Check out this BBC Doc on the invention of punk, disco and hip hop in 1970's New York...In part 2 there's a lot about the late great club CBGB's. Chris Frantz from Talking Heads describes his first night in CBGB's when he saw The Ramones, Debbie Harry, Television and Patti Smith. I can't beat that but I did see Jeff Buckley there and that aint too shabby. Anyway it's a fascinating look at the invention of three musical genres in a city that was having hard times.
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18 comments:
I'm having a complete re-evaluation of disco these days. At the time, as a suburban teenage boy I was firmly in the "disco sucks," camp but now I realize there was a lot of good music. And a lot of crap, of course.
I'm having no such re-evaluation about punk. I do remember being in Dutchy's Record Cave when a guy came in with a record and he and the clerk (looked exactly like Comic Book Guy on The Simspsons) practically wet themselves over the Sex Pistols and I was thinking, "God Save the Queen? Who cares about the queen."
I think for punk you really did have to be there and "there" was England.
Oh, and it's funny to hear Richard O'Brian narrating, halfway between a BBC voice and Riff Rff.
John
Yeah it is funny to hear Richard OBrien. Neither quite seem his type of music either.
For me punk's always been about The Ramones and The Undertones. Not the biggest fan of the Pistols or The Clash, so my punk axis has always been either Derry or NYC.
Just watched the first segment. It's very good, especially as I really only know the West Coast story, and even that not so well, as I was not particularly drawn to the hippie ideology, coming a bit behind the real movement as I did. Not that I think I would have gotten on board with the New York music scene either.
Seana
I was less engaged by the stuff about disco. I've heard all those Studio 54 stories in other places.
My cousin used to drive into Chicago from rural/suburban Illinois for the disco scene there when it was big. My sister went with her a time or two but I wasn't back there at the right time, and it wouldn't really have been my sort of thing. But I have a feeling there were some interesting adventures in that city as well.
It is interesting to see the nostalgic ending to the documentary. Never thought anyone would be nostalgic for the 70's in NY. Patti Smith makes a good point about trying to find an apartment now and what an effect that has on the culture of a city.
Seana, John
If the theory of the doc holds true then there must be some amazing musical innovation happening in Detroit right now.
The onslaught of Republican privatization in Detroit should have its citizens rioting in the streets. Sadly the odds of this are more likely thoguh when the Pistons win a championship. On another note I recently finished The Dead Yard and it sbeen ages since any books have caused me to sneak off and dodge people and responsibilities so I could read them. Well done sir, thank you.
Sean
p.s. I am a guilty plastic paddy born in WNY as they say on youtube but I wouldnt choose any other heritage.
Sean
Glad you liked Dead Yard. I've sometimes felt that book was a little too long and could have done with some tighter editing...but hell its too late now aint it?
Yeah Detroit. I dont know what they are going to do. Or Gary. Or Flint.
Bad on me, I actually finished The Bloomsday Dead got my titles bass ackwards. Loved the joycean nod in the title too. A huge cache of JJ's manuscripts and effects reside here in the Collections at Univ of Buffalo. In my tugboat captn character that I play on christian tv I have adopted Gerard Doyle's "aye" as something of a sound hook. It seems to be close enough in character and nobody has objected to it yet. Its also a little inside joke between me and my wife whose book club put me onto your work. I think Dead Yard was dead on, no tweaks needed. Am now shifting gears into The Lighthouse, he just shot up the birthday cake, clever lad...
How on earth did so much Joyce stuff end up in Buffalo, RastaMick?
Seana, South Bflo has street signs in Gaelic! Also a crafty curator and a few rich patrons methinks ;$
I had no idea that any American city had street signs in Gaelic. But then, all I know of Buffalo I learned from a pretty good novel by Lauren Belfer, called City of Light, and that had more to do with electrification, or at least that's what I retain of it.
Rastamick
Glad you liked it. If you find Lighthouse Land a little slow I think book 2 is better in that series.
I remember watching a show about New York punk with my parents when I was about 16.
I piped up that I loved all of these bands when my mum replied "Oh, I've got loads of these bands' records up in the loft"
Turns out my mum go heavily into new wave etc in her thirties which I think is very cool
Lighthouse doesn't strike me as slow as much as tender. When he falls at coney island and wipes out the little treat and scrapes himself up I had to take a break. it took me back to when my own Dad could scoop me up and fix everything and made me dread the day when I cant do the same for my own 4 lads. Great stuff though just some different emotional landscape than Michael Forsythe guided us through, Still half a summer to go, looking forward to the journey.
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