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Will Hermes

Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever Hardcover – November 8, 2011

by Will Hermes (Author)

148 ratings

3.9 on Goodreads

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Punk rock and hip-hop. Disco and salsa. The loft jazz scene and the downtown composers known as Minimalists. In the mid-1970s, New York City was a laboratory where all the major styles of modern music were reinvented--all at once, from one block to the next, by musicians who knew, admired, and borrowed from one another. Crime was everywhere, the government was broke, and the city's infrastructure was collapsing. But rent was cheap, and the possibilities for musical exploration were limitless.

Love Goes to Buildings on Fire is the first book to tell the full story of the era's music scenes and the phenomenal and surprising ways they intersected. From New Year's Day 1973 to New Year's Eve 1977, the book moves panoramically from post-Dylan Greenwich Village, to the arson-scarred South Bronx barrios where salsa and hip-hop were created, to the Lower Manhattan lofts where jazz and classical music were reimagined, to ramshackle clubs like CBGBs and The Gallery, where rock and dance music were hot-wired for a new generation. As they remade the music, the musicians at the center of the book invented themselves: Willie Colón and the Fania All-Stars renting Yankee Stadium to take salsa to the masses, New Jersey locals Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith claiming the jungleland of Manhattan as their own, Grandmaster Flash transforming the turntable into a musical instrument, David Byrne and Talking Heads proving that rock music "ain't no foolin' around." Will Hermes was there--venturing from his native Queens to the small dark rooms where the revolution was taking place--and in Love Goes to Buildings on Fire he captures the creativity, drive, and full-out lust for life of the great New York musicians of those years, who knew that the music they were making would change the world.

Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Faber & Faber
Publication date

November 8, 2011
Dimensions

6.25 x 1.5 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0865479801
ISBN-13

978-0865479807
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Editorial Reviews

Review

A fantastic journey through New York's 1970s underground music scene.
--Booklist (starred review)

"A fascinating book that covers not only the new rock music of the day, but looks back at New York between 1973 and the end of 1977, a time when hip-hop was being birthed, salsa was finding its voice, the avant-garde scene was being heard, and the new loft jazz scene was being born."
-Bob Boilen, NPR's All Songs Considered

"Love Goes to Bldgs on Fire by @WilliamHermes is as fun & insightful as that other 1970s NYC classic, Jonathan Mahler's Bronx is Burning."
--Hugo Lindgren (New York Times Magazine) via Twitter

Although the 1970s appeared to be a musical wasteland (remember Debby Boone?), senior Rolling Stone critic Hermes reminds us forcefully and refreshingly in this breathtaking, panoramic portrait of five years (1973-1977) of that decade that music in New York City was alive, flourishing, and kicking out the jams.
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Hermes's attitude, sharp ear and smart big-picture view turn what could have been a small book into something special. A hip, clever, informative look at an unjustifiably dismissed musical era that will have readers scouring iTunes for the perfect accompanying soundtrack."
--Kirkus Review

From the Author

"(4 stars) The first book to trace the parallel ascents of every sound born in the city in that dense time--not just punk, disco and hip-hop but salsa, loft jazz, and downtown minimalism... Rich in details and laced with the author's own musical memories, this tells the sonic tale of a city at a low point that finds its creative peak."
-Mojo magazine UK

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Faber & Faber; First Edition (November 8, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0865479801
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0865479807
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.5 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #938,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,444 in Music History & Criticism (Books)
- #3,262 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences
- #19,345 in U.S. State & Local History

Customer Reviews:
148 ratings

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Will Hermes

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Will Hermes writes about music and pop culture for Rolling Stone, The New York Times and other publications, and is a regular contributor to National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

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3 star		8%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Soulboogiealex

Tying the Knots

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 22, 2013

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I’ve often felt that in the mainstream rock press mainly ignored the advent of Hip Hop and Disco and overstated the importance of Punk Rock. The cultural significance of Hip Hop and Disco often found little appreciation with writers on popular culture. Only in recent years has Rolling Stone magazine begun to take Hip Hop serious for example, a mere 40 years after its conception.

Will Hermes book does a lot to place Hip Hop and Disco in the proper context. Not only does he seem to have a fond appreciation of the genres, he places them against a political and social economical backdrop that does a lot in explaining why the genres would grow as big as they did. Such insights were long overdue in writings about popular culture.

But the book even goes further than that. Will Hermes restores Bruce Springsteen’s place in the early seventies Rock and Punk scene. Because Springsteen became an act of mega proportions it is easy to forget how close he was to acts like the Tuff Darts, the Dictators and the Heartbreakers early in his career when he played the same joints as the Ramones and Patti Smith.

Hermes also analyses parallel developments in classical music, Jazz and Latin-American music. Minimalism seems to have been a common trend across the board as a response to the dire economical times.

Will Hermes often writes form the perspective as a fan, tells about his own experiences seeing some of the now legendary acts when they were just coming up, thus adding a contagious flavour to the book. But he also seems to have gone to great lengths to familiarize himself with the genres that did not necessarily play an important part in the soundtrack of his youth.

The book portraits a full picture of an era without coming of too academic. Though the book comes off as a bit fragmentary at times I applaud the author in how he avoids creating connections where there are none, but leaves the reader to discover the common thread. Will Hermes has managed an enthusiastic but to the point style, which left me curious for music I would not have considered listening to before reading this book. I highly recommend reading Love Goes to Buildings on Fire with a little help from Spotify, mister Hermes and the music will take you on a trip through the Big Apple that by now has (sadly) disappeared.

7 people found this helpful

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Whit

Wonderful Detail on an Intense Moment in Pop Music

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 21, 2015

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I bought this at the end (I hope!) of a long infirmity caused by a herniated disc. It's featured in a Nick Hornby book; Hornby suggests it with the warning that the reader might buy a bunch of music as a result. Good advice; good warning.

Hermes' knowledge is encyclopedic, and his ear for detail positively overwhelming. Set lists are laid out. Short movies are described in detail. Addresses and hotel room numbers are recollected. Amp and turntable cartridge numbers are cited. At some points, you think, good gracious, just STOP. But what points? How do I know what I want but someone else doesn't? (I skipped through most of the stuff about the jazz, because I know nothing about it. I ate the punk stuff with a tiny spoon and scraped out the bottom of the battered iron bowl.

I did indeed regularly launch songs and music to hear what I was reading. I listened to Latin music I've never heard before (even if you have) and relistened to punk that I have (RAMONES). The detail in the early days of rap is gorgeous, even if the DJ names blurred after a while.

Omnivorous music fans who, like me, are just old enough to have missed this era and who would be delighted to be led through it by a thoughtful, passionate guide will find it valuable.

13 people found this helpful

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Charles Vosganian

Love Goes to Music!!!!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 21, 2021

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Amazingly well written and fun book about music of the early 70’s in New York City. Small tailored vignettes that make me wish for a time machine. Such fun to read and then listen to the music on stream. Or, if you’re an old dude like me, play the record!
Awesome. Highly recommended. The story of that broken bankrupt violent and confused place being an incubator for all things creative made NYC the hero of the strife. I was sad when I finished it.

One person found this helpful

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gtra1n

Everything but what matters

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 12, 2013

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"Love Goes to Buildings on Fire" is a social history of music, of a sort. Except it's not a history, it's a set of anecdotes laid out consecutively through a five year time period that, as the subtitle indicates, changed the world of music. Not a bad premise at all, considering that the period saw the advent of punk music, the repetitive minimalism of Steve Reich and Philip Glass, and the creative melding of roots-jazz, fusion and free music in the loft-based jazz avant-garde. Hermes tells you when and where people played, and what records they put out, seasoned with some of his personal experiences, but tells you almost nothing about the music.

It's a problem for what purports to be a music history. But then this is music history Rolling Stone style, where it's about who know who and who slept with who and what dugs they took. You'll never know about any developments of rhythm, structure, harmony, anything, because pop-music critics like Hermes, whether they may have good 'taste' or not, don't know how music is made, how musicians listen and work together. So while you can read about so-and-so musician playing such-and-such music, you have no idea what the quality was, how they got there and why it matters. His knowledge of pop music is decent enough, he has heard enough of minimalism to appreciate it, he can't hear jazz and his coverage of latin music is dutiful and seems mostly about music he's never heard.

The book actually makes little attempt to connect any of these different musics, except in the obvious and unsurprising affinity between artists like Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith. There is a forced epilogue that all of a sudden makes and argument for aesthetic cross-fertilization, but it's nothing more than an assertion and, in a city and era when so many musicians were moving between pop, jazz and latin, he has absolutely no example of ideas moving between those genres. It's interesting enough to read as it goes along, but leaves no impression at the close.

16 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

david hinton

New York, New York.......

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 4, 2014

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Overview of the NY music scenes in the 70's punk/new wave , salsa, Reich and Glass , Jazz and all points in between , Springsteen being an adopted native. From punch-ups and squabbles to the state of a certain gig's toilets many bases are linked and covered and by the end of the book you'll want to investigate people like Meredith Monk and Reuben Blades. Yes, Talking Heads feature prominently as do Lou Read and his missus . The only thing possibly missing is the link with poetry and literature (other than Ginsberg and Burroughs), comedy/stand up and the visual arts (other than Andy Warhol) . A book to keep near the bedside for quick browsing that can last an hour or two , utterly reccomended

mark broadbent

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 18, 2016

Verified Purchase

AWESOME S***

K. I. Snoep

Unmissable! You are right there in the 70's and ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 8, 2015

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Unmissable! You are right there in the 70's and you will be searching for all the tracks it mentiones that you don't know yet.

One person found this helpful

T. Satchwell

So Good They named it Twice

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 21, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is a really interesting book...I guess it was quite different to what I expected. I'm a big fan of ..I guess late 70's Punk,New Wave ...whatever tag you want to apply.
So I thought this would cover my usual points of interest....Talking Heads/Ramones/Patti Smith/Television and Richard Hell..Noo York Dolls.
Well you get this..but you also get so much more about what else was going on musically in New York....loads of stuff running along in parallell...like the Disco and latin stuff
Plus...the birth and development of rap and graffiti culture.
Lets just say my mind was opened..!!...an amazing amount happened in such a short space of time...and I was lucky enough to be a teenager at this time..Ok....so I wasn't hanging out in the Bronx..
more like the bus stop in a small market town in Shropshire...!! but music was soooo....exciting for me back then..
A great read...

10 people found this helpful

Karim Melaouah

From NY with love

Reviewed in Italy 🇮🇹 on May 30, 2021

Verified Purchase

A very detailed reportage of five crucial years in the history of new york music, when the city was a real melting pot and the yuppies were still getting drunk in some ivy league fraternity. The tone is vibrant as the various music described and clearly it’s written by someone who was there and lived those marvelous (and at the same time very tough) years.

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