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Historic Days of Music in New York
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jul 6, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jul 6, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Blender has a list of 100 Days That Changed Music, and not surprisingly a good amount of them took place in New York. Here are a few, see any missing?
99. December 11, 1965: The Velvet Underground play their first show, which was actually at a high school dance in Summit, New Jersey. The following year however, the Velvets became the house band at Warhol's Factory.
96. December 14, 1977: "Saturday Night Fever debuts in New York prompting the inexorable march of polyester suits and disco into the suburbs — and throughout the world." (note: see #10.)
93. June 30, 1989: "Do the Right Thing hits theaters introducing Public Enemy’s righteous rage to the world at large, Spike Lee’s breakout film practically doubled as a music video for 'Fight the Power,' which is heard no less than 15 times in the movie."
37. December 23, 2006: Tower Records closes up shop.
34. October 11, 1975: Debut of Saturday Night Live. "SNL goes on to introduce mainstream America to such musical sensations as Elvis Costello, Talking Heads and Dick in a Box.” (note: Lazy Sunday was #73)
29. August 18, 1969: Hendrix played “The Star–Spangled Banner” at Woodstock.
26. December 31, 1942: Frank Sinatra (pictured with Phil Rizzuto) played the Paramount. "Two full decades before Beatlemania, Ol’ Blue Eyes sends bobby–soxers into shrieking hysterics, shutting down Times Square and forcing NYC cops to call in the riot squad."
22. December 8, 1980: John Lennon murdered, the 60s officially die.
12. February 2, 1976: Ramones make a record for $6,000 at Radio City Music Hall’s studio. "Each song got one take: guitarist Johnny played in a gym the Rockettes used for dance rehearsal; bassist Dee Dee in the control room; and in another room on drums, Tommy — a guitarist who’d never sat behind a kit in his life."
10. April 26, 1977: Studio 54 opens. Two years later, on July 12th, 1979, disco dies.
8. December 21, 1960: Bob Dylan leaves Minnesota and 34 days later arrives in New York and plays his first gig at an open mic night at Cafe Wha?.
5. August 1, 1981: MTV debuts. "In a banner day for lip–synching, outrageous fashion and rebellious teens, music hops mediums, making walking, talking 2–D video stars accessible 24 hours a day." (note: Madonna singing “Like a Virgin” at the VMAs on September 14th, 1984 was #19, and the Real World airing for the first time on May 21st, 1992 was #45.)
2. August 11, 1973: DJ Kool Herc invents hip–hop in the rec room of 1520 Sedgwick Ave, an apartment building that is, sadly, changing with the times. (note: The Sugarhill Gang release “Rapper’s Delight," hip hop's first classic, on September 18, 1979, which came in at #25.)
#1 takes place in New York as well, see what event beat out Justin and Britney breaking up (#13, by the way), here (and oddly enough it's not the day the music died). Some more interesting dates: at #48, on October 23rd, 2001 the iPod was released and at #83 on January 26th, 1995 the first MPEG3 patent filed.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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