NY77: THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL

It’s hard to believe it today, but only 40-some years ago Manhattan was a cultural capital. For about nine years the place churned out some of North America’s greatest bands and artists at a staggering clip. This period of intense creativity was also marked by crime, violence, and chaos–the NYPD was understaffed, the subways unsafe, and most of the LES was still a junky wasteland. That being said, artists could actually afford the rent back in those days. Shit, Patti Smith says she ate on 50 cents a day. No single year better exemplifies this tumultuous and productive period than 1977–the year of Suicide and citywide blackouts. It’s hard to find a better primer on this period than NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell, which is why we’re linking you to the whole G-D movie right here: