from that time — Patti Smith, performing Horses and Hey Joe in 1976:
I have extensive posts about that scene in my archives:
- Aug. 30, 2007 – Hilly Kristal dies :(
- Aug. 25, 2007 - ‘From mambo to hiphop’
- March 13, 2007 - ‘Ain’t It Strange?’ (Patti Smith on being admitted to the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame)
- Oct. 16, 2006 – More on the closing of CBGB
- Oct. 15, 2006 – Turning out the lights at CBGB
- Oct. 15, 2006 – So that punk rock may live, let CBGB die
- Nov. 19, 2004 – ‘End of the Century’ (review of a Ramones documentary)
I’ll close out with a favourite Blondie song — Walk Like Me: