New York Rocker

A first-person account by a founding member of Blondie recounts his witness to the birth of punk music, chronicling the transition of musical styles between the 1960s and 1980s while describing the contributions of such figures as Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and David Bowie. Original.

Préface
The definitive first-person account of punk at its orgin-from the 2006 Rock'n Roll Hall of Fame inductee

Auteur

Gary Lachman, as Gary Valentine, was a founding member of Blondie, the revolutionary band inducted into Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, and he wrote the group's early hits. His books include A Dark Muse: A History of the Occult, Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Acquarius, and A Secret History of Consciousness. He lives in London.

Texte du rabat

By 1970, the hippie dream of the 60s was dead -- the soundtrack to the revolution had become a multimillion-dollar industry. But four years later, emerging from the rubble of rock, was a music whose hard edge matched the lifestyle of its home turf -- New York's East Village. Punk's initiators -- Richard Hell, Tom Verlaine, and Patti Smith -- had one foot in 19"th"-century French symbolist poetry and the other in the raw sound of predecessors like the Velvet Underground. Now, in New York Rocker, Gary Valentine offers an inside account of this little-documented era. He talks about the luminaries -- like Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Devo, and the New York Dolls -- and the gigs at CBGBs hitting the news as Warhol and his glittering crew descended. What began as a unique blend of fin-de-siecle ennui and edgy rock, exploded worldwide into an anarchic frenzy of safety pins and gutter decadence, then plunged into excess and eventual ruin -- with its survivors making a leap into the mainstream.

Résumé
By 1970, the hippie dream of the 60s was dead , the soundtrack of the revolution had become a multimillion-dollar industry. Glitter tried to save music's soul, but was too commercial to be cutting edge for long. Then, in 1974, a rescue movement arrived. Three chords, black jeans, a pair of shades, and a whole lot of attitude made music that matched the facts of life on its home ground, mid-70sNew York City's East Village. The initiators of punk, Richard Hell, Tom Verlaine, and Patti Smith had one foot in nineteenth-century French symbolist poetry and the other in the raw sound of their predecessors such as the Velvet Underground. This first-hand account of a little-documented era features luminaries such as Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Debbie Harry, Divine, Devo, and the New York Dolls, and tells of the gigs at CBGB hitting the news as Warhol and his glittering crew descended. What began as a unique blend of fin-de-siècle ennui and razor-sharp rock became anarchic frenzy and safety pins, overrun by gutter decadence and stupid-chic. With Malcolm McLaren hijacking the scene's momentum, the Blank Generation plunged into excess and eventual ruin, its survivors making the leap into mainstream.