Says Tony Fletcher: “The thing with music in New York, is that it’s always as good as it ever was ‘in your day.’ There’s no mythical golden age.”
Tony Fletcher, whom many consider to be the British equivalent of the iconic rock writer Lester Bangs, stopped by CMJ to moderate the late Thursday panel, ‘The “Scenes’ of Some Solid Songwriting Cities.”
And though the panel drifted wildly off-topic into an exegesis on commercial songwriting, Fletcher’s expertise on “scenes” shown through the discussion. “Scene,” in fact, is the subject of his latest book: I spoke with Fletcher briefly after the panel about the city that became his home.
Q: First off, why New York?
A: “I used to live in New York City for 20 years, during which I wrote several biographies (Keith Moon, R.E.M., Echo & The Bunnymen). But, I kept thinking there was a bigger story to be told about the city. My book is attempting to tell the history of pop music through New York City, and, conversely, the history of New York through pop music.”
Q: How did your time here compare to the years you lived in London?
A: “New York is constantly reinventing itself. London, on the other hand, seems to have a sound that’s very much a ‘London’ sound. You hear it in The Kinks, in Blur. In New York, particular neighborhoods might change at any moment. Look at Harlem. It began as sort of a suburb, then became a black metropolis and these days it’s more of a ghetto. Or the South Bronx, where an address used to be considered a badge of success. Now it’s really kind of cut off from the happenings of the city. I guess I’m attempting to uncover the origins of certain (music) scenes through the politics and culture in certain neighborhoods at certain times.
Q: Your book spans five decades. Does a solitary king or queen of New York music stick out in your mind?
A: “So many influential 20th century figures came through Ellis Island in those early years. I start my book with a man named Mario Bauza who came from Cuba in 1927 at the age of 16. Afro-Cuban Jazz, Mamba, even mainstream Be-Bop owe so much to him that not many people realize. Then there’s George Goldner, who will probably never make it into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame because of his personal history. But George was naive, not a criminal. He was involved in the early discovery of people like The Crows, Frankie Lymon and Shangri-La stuff…but he kept losing all his money at the race track. These are the kinda stories I’m looking to tell.”
Q: Are there any places, here or abroad, that rival the city’s impact on popular music?
A: “Another city could not tell this story. Maybe places like Detroit or Chicago, with their great musical histories can rival it, sure, but it’s just not the same. The thing with music in New York, is that it’s always as good as it ever was “in your day.” There’s no mythical golden age. Sure, the city is a little cleaner, safer, a little more homogeneous than it used to be, but it’s still as vibrant as ever.”
Stay tuned for more of John Hendrickson’s updates from CMJ ’09, including show reviews.
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John Hendrickson is a former Features and Entertainment intern at The Denver Post, an editor and featured writer at and a regular contributor to . In 2009 he was named one of the by .
