Take A Walk On The Wild Side

May 2, 2017 4:07 PM

In the 1970s the Big Apple was rotten to the core. But amidst the ruins and squalor, a golden era of music was born. In downtown Manhattan, Punk was created. In the midtown, Disco was king. Whilst on the streets of the Bronx, Hip Hop sprung up. In 1970s New York, you cold be whoever you wanted to be.

-Once Upon a Time in New York. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey (16 comments total)

This nostalgia brought to you by a whole lot of distance.
posted by Miko at 5:32 PM on May 2, 2017 [6 favorites]

And in the '70s, the longest running Broadway musicals were "Grease", "A Chorus Line" and "Annie". So?

I don't think of New York City as the 'birthplace' of any of these musical genres (least of all Punk, which is more British than Doctor Who); I think New York was more the Cultural Proving Ground, to quote a NY-centric song "if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere".
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:33 PM on May 2, 2017 [3 favorites]

Does anyone know the source of the clip that plays at 11:46 in part 1, where the Christian homophobic speaker gets a pie in the face and then prays about it? That was a strange tangent.
posted by Taft at 5:36 PM on May 2, 2017

I don't think of New York City as the 'birthplace' of any of these musical genres

Historians of hip-hop might disagree.

Great videos; thanks.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 5:58 PM on May 2, 2017 [11 favorites]

Trivia: the original lyric of Chic's "Freak Out" was "Fuck Off", written after the lads were denied entry by a Studio 54 doorman. Within a year or so, Nile Rodgers probably had the keys to the place....
posted by thelonius at 6:02 PM on May 2, 2017 [4 favorites]

Taft, the woman taking a pie in the face was Anita Bryant, a well-known figure in the 70s, so that iconic clip was no tangent. Looks like a clip from NBC. Background.
posted by maudlin at 6:16 PM on May 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

I don't think of New York City as the 'birthplace' of any of these musical genres (least of all Punk, which is more British than Doctor Who)

you are wrong
posted by incomple at 6:41 PM on May 2, 2017 [13 favorites]

This would make a GREAT HBO show.
posted by tremspeed at 7:09 PM on May 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

Welcome ... to 1970s New York. You can do anything in 1970s New York. Anything at all. The only limit is yourself.
posted by Wolfdog at 7:16 PM on May 2, 2017 [5 favorites]

I got a real kick out of 'The Get Down' on Netflix. Over the top and entertaining, swell performances and some dazzling set pieces.
posted by ovvl at 7:23 PM on May 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

The pie incident happened in Des Moines.
posted by brujita at 8:46 PM on May 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

I don't think of New York City as the 'birthplace' of any of these musical genres (least of all Punk, which is more British than Doctor Who)

Punk historians make a strong case for punk originating in NYC with the Ramones in 1974/1975, and then the UK scene being galvanized when the Ramones played London on July 4, 1976 – a reverse British Invasion on the bicentennial.
posted by lisa g at 8:56 PM on May 2, 2017 [13 favorites]

Punk historians make a strong case for punk originating in NYC with the Ramones in 1974/1975, and then the UK scene being galvanized when the Ramones played London on July 4, 1976 – a reverse British Invasion on the bicentennial.
As a kid who discovered punk in Canada in the 80s it always seemed so British... maybe because I only really knew the sex pistols, crass, and Vyvyan from the Young Ones. Thanks lisa g!
posted by chapps at 11:28 PM on May 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Lets not forget the New York Dolls.
posted by lovelyzoo at 12:11 AM on May 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

+1 for the Ramones (and Johnny Thunders) being the spark for the UK punk scene. The Ramones in particular - "nobody did it before, and nobody did it afterwards, there was nobody like them" (Damned band member, personal communication). JT and the NYD didn't have the same profile over here except among the very serious fans, but as a lot of the first wave of punk musicians were also very serious fans their influence was disproportionate.

You can never really stick a stake in the ground and say 'it started here', because music doesn't work like that, But it comes very close in this case. British punk made a bigger impact because it was championed by middle-class kids (metal was always bigger in the working class) and it morphed quickly into a media event.

There's been a rash of CBGB/Studio 54/general NY music nostalgia in the UK recently, for reasonably obvious demographic reasons = hip-hop less so but ditto. We'll be sick of it soon enough.
posted by Devonian at 2:22 AM on May 3, 2017 [7 favorites]

The Velvet Underground dug the fire pit, the New York Dolls laid down the logs, and the Ramones were a flaming gas can thrown onto it.
posted by Ber at 6:51 AM on May 3, 2017 [1 favorite]