100 Years Of New York Music - Vulture
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100 Years of New York Music

Our fourth annual “Yesteryear Issue” traces a century of New York music, from Irving Berlin to Birdland, Bob Dylan to the Notorious B.I.G.

music

The Town That Put the Pop in Music: A Look Back at 100 Years of New York Sounds

 From Tin Pan Alley to Hollis, Queens, the Brill Building to Bushwick, Electric Lady Studios to Lady Gaga. By Jody Rosen
  1. testimonies
    For Burt Bacharach, It All Began at the Brill Building“Hal David and I wrote some very terrible songs early on.”
    As told to Rebecca Milzoff
  2. testimonies
    Moby on Klaus Nomi, the ’80s Club Scene, and ’90s Rave Drugs“By 1993, a 19-year-old kid would go to a rave or a club, and take Special K and acid and crystal meth and ecstasy, all in the course of one night.”
  3. 100 years of new york music
    Ezra Koenig on His Early Influences and NY Shows“I never would have guessed that nine years later, I would almost daily have kids on Twitter making Oxford comma jokes.”
  4. 100 years of new york music
    Thurston Moore on What Drew Him to New York, Art-Rock, and Forming Sonic Youth“The reality of it was the city was destitute, and it became this kind of postapocalyptic landscape for artists, and there’s something very enchanting in that.”
  5. 100 years of new york music
    Rick Rubin on Russell Simmons, Licensed to Ill“He couldn’t believe I was white. There were no white people involved in hip-hop at this time at all.”
  6. 100 years of new york music
    How Grandmaster Flash’s ‘Torque Theory’ Drove Hip-Hop“Everything should be controlled via the vinyl, the fingertips.”
  7. 100 years of new york music
    Nile Rodgers on Writing ‘Le Freak,’ Grace Jones, and the Disco Backlash“This is the biggest song by a band nobody knows about a dance that nobody knows how to do.”
  8. See Vulture’s Illustrated Map of New York Hip-HopOn these streets, rhyme met rhythm.
    By Sarah King
  9. 100 years of new york music
    50 Cent on the ’90s Hip-Hop Scene“Following Tupac and Biggie, it was almost taboo for you to mention an artist’s name on a record.”
  10. 100 years of new york music
    David Johansen on Loft Parties and Downtown Art“The high heels were easy. There was a shoemaker on Second Avenue who used to take the heel off for us and put in a steel shank, and then put it back on so it was kind of indestructible. “
  11. charts
    The Brooklyn Bandscape: A Recent History of the Borough’s Music SceneFrom Afropunk to Electroclash to Zebulon, an abridged tour of its millennial moment.
    By Alex Yablon
  12. testimonies
    Suzanne Vega on Coming of Age in the New York Music Scene“I grew up in New York City, I have a small room, I barely have that to myself, I’m going to play the acoustic guitar, and that ended up being the thing that shaped my style more than anything.”
  13. 100 years of new york music
    Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth on the ’70s, CBGB“There were a lot of really highly perceptive people in the scene, at CBGB, but there were also some real douche-nozzles.”
  14. testimonies
    Mike Stoller on the Musical Universe of the Brill BuildingAlmost every floor was inhabited by music publishers, songwriters, band leaders, talent agents.
  15. music
    Listen to Jody Rosen’s New York Pop PlaylistSongs about New York, and about archetypal New York folkways and experiences.
    By Jody Rosen
  16. testimonies
    Dion DiMucci of the Belmonts on the Doo-Wop ABCs“We were gonna call ourselves Dion and the Crotonas, but Belmont had a nice ring.”
  17. music
    Portfolio: 26 Musicians Who Shaped New York CityFrom Ronnie Spector to Thurston Moore to Nas.
    By Christopher Anderson
  18. music
    The Town That Put the Pop in Music: A Look Back at 100 Years of New York SoundsFrom Tin Pan Alley to Hollis, Queens, the Brill Building to Bushwick, Electric Lady Studios to Lady Gaga.
    By Jody Rosen