It all begins in a dingy loft on the fringes of Manhattan: a platinum-blonde artist with controversial talents, a German vocalist with the voice of an angel harboring a heavy secret, and a band that flat-out refuses to sound like anything known or recognized before. Since that night, the Big Apple has never stopped shaping the music world far beyond the shores of the Hudson River.
From CBGB and the experimental downtown scene of the seventies to the garage revival of the new millennium, and straight through to the Brooklyn sphere of influence as we know it today, this city of a thousand faces never ceases to amaze. It possesses a unique ability to break bands that are increasingly creative and avant-garde, all sharing the same DNA: urgency, attitude, and a sound that just hits differently here than anywhere else.
Six bands. Six decades, Asphalt and Fuzz.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
Decades: 1960s–1970s
Genre: Art rock, avant-garde, experimental rock
Best album: The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
Best Tracks: Heroin, Venus in Furs, Pale Blue Eyes
TALKING HEADS
Decades: 1970s–1980s
Genre: Post-punk, new wave, art rock
Best album: Remain in Light (1980)
Best Tracks: Psycho Killer, Once in a Lifetime, And She Was
SONIC YOUTH
Decade: 1980s–1990s
Genre: Noise rock, alternative rock, no wave
Best album: Daydream Nation (1988)
Best Tracks: Teen Age Riot, Kool Thing, Dirty Boots
THE STROKES
Decades: 2000s–2010s
Genre: Indie rock, garage rock
Best album: Is This It (2001)
Best Tracks: Last Nite, Reptilia, Someday
PARQUET COURTS
Decades: 2010s–2020s
Genre: Post-punk, garage rock
Best album: Wide Awake! (2018)
Best Tracks: Total Football, Stoned and Starving, Master of My Craft
GEESE
Decade: 2020s–Today
Genre: Art rock, indie rock, post-punk
Best album: Getting Killed (2025)
Best Tracks: Au Pays du Cocaine, Cowboy Nudes, Taxes
