"The Place Where Folk Was Transformed into Pop"

"Of course, there is no 'New York ­music'—only musics, plural. Consider the range of songs that could reasonably be deemed the quintessential New York anthem: 'Sidewalks of New York,' 'Give My Regards to Broadway,' 'Manhattan,' 'Take the "A" Train,' 'On Broadway,' 'Spanish Harlem,' 'Positively 4th Street,' 'Across 110th Street,' 'Walk on the Wild Side,' 'Shattered,' 'Theme from New York, New York,' 'No Sleep Till Brooklyn,' 'Empire State of Mind.' Consider also the sheer number of genres and subgenres, musical cultures and sub­cultures, that were born, or at least blossomed most spectacularly, in New York: Tin Pan Alley ragtime, Harlem jazz-blues, Broadway song standards, bebop, doo-wop, Brill Building pop, coffeehouse folk, salsa, disco, punk, New Wave, No Wave, hip-hop, bachata-pop—just for starters."


In New York, Jody Rosen presents "A Look Back at 100 Years of New York Sounds."