0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains strong language from the start.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12In the 1970s, the Big Apple was rotten to the core.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18New York City in the middle of the '70s was a rough-looking place.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26New York was wilder than any Wild West town, and probably deadlier.
0:00:26 > 0:00:33But amidst the ruins and squalor, a golden era of music was born.
0:00:33 > 0:00:39In downtown Manhattan, punk was created.
0:00:40 > 0:00:45- We single-handedly lowered the standards... - Yes.- ..of an entire industry.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48We are responsible for whatever happened.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52MUSIC: "Hey Ho, Let's Go" by The Ramones
0:00:52 > 0:00:55In the Midtown, disco was king.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57MUSIC: "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer
0:00:57 > 0:01:03Studio 54, to me, was really no different than what I was seeing in punk.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05It was the same freshness.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Especially in a downtrodden city, glamour means an awful lot.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Whilst on the streets of the Bronx, hip-hop sprung up.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20We didn't have nothin' here in the South Bronx.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24Hip-hop really came because there was nothing to do here.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28I was a guy that never went downtown. I stayed in the neighbourhood...
0:01:28 > 0:01:30and formed a culture called hip-hop.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37In 1970s New York, you could be whoever you wanted to be.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41You can come to New York City, and I know it sounds corny,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43you really can fulfil your dream.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48I always thought if you could make it in New York, you could make it anywhere.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54If it doesn't work in New York, we're all in big fucking trouble.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14MUSIC: "Rhapsody In Blue" by George Gershwin
0:02:16 > 0:02:22New York - a sophisticated city with a refined musical tradition.
0:02:22 > 0:02:30In the '30s and '40s, Broadway swung to the crafted sounds of George Gershwin and Cole Porter.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34# It's lovely going through... #
0:02:34 > 0:02:38And in the '50s and early '60s, a new generation of Tin Pan Alley tunesmiths
0:02:38 > 0:02:45gathered in the Midtown's elegant Brill Building, to fashion polished pop that would dominate the charts.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54However, in the late '60s, the musical zeitgeist went west
0:02:54 > 0:02:57to capture the optimism of a new generation.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05And with California taking centre stage, New York felt like an abandoned city.
0:03:09 > 0:03:16Not since the Great Depression had the city been so wracked with economic and social woe.
0:03:21 > 0:03:26Life Downtown, in the shadow of the skyscrapers, could be tough.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33Around the corner from me, a block away from that corner, all day long
0:03:33 > 0:03:36there was this swarm of about 11 or 12-year-old kids.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39Like a whole, you know, cluster
0:03:39 > 0:03:43of 30 of them, shifting all the time.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47And they were there because they were runners for heroin buyers.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51At that time, there was heroin everywhere.
0:03:53 > 0:04:00The neighbourhood I'm now residing in over on the East Side, was just, like, lethal.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04When I was doing lots of cocaine, I knew ten...
0:04:04 > 0:04:09or more little stores I could just walk into and buy it at any given time, you know.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11It was like that. Like a lot of...
0:04:13 > 0:04:15..burnt buildings that were boarded up.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17That kind of scene.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21The neighbourhood we lived in was like that, anyway, the Lower East Side.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24It was, er...
0:04:24 > 0:04:26in urban decay.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32There was a certain amount of danger.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35Where I lived, I would sometimes come home at like,
0:04:35 > 0:04:40you know, two or three in the morning, and there would be
0:04:40 > 0:04:43gang members having knife fights,
0:04:43 > 0:04:45using garbage can lids for shields
0:04:45 > 0:04:46in the middle of the street.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50MUSIC: "Venus In Furs" by Velvet Underground
0:04:53 > 0:04:55But amidst the squalor, there were bargains to be had.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59Rents could be cheap, especially if you were an arty type.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01# Shiny shiny... #
0:05:01 > 0:05:05I mean, at the time, there were things called AIR.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09When I first moved, I had a loft down on Lispenard Street.
0:05:09 > 0:05:10It used to be that you could...
0:05:10 > 0:05:14have low rent if you went down to City Hall
0:05:14 > 0:05:17showed them a painting and said you're an artist
0:05:17 > 0:05:23and they'd give you your address with a plaque in front of it saying, "Artist In Residence".
0:05:23 > 0:05:24That was all it needed.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31Perhaps the most notable loft dweller was avant-garde artist and scene maker, Andy Warhol,
0:05:31 > 0:05:35whose Union Square studio was known simply as "The Factory".
0:05:35 > 0:05:41In 1965, Warhol was looking to extend his artistic output into music
0:05:41 > 0:05:44and he happened upon a similarly avant-garde band.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48We're sponsoring a new band called the Velvet Underground.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51And, um...
0:05:51 > 0:05:52And we're trying to...
0:05:52 > 0:06:00We have this chance to combine music and art and films, all together.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04Warhol was a magician with a wand, because when he discovered the Velvets,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07they had played their second ever gig.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10You know, their second show they every played in some, you know,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12horrible little club in New York.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17And they were totally unknown and making no money, and he pulled them out of that
0:06:17 > 0:06:20and within, er...
0:06:20 > 0:06:25Well, by February, he had them playing a major show at the Cinematheque
0:06:25 > 0:06:27called Andy Warhol, Up-Tight.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31That was the beginning of their, you know, multi-dimensional performances,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34with the films, the dances, the lights and all that.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42The Velvet Underground were not native New Yorkers, but disaffected college students
0:06:42 > 0:06:46who'd been attracted to the seedy underbelly of Lower Manhattan
0:06:46 > 0:06:50and its promise of artistic, sexual and chemical experimentation.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54MUSIC: "I'm Waiting For My Man" by Velvet Underground
0:06:54 > 0:06:57# Up to Lexington, 125
0:06:57 > 0:07:02# Feel sick and dirty More dead than alive... #
0:07:02 > 0:07:05The Velvets were essentially a kind of gritty urban newsreel,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09what it was like to live on the Lower-Lower East Side.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11And what they...
0:07:11 > 0:07:17sang about was, was life on the fringe of New York existence,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20very far removed from the glitz of Times Square.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Lower Manhattan was a drug haven at the time.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29I mean, a lot of my... kind of worst experiences come from living down there.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37But what they essentially did was show the other side of the peace-and-love coin.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40# I'm waiting for my man... #
0:07:40 > 0:07:45When Woodstock happened, I mean you were happy that everybody got stuck in the mud.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49Just the whole "flower children" thing was just silly.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54And we were advocating, you know, giving everybody all the drugs they wanted...
0:07:54 > 0:07:57which wasn't weed.
0:07:57 > 0:08:04In the midst of all the flower power ethic and all this, you know, sort of lightly hopeful music,
0:08:04 > 0:08:09here's this fucking dark, brooding album about heroin and death and murder, you know?
0:08:09 > 0:08:14So we all picked up on it and it, you know, that record is just...
0:08:14 > 0:08:17a fantastic recording.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20# ..My man, cannot be free
0:08:20 > 0:08:23# Of all of the evils of this town... #
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Recorded in just two days, the Velvet Underground's debut album
0:08:27 > 0:08:31was far removed from the polished pop coming out of the Brill Building.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35Both band and album failed to find success abroad or at home.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40I think sometimes the prophet is without honour in one's hometown.
