Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York that Changed Music Forever

(Paperback)

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Five Years in New York that Changed Music Forever - 'a must-read for any music fan' (Boston Globe) Crime was everywhere, the government was broke and the city's infrastructure was collapsing, but between 1974 and 1978 virtually all forms of music were being recreated in New York City- disco and salsa, the loft jazz scene and the Minimalist classical composers, hip hop and punk. Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith arrived from New Jersey; Grandmaster Flash transformed the turntable into a musical instrument; Steve Reich and Philip Glass shared an apartment as they experimented with composition; the New York Dolls and Talking Heads blew away the grungy clubs; Weather Report and Herbie Hancock created jazz-rock; and Bob Dylan returned with Blood on the Tracks.

Reviews

Can literature change your life Yes ... along came Will Hermes, who cost me several hundred pounds on iTunes and ruptured my relationship with guitars -- Nick Hornby * Believer magazine *
It was the best of times, it was the best of places: Will Hermes captures the creative incandescence of New York in those five years that changed music -- Richard Williams
Brings depth and discernment and an eye for odd detail, making his book an essential work of cultural history -- Luc Sante

Author Bio

Will Hermes was born in Queens, in the city of which he writes. He is a senior critic for Rolling Stone, and also writes for the New York Times and the Village Voice. He was co-editor of SPIN- 20 Years of Alternative Music.