New York Rock: From the Rise of The Velvet Underground to the Fall of CBGB

by Steven Blush

Steven Blush's New York Rock presents the definitive history of a key period in rock ‘n’ roll, from new wave to no wave, punk to punk revival, from the bestselling author of American Hardcore. As a city that represents endless possibilities, New York has been the setting for the dawning of new movements, styles, and genres. In the 20th century, the birth of Rock represented a connection between art forms and the city’s socioeconomic, racial, and sexual variants. New York Rock breaks down the rock scene’s half-century connection to New York and analyzes its distinct subculture through the prism of influences, crosscurrents and psychoactive distractions. Over 1,500 musicians, clubs, and labels, from Madonna to the Ramones, held roles in the making of New York Rock, and it’s their contributions that created this iconic art form. A compilation of firsthand narratives about each genre of rock, from Punk New Wave and Glitter Rock to New York Hardcore and Indie rock, New York Rock is the ultimate illustrated account of Rock’s role in New York City.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, New York

498 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 4, 2016

About the author

Steven Blush is an American author, publisher and promoter.

Reviews

[Peter Landau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading NEW YORK ROCK: FROM THE RISE OF THE VELVET UNDERGROUND TO THE FALL OF CBGB by Steven Blush was like watching my life pass before my eyes. I grew up in New York and music was my identity back when I still believed in such things as identity. I remember as a teenager listening to the Velvet Underground and a friend telling me that there were even more obscure bands that were just too niche to even bother with. But I was already bothered.

Then I went to art school in New York and was in one of those bands that nobody hears of, which plays in illegal clubs and dies out both literally and figuratively after a short run. That would be that, except for this book, which chronicles in minute detail and yet with broad strokes the genesis of rock and roll in New York over the last half a century. It’s the blessing and the curse of the story. I felt those old drunken and drugged out days come into focus as the litany of bands and bars filled the pages, but none stayed around long enough for deep interest to develop.

The cursory and obsessive tone can be a bit frustrating. There is the seeds of hundreds of books in this glorified listing of bands, albums, songs, clubs, fuck ups and some triumphs. Maybe someone will write one or two, though I don’t know if I’ll read them. One trek down memory lane is enough. Yes, I’m in the book, which is flattering, and should be enough incentive for you to buy a copy. Chances are you’re in it, too, certainly if you were in a rock band in New York. Every one of us is either quoted and/or namechecked like the shoutouts of a never-ending rap single.

New York City is a real cool town, as the Ramones sang, but as the city turns around from default and moves towards a suburban strip mall in concrete and asphalt, the scene reflects this change, and by the last sections of the book I was ready for it to end as I had been ready to leave during those actual times. I did leave, because New York left me long ago.

The story of kids getting together to create things in opposition to the mainstream and with little interest in general acceptance is inspiring and nostalgic. I hope it’s happening somewhere. I don’t think it was only a New York tale, though when you live in the seat of media you’re going to get more coverage than Cleveland or Lawrence or any other wasteland that has the space and the indifference to let people alone.

For history to repeat itself seems less likely with the flattening of culture and the loss of regionalism. That autonomy is a missing commodity, but people are going to say no again sometime, and I hope I’m there again to see it.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure this book is intended to be read cover to cover, though that's what I did. Each chapter is devoted to a particular "scene." One section talks about the key nightclubs (The Mudd Club, A7, The Dive etc.) while another section lists all of the bands that comprise the scene and the people in them. The latter got a bit tedious -- like reading "the begats" -- but I had to skim through because I would inevitably come across a name I had completely forgotten about. (And one mention of Chad, from the band All About Chad, who was signed to Big Pop Records where I worked in the 90's. A minor quibble, it was not Chad that wrote the POTUSA song "We're Not Going to Make It." That was his bandmate Ben Reiser).

Still, this is an essential reference for anyone who was in New York in the 70's, 80's and 90's (before gentrification and AIDS forced the edgier types out of Manhattan). The book shows that there was a lot more going besides the obvious breakout stars like The Beastie Boys, Blondie, The Ramones or The Velvet Underground. If you were in a band that lived and played in New York you are probably mentioned.

I actually read a library copy. Then I went out and bought my own because I will need to refer back to it often.

[Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who loves the music history of NYC in the late 20th century, this book was right up my street, only dropping in my admiration due to its relentless cataloguing of countless bands in a repetitive style at the end of the section of each separate scene. Absolutely loved the narrative sections, put together as these books often are using direct quotes from the musicians and fans involved.

[Kaitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Saw this at my school library and thought it would be interesting to read

It was basically quotes from those who were around CBGB time and giving out what the experience was like back than. I don't know why but I was hoping for more but it was a good read though.

[Liz Estrada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, all I can say is that my favorite part of this who's who of New York "Rock" was the beginning with The Velvet Underground, not just one of my favorite bands, but the most pivotal band to EVER come from NYC. Yes, many parts were tedious and quite boring reading more like a dictionary than book. I have heard of many of the bands mentioned, some which I liked and others hated and some I had never heard of. Also great talking about all the cool old venues, like Max's Kansas City. But for me a little tiring. Almost gave up half way through but managed to get to the end. 2.5 stars overall.