0:08:41 > 0:08:49But their template, that sense of gritty urban realism and sensual depravity
0:08:49 > 0:08:54and, er, drug-induced hallucination, er...
0:08:54 > 0:08:57would prove very important for...
0:08:57 > 0:09:00what would come after.
0:09:00 > 0:09:06# H-e-e-e-eroin...
0:09:06 > 0:09:11# It's my wife and it's my life
0:09:11 > 0:09:15# Because a mainer to my vein... #
0:09:15 > 0:09:21The Velvet Underground would become the imprint for a new generation of downtown New York bands.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26But in 1970, their lead singer would leave and search for his own success.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29MUSIC: "Walk On The Wild Side" by Lou Reed
0:09:29 > 0:09:33And in 1972, Lou Reed would strike gold with an unlikely hit
0:09:33 > 0:09:37inspired by his experiences in downtown New York -
0:09:37 > 0:09:39Walk On The Wild Side.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43The next thing you know it's coming out of every car window in New York.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47It really was one of those songs you heard every day, ten times. You just couldn't get away from it.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50# Holly came from Miami FLA
0:09:52 > 0:09:56# Hitch-hiked her way across the USA
0:09:57 > 0:09:59# Plucked her eyebrows on the way
0:09:59 > 0:10:01# Shaved her legs and then he was a she
0:10:01 > 0:10:06# She said, "Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side"... #
0:10:06 > 0:10:11What he's doing there is the same thing he did with Velvet, from the best music from Velvet,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14which is to use the Warhol world as a sort of palette...
0:10:14 > 0:10:16to take his stories from.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21Walk On The Wild Side is all about Warhol people - Joe Dallesandro, Holly Woodlawn, Jackie Curtis.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24# Candy came from out on the Island...#
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Lou's muses were drag queens who hung out at the Warhol Factory.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31# But she never lost her head
0:10:31 > 0:10:34# Even when she was giving head
0:10:34 > 0:10:38# She says, "Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side"
0:10:38 > 0:10:39# I said... #
0:10:39 > 0:10:43They were young men who came from outside the island.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48In New York, they could experience the sexual freedoms they craved and become everybody's darling.
0:10:48 > 0:10:49# Do de-do de-do... #
0:10:49 > 0:10:55I met Andy Warhol very soon on through the drag queens, through Candy Darling and Jackie Curtis.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58So I got to go up to the silver Factory.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00I call myself Candy Warhol now.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02THEY ALL LAUGH
0:11:04 > 0:11:06I'm cashing in.
0:11:06 > 0:11:12You know, I remember once, I just walked from the elevator to a little way into the Factory.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15I ended up with all these pills in my hand,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17and I was just looking at them.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21And I started to take one or two and Candy Darling came over and she said,
0:11:21 > 0:11:23"Oh, can I have the pink ones?"
0:11:23 > 0:11:26I said, "Sure. Why? What do you want the pink ones for?"
0:11:26 > 0:11:30She said, "You don't want to take them, dear. They'll make you grow breasts."
0:11:30 > 0:11:34MUSIC: "Dance To The Music" by Sly And The Family Stone
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Whilst you could be whoever you wanted to be downtown,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42in the rest of New York, the moral majority still held sway.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46On such a small island, it was inevitable that the two worlds would collide.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Because, if you don't flaunt it, who's going to know you're homosexual or not, you see?
0:11:53 > 0:11:54What they wanted to do was to flaunt it...
0:11:56 > 0:11:58CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICK
0:11:58 > 0:12:01- Should I get security in? - No, let him stay.- No.- Let him stay.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03Anita, let's pray. Anita wants to pray.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05- SHE SIGHS HEAVILY - That's all right.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Father, I want to ask that you forgive him.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09- That we love him. - And that we love him,
0:12:09 > 0:12:12and that we're praying for him...to be delivered
0:12:12 > 0:12:16from his deviant lifestyle, Father.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18# Dance to the music... #
0:12:18 > 0:12:24And back in the summer of '69, a routine police raid at a gay bar in Christopher Street
0:12:24 > 0:12:27got out of hand and gave birth to sexual politics,
0:12:27 > 0:12:29as well as a new musical movement.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37In New York, the thing that started the dance movement, I think, was the Stonewall Riots.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Basically some gay people were partying in a bar
0:12:41 > 0:12:43and there was a law that said
0:12:43 > 0:12:46two people of the same sex couldn't dance together.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50And so the police would come in every three months
0:12:50 > 0:12:55and regularly bust everybody in the gay bars.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59They said, "Fuck this shit. We don't have to take this shit. Everybody else is marching
0:12:59 > 0:13:02"Even people in women's prisons are going against the wall.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05"And then the black people are getting their rights
0:13:05 > 0:13:08"everybody's getting their rights. What's happening to the fags?
0:13:08 > 0:13:13"They come into the clubs, beat, us up and demanding to show our genitalia to prove what sex we are?!
0:13:13 > 0:13:14"Fuck you!"
0:13:14 > 0:13:19They came in this one night and this one drag queen didn't want to take it any more and she threw a bottle
0:13:19 > 0:13:22and it started a riot, which lasted the whole weekend.
0:13:22 > 0:13:29The cops got locked in the club. They were terrified. 7th Avenue was blocked.
0:13:29 > 0:13:35We threw things, we turned back buses, we jumped up and down on police cars - it amazed people.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43I knew this political hippy who used to say, "Oh, the fags will never organise. Those crazy queens -
0:13:43 > 0:13:48"all they want to do is wear make-up and prance around and listen to The Supremes."
0:13:48 > 0:13:51# I'm living in shame Mama, I miss you... #
0:13:51 > 0:13:55"They'll never fight back." But on that night they did, they fought back.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58That was the beginning of Gay Liberation as we know it today.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03And it caused the mayor to change the law.
0:14:03 > 0:14:10And once the law was changed, it gave everybody free rein to open some place to dance for gay people.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14The Stonewall Riots gave birth to a new culture
0:14:14 > 0:14:19and gay New York sprang out from the underground, into dance parties held in downtown lofts
0:14:19 > 0:14:21heralding the birth of club culture.
0:14:22 > 0:14:28The key loft party was hosted by the unlikely figure of Timothy Leary disciple David Mancuso.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36Yeah. Certainly LSD had a role in it,
0:14:36 > 0:14:38you know.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40But not entirely, no.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49It was always in a loft space which was in...kind of '65.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53It was very rare to be living in loft spaces in New York anyway.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56I had all this space, so, you know,
0:14:56 > 0:14:57and I was always into sound,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00so I started having parties in my loft space.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08It was private and it was very special. David was very unique with his music.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12It was all about the music and it was all about the sound.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16And, er, you felt very special being able to get into the loft.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20People begged you outside, "Please take me in." But it was very private.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Usually, most of us were socially outcast.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27You had, er...
0:15:27 > 0:15:30socially different backgrounds...
0:15:30 > 0:15:32had different backgrounds, you know.
0:15:32 > 0:15:38I was a white boy from Brooklyn, Italian boy, and I partied amongst Asians, amongst Latins,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40amongst blacks. And...
0:15:40 > 0:15:43I met people from all over the world.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47And it was a cultural experience, you know?
0:15:54 > 0:15:59To me, the loft was the first place I'd ever gone to where music was continuous.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06He was one of the first to...
0:16:06 > 0:16:11to start making the musical connections
0:16:11 > 0:16:14that created what we think of as disco.
0:16:14 > 0:16:20You know, connecting rock'n'roll and Latin music and African music
0:16:20 > 0:16:23and all kinds of...R&B
0:16:23 > 0:16:26and really seeing how they fit together.
0:16:26 > 0:16:32The first time I saw a DJ who was not just playing records but creating atmosphere.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36And, um, that was a big difference.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41And I realise THAT'S what I wanted to do.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44Not play records - create atmosphere.
0:16:50 > 0:16:56Inspired by Mancuso's private parties, 17-year-old Nicky Siano and his partner
0:16:56 > 0:16:58created their own loft, known as The Gallery.
0:17:00 > 0:17:06We took an empty loft space and we created and designed
0:17:06 > 0:17:10a space within the empty loft space, within this blank canvas.
0:17:10 > 0:17:17We created an environment specifically geared towards dancing and blowing your mind.
0:17:19 > 0:17:25# Nassau's gone funky Nassau's gone soul... #
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Whereas Mancuso played records in their entirety,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Siano mixed them together with two turntables.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Just the whole idea that the music never stopped.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37The whole idea that you can go from one turntable to another,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40that was a major revelation.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49The idea that you could have one turntable
0:17:49 > 0:17:54and just mix the next record, was unbelievable!
0:17:54 > 0:17:55The records don't stop?!
0:17:55 > 0:17:57So that was the first thing,
0:17:57 > 0:18:00that was the first big... innovation.
0:18:00 > 0:18:06And that was the foundation of this idea of just DJs, and it was called disco.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13The Gallery, is considered by many, the first "disco".
0:18:13 > 0:18:17# Money! Money, money, money, money...! #
0:18:17 > 0:18:19WHISTLING
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Come on, boys!
0:18:27 > 0:18:32The emerging disco scene would soon leave the loft of Lower Manhattan
0:18:32 > 0:18:34and spread like wild fire across the island.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38But in 1972, the hottest ticket in town was a bunch of mock queens
0:18:38 > 0:18:43mostly from Queens, who had crossed the East River to fulfil their dreams.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48I mean, we called ourselves New York Dolls, but...
0:18:48 > 0:18:50I don't think we ever really expected to...
0:18:52 > 0:18:55..go anywhere besides New York per-se.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59You know, we were like the band of the East Village when we started out.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04A new rock group has surfaced at Max's Kansas City and created a sell-out.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07Joel Siegel went over to find out what it was all about,
0:19:07 > 0:19:12and filming a rehearsal, he found a cross between the Rolling Stones and Alice Cooper.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17# You're the prima ballerina on a spring afternoon
0:19:19 > 0:19:23# Change on into the wolfman howlin' at the moon
0:19:23 > 0:19:25# H-o-o-o-w-w-w... #
0:19:25 > 0:19:29Basically what I would call would be the essence of what rock'n'roll is.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31And that is, er...
0:19:31 > 0:19:38sort of like, er, an attitude and a angst and anger and just wanting to express yourself
0:19:38 > 0:19:42in a very kind of almost primitive way.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45In those times, that really stood out.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Cos it had really gotten away from that, really.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52REPORTER: 'The Dolls are a social phenomenon. In the city, they sell out wherever they play.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56'They're in their late teens and early 20s, so is their audience.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59'This is a new generation and a new music.'
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Like, the last wave of rock'n'roll was like...
0:20:02 > 0:20:04Mostly it was from San Francisco.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07And it had a definite, um, purpose.
0:20:07 > 0:20:14I mean, the franchisement of certain people to become united under a certain kind of music.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16That's what rock'n'roll has always been.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21This form of music just represents the next generation, like the under-21 kind of people
0:20:21 > 0:20:24who like to listen to this music. It's like their own music.
0:20:24 > 0:20:31We had no concern really for the prevailing trends in popular music, you know.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35There were so many just mediocre bands, you know, that were...
0:20:35 > 0:20:41selling a lot of records and that were filling up big theatres and stuff.
0:20:41 > 0:20:47It just didn't mean anything to us, you know, cos we didn't think it was rock'n'roll.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50It wasn't run by the bands or the kids any more.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53It was, like, really industry and corporate and...
0:20:53 > 0:20:57They were putting together music, so it lost its sex appeal.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07They were the first band that valued attitude above, um,
0:21:07 > 0:21:09anything that...
0:21:09 > 0:21:11anything that was musical.
0:21:13 > 0:21:21They were just about teenagers looking to behave the way teenagers fantasise.
0:21:21 > 0:21:22Just defying grown-ups.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24# ..Alive, I said
0:21:24 > 0:21:27# Jet Boy's fly, Jet Boy's gone
0:21:27 > 0:21:30# Jet boy stole my baby
0:21:30 > 0:21:32# Flyin' around New York City so high
0:21:32 > 0:21:37# Like he was my baby... #
0:21:37 > 0:21:42The Dolls played at the Mercer Art Centre, a venue in a decrepit downtown hotel
0:21:42 > 0:21:44which would collapse within a year.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48Their combination of outrageous camp and raw R&B attracted a local crowd
0:21:48 > 0:21:52and a parochial New York rock scene was born.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56I remember standing there next to Danny Goldberg and he said,
0:21:56 > 0:22:02he said he watched the Dolls and he said, "This is the most important band to come out of New York City
0:22:02 > 0:22:07"since the Velvet Underground." I said, "Yeah, it is. They're the real Rolling Stones."
0:22:09 > 0:22:12# My b-a-a-a-b-y-y-y... #
0:22:12 > 0:22:18The Dolls would be a major influence on a new generation, but like the Velvet Underground before them,
0:22:18 > 0:22:20the rest of America just wasn't ready.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22Well they certainly were the first.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27But everybody acknowledges that one of the reasons they kind of failed in America
0:22:27 > 0:22:30was because people were so horrified by their first album cover.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34You know, to see these guys in make-up like that. No-one was ready for that.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37It's long before Whitesnake and all this fucking shit.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39I mean, before us, really...
0:22:39 > 0:22:42you know, you had to be the Beatles to get a record deal.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45You had to play like Jeff Beck.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49- We single-handedly lowered the standards...- Yes. - ..of an entire industry.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52We are responsible for whatever happened.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57# Jet Boy's fly, Jet Boy's gone
0:22:57 > 0:23:00# Jet boy stole my baby... #
0:23:00 > 0:23:07For me, everything begins with the Dolls because before them there were no New York bands...
0:23:08 > 0:23:10..of this particular era.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14And after them, there were a few.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19And after them, there were more than a few and... it kind of blossomed from there.
0:23:19 > 0:23:26They had a great inspiration in encouraging people to pick up guitar and play on the streets of New York.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36In 1973, New York wasn't exactly famous for its own rock scene.
0:23:36 > 0:23:42It was still just a stop on a nationwide tour for stadium bands like Aerosmith and Kiss.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47However, the Dolls do-it-yourself ethos would inspire others in New York's downtown.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53One of the first bands to spring up in their wake was Television,
0:23:53 > 0:23:55whose bass player was Richard Hell.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59I had been, um...
0:23:59 > 0:24:02impressed by the way it had worked for the Dolls,
0:24:02 > 0:24:06that they were associated with the Mercer Arts Centre,
0:24:06 > 0:24:12that I thought that we should find a venue that was doing badly enough
0:24:12 > 0:24:17that they'd accept these terms we had in mind, which was that we'd play there,
0:24:17 > 0:24:24you know...one night a week or something like that, regularly, um,
0:24:24 > 0:24:25on a given night.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31CBGB was a pokey dive, located in New York's infamous Bowery.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35It had been intended for country and bluegrass bands.
0:24:35 > 0:24:40Unfortunately, in 1974, there weren't many Americana acts on the Lower East Side,
0:24:40 > 0:24:44so Television lucked upon a residency.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Inadvertently, they were to create a New York landmark.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54My favourite memory was the first time I saw
0:24:54 > 0:24:58Television play and I saw Tom Verlaine,
0:24:58 > 0:25:06who I thought was just about the most beautiful fella that I'd ever seen,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08and, er...
0:25:08 > 0:25:12it was a Sunday as well. It was Easter Sunday, 1974.
0:25:12 > 0:25:19And, um, I, er, I saw Tom Verlaine and we've been friends ever since.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27Patti Smith was a beat poet who had teamed up with guitarist Lenny Kaye
0:25:27 > 0:25:30to create an experimental music project.
0:25:30 > 0:25:36With Patti, the thought that we would have an actual rock'n'roll band
0:25:36 > 0:25:40was very far from our imaginations when we began to play.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44We have a poet, we have a kind of rhythmic guitarist
0:25:44 > 0:25:48and after a couple of months, we have a steady piano player
0:25:48 > 0:25:53and we're doing a mixture of kind of cabaret songs
0:25:53 > 0:25:59and "improv-isised" one-chord, uh, you know, rhythmatics.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04We have Patti, who's creating imagery all over the map,
0:26:04 > 0:26:08and we're trying to fold all these elements together
0:26:08 > 0:26:10with our love of rock'n'roll.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16The Patti Smith Group had been struggling to find a venue
0:26:16 > 0:26:20where they could hone their avant-garde ideas.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25It wasn't until we actually saw CBGB's and how it worked
0:26:25 > 0:26:28that we realised we could have a home in New York
0:26:28 > 0:26:32where, with other like-minded individuals and musicians,
0:26:32 > 0:26:38that we could all find our way through the creative...swamps.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Although they made no waves in the mainstream press,
0:26:42 > 0:26:47Television and Patti Smith attracted an audience of kindred spirits
0:26:47 > 0:26:50looking downtown for somewhere to play.
0:26:52 > 0:26:58Every other person who was at CBGB's from 1974 to the beginning of 1977,
0:26:58 > 0:27:00on a given night, was in a band.
0:27:04 > 0:27:11And in 1975 the regulars included David Byrne, John Cale, art student Chris Stein,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15and former Max's Kansas City waitress Deborah Harry.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18The original stage was either over there or over here.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20I know it was on the other side
0:27:20 > 0:27:26and it was much tinier and tiered with red carpet.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29There was no existing house PA at the time,
0:27:29 > 0:27:34people used to bring in their own PA systems and set them up.
0:27:38 > 0:27:43This is kind of the famous shot down there.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47If I have any visual memories of this,
0:27:47 > 0:27:52it's just like neon signs and this long expanse of bar here.
0:27:54 > 0:28:01Chris Stein and Deborah Harry formed Blondie, an art-rock band who would go on to conquer the world.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06But in 1975 they had a long way to go and were still playing Motown covers.
0:28:07 > 0:28:12# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, whoa... #
0:28:12 > 0:28:16We were very experimental and all over the place, initially.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20And that's what was good about being able to play here again and again,
0:28:20 > 0:28:24just to, you know, refine and define what we were doing.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28It was great to have that period where we played all the time,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31you got better at doing what you wanted to do.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Many of the musicians were former art students,
0:28:38 > 0:28:42attracted to New York's downtown for its experimental atmosphere,
0:28:42 > 0:28:44including Talking Heads.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51It was a great leveller, CBGB's,
0:28:51 > 0:28:55it was the only place where we could play original music.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59The first time I walked into CBGB's, in 1974,
0:28:59 > 0:29:05I saw Debbie Harry and I saw the Ramones,
0:29:05 > 0:29:10and that weekend I saw Television and Patti Smith.
0:29:10 > 0:29:15Those of us who had lived out of town and had kind of come in onto New York City
0:29:15 > 0:29:19and had chosen it as a spawning ground, so to speak,
0:29:19 > 0:29:22it was because of the New York Dolls,
0:29:22 > 0:29:29and the fact that there was a city that was so tolerant of this outrageousness,
0:29:29 > 0:29:34that made it very appealing, very attractive. It was also very close to where we were.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38And then we auditioned. I went up to Hilly Kristal and I said,
0:29:38 > 0:29:41"We have this band, can we audition to play here?"
0:29:41 > 0:29:48He said, "Well, like, yeah, I could put you on in front of the Ramones tomorrow night."
0:29:48 > 0:29:52And so, it really was kind of a trial-by-fire thing.
0:29:52 > 0:29:59THE RAMONES PLAY: "Hey Ho, Let's Go"
0:29:59 > 0:30:04The only band who emerged at CBGB who could truly claim to be from New York was the Ramones.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08Their garage sound heralded a return to classic rock'n'roll
0:30:08 > 0:30:12that would ultimately transcend CBGB and New York
0:30:12 > 0:30:13to take the world by storm.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18# Hey ho! Let's go!
0:30:18 > 0:30:21# Hey ho! Let's go! #
0:30:21 > 0:30:25The Ramones was basically a concept that developed in my head
0:30:25 > 0:30:30after I saw the New York Dolls and saw how entertaining they were.
0:30:30 > 0:30:35Even though they weren't virtuoso musicians, they were very exciting.
0:30:35 > 0:30:42They put on a good show and to me, it seemed like at this time, everybody was a virtuoso musician.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46That was the thing. It started with Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, stuff like that.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50Everybody was noodling away and I thought, "It's time for a change."
0:30:50 > 0:30:53And we wanted to go back to the two-minute song,
0:30:53 > 0:30:57which for us, it was more like a minute and a quarter!
0:30:57 > 0:31:01They were like, you know, paratroopers descending,
0:31:01 > 0:31:06like the SWAT team plunging through the plate-glass windows, you know?
0:31:06 > 0:31:09It was very effective, always.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13For me, the Ramones created a template of punk rock
0:31:13 > 0:31:17that would be known as punk rock.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21Punk was originally the name of a New York fanzine set up in 1976
0:31:21 > 0:31:25to highlight the underground, downtown rock scene.
0:31:25 > 0:31:31Punk as a musical idea would be truly realised later in another city across the Atlantic,
0:31:31 > 0:31:35but the word was first applied to bands playing at CBGB.
0:31:35 > 0:31:37# Psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?
0:31:37 > 0:31:39# Ba-ba-ba... #
0:31:39 > 0:31:43I don't know if Talking Heads really qualified as a punk band.
0:31:43 > 0:31:48We thought of ourselves as artists who happened to be musicians as well.
0:31:48 > 0:31:52We felt like we really had a strong connection
0:31:52 > 0:31:55with bands like the Ramones,
0:31:55 > 0:31:57and bands like Television and Patti Smith,
0:31:57 > 0:32:02but I don't think they really thought of themselves as punks, either.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05# You start a conversation and you can't even finish it
0:32:05 > 0:32:09# You're talking a lot But you're not saying anything... #
0:32:09 > 0:32:12Whether they were punk or not,
0:32:12 > 0:32:14one thing was for sure.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17Very few of the CBGB bands could get a record deal.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22For me, the record labels took a while to figure it out down there,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25because it was out of their realm of knowledge.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28They didn't quite know what to do with these bands.
0:32:28 > 0:32:33They sounded different than most of the groups that were selling on the radio.
0:32:33 > 0:32:39And sometimes, when your head is in the clouds, you don't see what is happening down by your feet.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44You got these huge corporations, and yet, 30, 40 blocks downtown,
0:32:44 > 0:32:49there's a kind of excitement and a new thing,
0:32:49 > 0:32:53but it takes a while for it to filter up.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56# Johnny gets a feeling... #
0:32:56 > 0:33:00And in the Patti Smith Group's case, it would be Midtown major label Arista
0:33:00 > 0:33:06who would sign them and team the band up with producer and godfather of the downtown scene, John Cale.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12# He saw horses, horses, horses
0:33:12 > 0:33:14# Horses, horses, horses...
0:33:14 > 0:33:19# Horses, horses, Do you know how to pony...? #
0:33:19 > 0:33:23It was a band that had never been in a studio before,
0:33:23 > 0:33:31and it was a band that also had really worked themselves up from nothing,
0:33:31 > 0:33:32very carefully.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34# Do the alligator... #
0:33:34 > 0:33:37It definitely was like working with a hero,
0:33:37 > 0:33:40but the nice thing about John is that he's quite a human being,
0:33:40 > 0:33:48and he's a funny guy and as flawed and as ecstatic as we all are.
0:33:48 > 0:33:53And so...once we got down to the actual working,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56we found our rhythm.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59Some of it was very confrontational.
0:33:59 > 0:34:04When we went into the studio, everybody was probably playing their first instruments -
0:34:04 > 0:34:08first guitar ever owned, first keyboard ever owned -
0:34:08 > 0:34:13and we got into problems because they were warped and had all sorts of problems,
0:34:13 > 0:34:19so I called up and I said, "Hey, send over a couple of guitars, send over a keyboard,"
0:34:19 > 0:34:21and it really upset the apple-cart.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24The result of the tense collaboration
0:34:24 > 0:34:26would be the classic album Horses,
0:34:26 > 0:34:30whose poetic ambition and return to three-chord rock'n'roll
0:34:30 > 0:34:32would be a war-cry to a new generation,
0:34:32 > 0:34:35and put punk on the global map.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39# Life is filled with pain I'm cruisin' through my brain... #
0:34:39 > 0:34:41What had been created downtown
0:34:41 > 0:34:45had eventually been assimilated in Midtown New York
0:34:45 > 0:34:47and served up to the world.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50MUSIC: "Saturday Night Fever" by the Bee Gees
0:34:50 > 0:34:54In 1977, exactly the same thing would happen to disco,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57which had left its downtown roots far behind.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00Set in New York, the movie Saturday Night Fever
0:35:00 > 0:35:03exported disco-mania worldwide.
0:35:03 > 0:35:08And in the affluent heart of Manhattan emerged the ultimate club.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14MUSIC: "Turn The Beat Around" by Vicki Sue Robinson
0:35:14 > 0:35:17It opened at the end of '77,
0:35:17 > 0:35:23and the opening night was huge and fantastic.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26# Turn the beat around... #
0:35:26 > 0:35:31This is where you'd see Bianca Jagger,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35in all her glory, or David Bowie, for that matter, or Iman,
0:35:35 > 0:35:39or Diana Ross, or all of Houston, all the designers.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46You'd see women with very, very extreme make-up,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49heavily done up, huge platform shoes.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51You know, it was disco.
0:35:51 > 0:35:57Studio 54 was the brainchild of enterprising businessman Steve Rubell.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01Steve really worked on getting it in the paper every day
0:36:01 > 0:36:04and having these little, like Bianca's birthday party,
0:36:04 > 0:36:08which happened almost within the first month we were open,
0:36:08 > 0:36:11which I played for. She came in on this white horse,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14and in the middle of the New York Daily News the next day,
0:36:14 > 0:36:17there were all pictures of Bianca Jagger on this white horse
0:36:17 > 0:36:20and the Bee Gees were in town at the Madison Square Garden,
0:36:20 > 0:36:22and the Bee Gees got this much coverage,
0:36:22 > 0:36:27and Bianca got this much coverage, so it was really like a weird time
0:36:27 > 0:36:31when people were very into this scene, and exposing it.
0:36:31 > 0:36:37THUMPING BACKGROUND MUSIC It's difficult to know what it is exactly that attracts people here.
0:36:37 > 0:36:42All that one can be absolutely sure of is that it isn't the conversation!
0:36:42 > 0:36:48Norman Rhys, News At 10, at Studio 54 in New York.
0:36:48 > 0:36:54Studio 54, to me, was really no different...
0:36:54 > 0:36:57than what I was seeing in punk.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01Because it was the same freshness.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03When I walked into Studio 54,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06and I walked to the edge of the dancefloor,
0:37:06 > 0:37:10and all this white powder was falling from the ceiling like snow,
0:37:10 > 0:37:12but obviously, the image was coke,
0:37:12 > 0:37:15and these frenzied people were dancing,
0:37:15 > 0:37:19and there were all these fascinating people standing round talking to each other.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24I just was in another room with people who were really alive and really there.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28MUSIC: "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer
0:37:31 > 0:37:33It felt really magical.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37Erm, at the risk of sounding corny, if you got into Studio, you belonged.
0:37:37 > 0:37:42And...if you belonged in Studio,
0:37:42 > 0:37:45you were an interesting person and everybody treated you that way.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49I remember just anybody that you got into a conversation with,
0:37:49 > 0:37:52it felt like it was more interesting.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55It felt like... you were talking to Truman Capote,
0:37:55 > 0:37:58and you actually could be talking to Truman Capote!
0:37:58 > 0:38:02You felt like you were talking to intellectuals, artists,
0:38:02 > 0:38:06people who were gonna have some sort of impact on the world.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10Precisely in a downtrodden city, glamour means an awful lot.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14And glamour was really what that place was about.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21It was a place where you felt like,
0:38:21 > 0:38:25"I have arrived in the city, on some weird level I have access to it."
0:38:25 > 0:38:29Well, it kind of worked for me because I ended up
0:38:29 > 0:38:33giving two soldiers a blow job out on the balcony one night.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36After doing about two bags of coke.
0:38:39 > 0:38:43It was a fascinating place, there was the ground floor,
0:38:43 > 0:38:45the famous dancefloor.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49But if you weren't in the lower, the real action was on the balcony.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53There weren't seats, people would be making out, people would be fucking,
0:38:53 > 0:38:55people would be doing drugs...
0:38:58 > 0:39:00It just felt really, uh...
0:39:00 > 0:39:02it did feel decadent.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06# You're a native New Yorker...
0:39:07 > 0:39:11But the balcony was where people went to give blow jobs anyway.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15Everyone gave blow jobs up on the balcony at Studio 54.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19Believe me, in those days, before Aids came along, sex was rampant.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23People would have sex at the drop of whatever
0:39:23 > 0:39:28and of course a lot of people had to pay for it, but that's what it was like.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34Within six months, Studio 54 had earned a reputation
0:39:34 > 0:39:37for being a Midtown Sodom and Gomorrah
0:39:37 > 0:39:41and suddenly everybody who was anybody wanted to be there.
0:39:41 > 0:39:47And so Steve started getting all this press and all of a sudden there's lines around the block
0:39:47 > 0:39:52and he decides to do this kind of, "You. Not you.
0:39:52 > 0:39:57"You if take your shirt off and you lose your girlfriend,"
0:39:57 > 0:40:02and all these things which were really, I thought, very, very rude.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06No, you're not shaved, there's no way you're gonna get in.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08It doesn't matter. Listen, just go home.
0:40:08 > 0:40:15Studio was the antithesis of what most people at the beginning
0:40:15 > 0:40:17felt disco was about.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21It was certainly not at all democratic.
0:40:22 > 0:40:28Studio 54 turned the all-inclusive, music-led ethos of the downtown club scene on its head,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31selling exclusivity to the privileged few.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34For those without the keys to the city,
0:40:34 > 0:40:38the more they were turned away, the more they wanted to come.
0:40:39 > 0:40:45We went down to Studio 54 and we were sure that Grace Jones had our name on a list,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48she was like the queen of disco, queen of clubs.
0:40:48 > 0:40:53and...you know, we get there and we try to get in, you know...
0:40:53 > 0:40:55"Hey, it's, you know, CHIC."
0:40:55 > 0:40:57"Chic who?"
0:40:57 > 0:41:02"You know, CHIC." And we try everybody, it's not happening at Studio 54!
0:41:02 > 0:41:05"You know, CHIC, 'Yowsah yowsah yowsah, dance, dance, dance...'"
0:41:05 > 0:41:07"Well, I don't see your name on the list."
0:41:07 > 0:41:10New Year's Eve was a heavy night at Studio.
0:41:12 > 0:41:18When you're turning away enough people, there starts to be a real backlash against you,
0:41:18 > 0:41:21not just people talking bad about you
0:41:21 > 0:41:25but energy-wise, people thinking, "That guy sucks, that club sucks."
0:41:27 > 0:41:33And, like the good ex-revolutionary and former Black Panther that I was,
0:41:33 > 0:41:37the first thing I thought of was writing a protest song,
0:41:37 > 0:41:40so I started jamming on this groove.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42HE IMITATES GUITAR
0:41:45 > 0:41:48And then Bernard just came right in...
0:41:48 > 0:41:50HE IMITATES BASS GUITAR
0:41:53 > 0:41:57And we start grooving and, I don't know what made me do it,
0:41:57 > 0:42:00I just went, "Fuck off!" because it was just right.
0:42:00 > 0:42:01# Freak out! #
0:42:01 > 0:42:06Nobody black, or anybody I knew, were able to get into Studio 54.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10They would just block off the whole block, so that was just like...ugh!
0:42:10 > 0:42:15It was a severe hatred for Studio 54, it was like, "Fuck them, man,"
0:42:15 > 0:42:18really, "I hope it burns down."
0:42:24 > 0:42:27For millions of New Yorkers not fortunate enough
0:42:27 > 0:42:29to belong to the city's elite,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33the glamour of Studio 54 and the bohemian atmosphere of CBGB
0:42:33 > 0:42:36were a far cry from the reality of the streets.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43New York City in the middle of the '70s was a rough-looking place.
0:42:43 > 0:42:48You talked about... There was corruption inside government,
0:42:48 > 0:42:51there was a problem with fiscal spending,
0:42:51 > 0:42:56and there was always a distrust of the mayorship around that time.
0:42:56 > 0:43:01So you had services in New York City that were limited
0:43:01 > 0:43:04and the first areas that felt the limited services
0:43:04 > 0:43:08were the areas where black and Hispanic people were living.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13Thus, you know, Uptown, Brooklyn and the Bronx
0:43:13 > 0:43:16were having a rough time at it,
0:43:16 > 0:43:20and kind of like dipped into the realm of being slums.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27Well, I mean, this is a long history,
0:43:27 > 0:43:31it goes back to when they built the cross-Bronx expressway.
0:43:31 > 0:43:36Robert Moses, who was a giant builder,
0:43:36 > 0:43:42had this mandate, that even superseded that of elected officials,
0:43:42 > 0:43:45to build what he felt was necessary
0:43:45 > 0:43:49and it was a big construction project that went through the Bronx,
0:43:49 > 0:43:51and it really split the area apart,
0:43:51 > 0:43:54it went right through the heart of the south Bronx,
0:43:54 > 0:43:57it disrupted the neighbourhoods on either side,
0:43:57 > 0:44:01and the area never quite recovered from it psychologically, the sense of cohesion was lost.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10The south Bronx resembled a warzone.
0:44:10 > 0:44:15Buildings that hadn't been demolished were torched by insurance-scamming landlords
0:44:15 > 0:44:16and a city-wide blackout in '77
0:44:16 > 0:44:21served only to enhance the atmosphere of lawlessness.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35In '77, you see a lot of the stores, like right here,
0:44:35 > 0:44:38a lot of these stores never came back from that blackout.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42People came through and they started looting, breaking windows,
0:44:42 > 0:44:45crashing bottles and just taking everything in sight.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47That blackout was crazy.
0:44:47 > 0:44:52I think the south Bronx suffered more from that blackout than any other borough.
0:44:52 > 0:44:57We've been needlessly subjected to a night of terror
0:44:57 > 0:45:02in many communities that have been wantonly looted and burned.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05What was special, it was home, it was home.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09People had their own negative version of what they thought the Bronx was.
0:45:09 > 0:45:15The Bronx was burning, the Bronx was going to this, the Bronx had economic...social problems.
0:45:15 > 0:45:16That was home for me.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23There was really nothing to do here.
0:45:23 > 0:45:28We only had one movie theatre, which was over there, which came apart.
0:45:28 > 0:45:33We didn't have a lot of opportunities to come out in the south Bronx, that's what it was.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40Unable to go to Studio 54 and lacking any local club scene,
0:45:40 > 0:45:43young people took matters into their own hands.
0:45:47 > 0:45:53It started with the de-emphasising of music education in the school systems.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56And since so many things were taken away from the community,
0:45:56 > 0:46:01the community sort of culturally compensated for that
0:46:01 > 0:46:05with the creation of making something
0:46:05 > 0:46:08out of things that just happened to be around.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10Old turntables.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13Um, old record collections.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17Hooking systems up into street poles for wiring.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20Making art out of a wall
0:46:20 > 0:46:24and a spray can that happened to be left to the side.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29Being able to dance on some cardboard.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31MUSIC: "Good Times" by Chic
0:46:31 > 0:46:34Open-air disco parties sprung up on the streets
0:46:34 > 0:46:36and in the parks of the South Bronx.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39And the DJs who hosted them became neighbourhood stars.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43One of the first to get a reputation for doing something different
0:46:43 > 0:46:45was DJ Kool Herc.
0:46:45 > 0:46:47# Good times... #
0:46:47 > 0:46:49I was a guy that never went downtown.
0:46:49 > 0:46:54I stayed in the neighbourhood and formed a culture called hip-hop.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57I was the guy that never followed with the rest of the people.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Basically, Kool Herc was the guy who got two turntables...
0:47:01 > 0:47:03..and a system,
0:47:03 > 0:47:05came out in a big park,
0:47:05 > 0:47:07and rocked the park, know what I'm sayin'?
0:47:11 > 0:47:13It wasn't called hip-hop when I was doing it.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16It was called the "jam". "Comin' to the jam."
0:47:19 > 0:47:22The thing about Kool Herc, he played a lot of stuff.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25He was a DJ who played records you'd never hear on the radio.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28A lot of breakbeats, a lot of hot breakbeats and all that.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34"Breakbeat" was a term used for old funk records,
0:47:34 > 0:47:36where the music broke down to a bare rhythm.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39Herc would take instrumental breaks from different records
0:47:39 > 0:47:41and then mix them together non-stop.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44Other DJs soon picked up on the technique.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50I figured out that to every great song, there's a great part.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53And a lot of times,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56you know, that part could've been ten seconds.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58That really used to piss me off.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02The best part of a record is when the drummer finally gets a moment
0:48:02 > 0:48:06and the rest of the band members is just taking a coffee break -
0:48:06 > 0:48:09so why can't this be five minutes?
0:48:09 > 0:48:14So I had to figure out a way to take this particular passage of the record,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18repeat that, but also add percussive noises.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22Repeat it, and sort of do some kind of manual editing to it.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26Kinda like do things to the record that the record shoulda had.
0:48:29 > 0:48:34Guy's a scientist, goes to high school and wants to build technical things,
0:48:34 > 0:48:37and makes a mixer and stuff like that,
0:48:37 > 0:48:41and once again, it was one of those understatements of...
0:48:41 > 0:48:44inner-city black children, Hispanic children,
0:48:44 > 0:48:46that said, "We got our geniuses,
0:48:46 > 0:48:49"and people want to have the quest to become smarter
0:48:49 > 0:48:52"and have opportunities to do great things."
0:48:52 > 0:48:55And the city was basically saying, "No, nigger,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58"you're not gonna be anything more than just a, you know,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00"a little slum creature."
0:49:01 > 0:49:03And the minds and the spirits and the souls
0:49:03 > 0:49:07came up through hip-hop and said, "No, we wanna be better than that."
0:49:07 > 0:49:09HEAVY FUNK
0:49:11 > 0:49:16Hip-hop was that thing that everybody at these particular parties
0:49:16 > 0:49:19that got on the mic would at some point say.
0:49:19 > 0:49:20"To the hip, the hop,
0:49:20 > 0:49:23"the hibby-dibby-dibby-dibby hip hip-hop, you don't stop."
0:49:23 > 0:49:27And that's how you would define one of those parties
0:49:27 > 0:49:30as opposed to one of the disco parties.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34These parties were an outlet for a lot of aggressive energy...
0:49:34 > 0:49:36that was bottled up otherwise.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39It was a place where guys who were criminals,
0:49:39 > 0:49:42who wanted to prey on people that looked like them, could go.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45What better place to rob someone
0:49:45 > 0:49:49than a room full of guys wearing the same Snorkel and baseball cap.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54The violence came from members of organised gangs
0:49:54 > 0:49:57whose territorial wars were a major problem in the Bronx.
0:49:58 > 0:50:021975, '76, '77 -
0:50:02 > 0:50:06this park right here was most famous for gang activity.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10If you got into a situation with the gangs,
0:50:10 > 0:50:13they'd probably bring you here to set you off.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15It's real big, it's like Central Park.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19So if they was gonna murder you, or beat you up, or take your stuff,
0:50:19 > 0:50:20they would bring you in here.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23It takes a long time for the cops to find you in St Mary's Park.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27So most of the gangs, like the Bachelors, the Black Spades,
0:50:27 > 0:50:29the Savage Nomads,
0:50:29 > 0:50:32they used to have their gang fights right here in this park.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35BONGOES
0:50:38 > 0:50:40But one man would see the light.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44Afrika Bambaataa was a committed gang member
0:50:44 > 0:50:46until a close friend was shot dead by the NYPD.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49Inspired by Kool Herc,
0:50:49 > 0:50:51Bambaataa turned to DJing at block parties
0:50:51 > 0:50:54in an effort to end gang warfare.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58Yes, I was part of a great street gang
0:50:58 > 0:51:02and many other street gangs that I have been involved with.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06My greatest one was the Black Spades.
0:51:06 > 0:51:07The Savage Spades.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12- GRANDMASTER FLASH: - There was a lot of pain
0:51:12 > 0:51:15and a lot of distress going on in the Bronx
0:51:15 > 0:51:17with the gang thing that was going on.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19He took, like, a...
0:51:20 > 0:51:22..a huge mass of people
0:51:22 > 0:51:25that were so angry,
0:51:25 > 0:51:31and turned that nervous energy into a coalition that's now worldwide.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34You still got the Savage Nomads, the Seven Immortals and all them people.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37It's the same thing, you know. Only thing is
0:51:37 > 0:51:40they do all that crazy shit, man, dancing and all that.
0:51:40 > 0:51:45Like they be showin' on TV. Instead of fighting, they dance each other to death.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49Which is better than going out there with a .30-30 and shooting somebody.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51The gang culture faded away
0:51:51 > 0:51:54to the hip-hop culture.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57Then you started getting crews and organisations.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01Thus came... We had the Bronx River Organisation,
0:52:01 > 0:52:05that became the Organisation. The Organisation became the Zulu Nation.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08The Zulu Nation became the Almighty Zulu Nation
0:52:08 > 0:52:11and the Almighty Zulu Nation became the Universal Zulu Nation.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14Bambaataa had the wherewithal to say,
0:52:14 > 0:52:17"Music can kind of like, you know...
0:52:17 > 0:52:20"calm the savage beast," and kind of like make people say
0:52:20 > 0:52:22"Forget the drama and the beef,
0:52:22 > 0:52:23"let's kind of like...
0:52:23 > 0:52:26"have a time, cos we're kind of all here together."
0:52:26 > 0:52:28South Bronx in the house!
0:52:28 > 0:52:29Yeah!
0:52:29 > 0:52:31Is everybody in the house?
0:52:34 > 0:52:37As the nascent hip-hop scene absorbed the street gangs' energy,
0:52:37 > 0:52:40it began to flourish, and the word spread across town.
0:52:40 > 0:52:45Subway trains tagged up in the Bronx's vast train yards
0:52:45 > 0:52:47took graffiti, hip-hop's visual message,
0:52:47 > 0:52:50right into the heart of Manhattan.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53The New York art world was quick to see the potential in graffiti
0:52:53 > 0:52:55and it was soon feted as the freshest thing
0:52:55 > 0:52:57since Warhol.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05Graffiti artists like Fab Five Freddy
0:53:05 > 0:53:10became hip-hop's ambassadors for those curious to find out more - such as Blondie.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14MUSIC: "Heart Of Glass" by Blondie
0:53:14 > 0:53:19I kind of turned them on to hip-hop, took them to the Bronx,
0:53:19 > 0:53:21showed them hip-hop in the raw, in the flesh.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23And they kind of
0:53:23 > 0:53:28took me to parties and introduced me to Warhol and I met kind of the cream
0:53:28 > 0:53:29of the downtown arts scene.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31# ..Only to find... #
0:53:31 > 0:53:35Of all the downtown bands, Blondie had had the most success.
