Relevant Book: Life and Death in New York; 1980-83 by Tim Lawrence

Tim Lawrence is a Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of East London and author of three books; Life and Death being his latest, preceding the monumental Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture 1970-1979 and one I am yet to read, Hold On To Your Dreams. With primary focus on the music and scenes that evolved from post war America, hyper specifically Dance music emanating from New York parties and nightclubs.

Lawrence examines three crucial years in the development of specific genres such as Post-Disco, Post-Punk, Nu-Wave and Hip-Hop, depicting the overlooked synthesis between all the underground scenes. Most historians when writing about their particular genre neglect the unified nature of the scenes, instead analysing them as singular movements. Which I feel is a common occurrence within the literary Audio Canon (although completely understandable) for sound evokes feelings of extreme passion, causing listeners to live within an echo chamber of personal preference. Lawrence guides the reader to a more contemporary view of New York, arguing that a combined sense of place, fight for injustices and historical contexts helped develop or destroy each respective scenes. Life and Death is kaedescopic in scale, offering the reader a highly factual account of three years, constructed from interviews, newspaper sources, audio documents, mixes, magazine articles etc.

My personal interest in DJ culture led me to discover Tim Lawrence’ work, originally intending to find a comprehensive account on the birth of House Music in Chicago, not some biased re-telling from the Acid scene. Like Lawrence, who also set out to write the very book I wished to read, he unearthed an untold history of dance music, a mere legend or tale kept alive by the ageing DJs of today. Places such as the The Sanctuary, The Loft, The Gallery and the Paradise Garage are mythic within the canon of American dance music, but the writing on them is non-existent. In my opinion Lawrence acts as modern day Cecil Sharp or say the Brothers Grimm, weaving the historical and the fantastical, giving voice to the people who previously went un-heard.