[Robert Moss · Rating 5 out of 5]

New York Rock takes me back to the NYC venues I played 1981-83 (The Peppermint Lounge, the A7, CBGBs), the bands that came before, as well as when I lived there '85-91. Steve pulls together so much information. Reading his book even reminded me of bands I forgot, which made me enjoy it that much more. I recommend New York Rock to anyone who wants to know what the scene was like back before the City became too expensive and too tame.

[Jimmy Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is so badly riddled with errors, it should be classified as a work of fiction. I found around a dozen errors in the Velvet Underground section alone. Everything from timeline mistakes to listing 'Kill Your Sons' as a highlight of the White Light White Heat record (in fact, the song is not even VU - it is solo Lou Reed from the mid 70s) to showing a picture of Richard Williams and captioning that it is John Cale.

Cannot recommend this book to anyone. Beginners will be starting off with bogus information and experts will be frustrated at the inaccuracies. It is simply not researched at all and very poorly written.

[Jeremy Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steve Blush tells the story of half a century of the NYC rock scene starting with The Velvet Underground to the closing of CBGB's. Each chapter covers an aspect of the scene, for example 70s punk to 90s indie rockers. Peppered throughout the book are quotes from musicians, club owners and scenesters that were there. At times, the book became tedious because Blush rambles on about minor bands and their recording histories. An okay for rock fans, but I still prefer Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil.

[Bob Schnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

"New York Rock" by Steven Blush was written for someone like me. Though I was never a musician or part of the in-crowd of any given scene in NY, I was there. I started going to shows in NYC in 1981, when I was in college in NJ, and I worked in and around Manhattan from 1984-1995 so the majority of the book seemed like pages from my personal past. Since I worked in a record store I was privy to many bands and shows that weren't advertised in the Village Voice. I even got some new insights to music and art that I only knew marginally.

The book is formatted into bite-sized chapters, each describing a genre or sub-genre of music, their major and many minor players, hang-outs, drugs, philosophies and attitudes. Though each chapter merits its own book to really go deep, Blush does a good job fitting a lot of information into a small space. Long faded memories came screaming back, sometimes welcome, sometimes triggering a kind of post traumatic stress. For example, I did not expect to see in print the name of someone who caused me great anxiety in 1985. This person was, unknown to me, in a hardcore band before I met him and so I had to check YouTube to see if any footage existed. Sure enough, there he was, giving me his best sarcastic sneer as he posed for the camera. It literally triggered a minor nervous attack, but I digress.

As a fringe fan of many of the scenes described, this book will be a great reference source for any memoirs I write. Though it makes no mention of some of my personal pivotal places and scenes (Tower Records, Downtown Beirut and "Liquid Sky" at the Waverly to name a few) it still brought me right back to a time and place that can never be replicated. I can't say what readers who weren't there might think of "New York Rock", but if your only mental image is the Ramones at CBGBs or a bunch of black-wearing nihilists doing drugs in feedback drenched after-hours clubs, you've got a lot to learn.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. Half the book is oral history, the other half provides brief overviews of the main phases of "underground" rock in NYC from the 60's to the present. Most exciting to me is the coverage of many obscure bands that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere before. That's especially good for knowing the basic info on obscure bands and indie labels. As someone in the book mentions, there is a current obsession among music people with the early CBGB's days. This book covers the subsequent development of a tense hardcore scene, the adjunct Hoboken N.J. bands, fast folk, the Black Rock Coalition, co-opted biker lifestyle bands and more. Oral histories usually have their share of inane contributions- this is no different. But most reflect on the fun and solidarity among fans and musicians in each sub-genre. The hardcore punk chapter is especially good. No spoilers but Bad Brains' H.R.'s entry on what makes hardcore great is a classic quote. In the last chapters, artists discuss the forced gentrification of the city beginning under Giulianni and the current landscape.

[Richard Kearney · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are lots of great books about rock'n'roll in New York City, but this book is not one of them. It's clear that Steven Blush carried out plenty of research and had no lack of material to write about, but what he delivers is an incoherent, jumbled mess that runs for 430 pages. The book is "organized" into a large collection of short chapters that follow a pretty consistent pattern: an opening quotation, brief narrative text that is largely superficial and banal, and a lot of brief quotations from a cavalcade of New York rock figures that also vary wildly in terms of what they convey (again, a lot of the quotes signify very little). The chapters frequently bounce around from topic to topic with no discernible narrative arc. Who is the audience for this? People with short attention spans? People with a 5th grade reading level? There is a great story to be told about New York rock from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s, but you won't find it here. A missed opportunity.

[Gerry LaFemina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited about this book, but it reads like a lesser oral history, with capsule summaries of whatever bands Blush decides warranted a mention. More, he totally ignores the late 80s ska scene which filled places like The Cat Club, Trammps, SOB, and CBGB and surely grew out of the same 70s rock scene as anything else.

[Jarrett · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.9/5

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

really fabulous and very detailed

[Aaron Badgley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of New York City and its history, mainly from the 70's on.
Could not put it down, told by the people who were there.
Excellent!

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This feels thrown together and never gets much below the surface of various NYC scenes (at times with a few errors tossed in).

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most chapters are more like introductions to a scene or era. They cover the most important aspects but leave you wanting more. The book could be titled "A Beginners Intro to New York Rock."

[Jodi Gianakopoulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing resource.

[Rob Smentek · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reads like Cliff's Notes. Extensively researched, but assembled like an outline.

[Patrick McGarry]

Great history of punk/rock.