0:53:35 > 0:53:41These so-called punks had even hit number one with a disco song - Heart Of Glass.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43And having assimilated one New York musical form,
0:53:43 > 0:53:46Blondie were keen to sample another.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50# ..Soon found out, I was losing my mind
0:53:51 > 0:53:54# Seemed like the real thing, but I was so blind... #
0:53:54 > 0:53:59Fab Five Freddy would always come to my parties over in the Bronx and he had always said to us,
0:53:59 > 0:54:01"Man, I'm gonna bring Blondie up here."
0:54:01 > 0:54:04And we all thought he was full of shit,
0:54:04 > 0:54:08because at that time, she had Call Me, all these songs...
0:54:09 > 0:54:11- # Call me! - Call me
0:54:11 > 0:54:15# I'm alive Call me, call me any, any... #
0:54:15 > 0:54:20Well, in '77, Freddy brought us up to the South Bronx
0:54:20 > 0:54:25to this big hip-hop event and it had already been in full swing,
0:54:25 > 0:54:27and it really parallels the downtown rock scene
0:54:27 > 0:54:31and I called it a destructivist, reconstructionist form
0:54:31 > 0:54:35where they're pulling things apart and playing it back together again,
0:54:35 > 0:54:40taking their records, doing the scratching, all that stuff.
0:54:40 > 0:54:45Similar to us pulling apart the old forms of rock'n'roll and putting them back together again.
0:54:46 > 0:54:51The majority of my audience was, you know, blacks, Spanish, Latinos,
0:54:51 > 0:54:56and there was this one blonde head coming through the crowd, you know?
0:54:56 > 0:54:58Freddy was... "Fun, huh?"
0:54:58 > 0:55:01And er...
0:55:01 > 0:55:03She came, and she said, "You know something?
0:55:03 > 0:55:07"I watched you, and it was so amazing watching you play the turntables,"
0:55:07 > 0:55:11She says, "I'm gonna write a song about you."
0:55:11 > 0:55:13Of course, I gave her a smile,
0:55:13 > 0:55:16like, "Yeah, right!"
0:55:16 > 0:55:18And erm, I guess their way of helping
0:55:18 > 0:55:20was they made this record called Rapture
0:55:20 > 0:55:22which mentioned me on the record.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25They said, "Fab Five Freddy told me everybody's fly."
0:55:25 > 0:55:29"There's a DJ named Flash, and he's the fastest..."
0:55:29 > 0:55:32RAPPING: # Fab Five Freddy told me everybody's fly
0:55:32 > 0:55:34# DJ spinning, I said, "My my"
0:55:34 > 0:55:36# Flash is fast, Flash is cool
0:55:36 > 0:55:38# Francois c'est pas Flashe non due
0:55:38 > 0:55:40# And you don't stop, sure shot. #
0:55:40 > 0:55:43You know, Debbie just took all that stuff
0:55:43 > 0:55:47and spit it out in the rap that she did for Rapture,
0:55:47 > 0:55:49which was probably the first time
0:55:49 > 0:55:52most people heard this idea of rapping, you know,
0:55:52 > 0:55:55"What is this?" And it was a huge record.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58# And then you're in demand for more
0:55:58 > 0:56:01# You go out at night eating cars
0:56:01 > 0:56:03# You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns too
0:56:03 > 0:56:05# Mercurys and Subaru
0:56:05 > 0:56:06# And you don't stop... #
0:56:06 > 0:56:08Rapture is really an homage.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11It wasn't intended as an actual rap song.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15But still, the guy from Wu Tang told me it was the first rap song
0:56:15 > 0:56:19he ever heard, so that's kind of a mind-fuck, you know?
0:56:19 > 0:56:23# They're stepping lightly
0:56:23 > 0:56:31# Hang each night in rapture... #
0:56:32 > 0:56:37Rapture's blend of New York influences went far beyond the five boroughs,
0:56:37 > 0:56:40reaching the American number one spot in '81.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44The song took hip-hop out of New York and into the wider world,
0:56:44 > 0:56:47where it would become today's biggest selling genre.
0:56:47 > 0:56:52# And it's finger-popping Twenty-four-hour shopping
0:56:52 > 0:56:57# In rapture... #
0:56:57 > 0:57:01The song stood at the pinnacle of a golden era of street music
0:57:01 > 0:57:07in which New York's urban neighbourhoods gave birth to hip-hop, disco and punk.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14There was some element of the hardcore,
0:57:14 > 0:57:19of survivors in a frontier town.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24The fact that you could walk two blocks in either direction
0:57:24 > 0:57:26and be in an entirely different musical world.
0:57:26 > 0:57:31It was a great place to be creative
0:57:31 > 0:57:35and to realise that you were beyond a sense of rule.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38Just think about this. We're talking about people going into a park -
0:57:38 > 0:57:40a city school yard or a park -
0:57:40 > 0:57:46with huge speakers...and you know, dancers, and blasting music.
0:57:46 > 0:57:48That would never happen now.
0:57:48 > 0:57:51That's a quality-of-life crime.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55MUSIC: "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash
0:57:55 > 0:57:58Manhattan has really fucked itself. It's shot itself in the foot,
0:57:58 > 0:58:01by making it impossible for young people to move here.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04It's really, really hard to move into New York these days.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08Erm, so that's really created a big difference.
0:58:10 > 0:58:16And there's no place today for the last remaining symbol of '70s New York, CBGB.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20It shut its doors for the last time in October 2006.
0:58:21 > 0:58:24They could have, like, built around a church.
0:58:24 > 0:58:26They could have put the condos
0:58:26 > 0:58:30and all the new, hip gentry that's come into the fucking area
0:58:30 > 0:58:31would have been happy
0:58:31 > 0:58:34to live in a very expensive condo over the CBGB's museum.
0:58:35 > 0:58:38What's happening to New York?
0:58:38 > 0:58:42Look around. Try to get an apartment.
0:58:42 > 0:58:46# Don't push me Cos I'm close to the edge
0:58:46 > 0:58:51# I'm tryin' not to lose my head... #
0:58:51 > 0:58:54These days, New York is safe, clean and rich,
0:58:54 > 0:58:59but the golden era of street music and making something out of nothing
0:58:59 > 0:59:01seems to have gone forever.
0:59:01 > 0:59:03# Crazy lady, livin' in a bag
0:59:03 > 0:59:06# Eatin' out of garbage pails Used to be a fag-hag
0:59:06 > 0:59:07# Said she danced the tango
0:59:07 > 0:59:08# Skipped the light fandango
0:59:08 > 0:59:10# A zircon princess, seemed to've lost her senses
0:59:10 > 0:59:13# Down at the peep-show Watchin' all the creeps
0:59:13 > 0:59:15# So she can tell her stories to the girls back home
0:59:15 > 0:59:17# She went to the city and got so, so, so ditty,
0:59:17 > 0:59:20# She had to get a pimp She couldn't make it on her own
0:59:20 > 0:59:25# Don't push me cos I'm close to the edge
0:59:25 > 0:59:28# I'm tryin' not to lose my head... #