“This young woman coming from Detroit to New York to make it, and make it she did”
New York, New Music: 1980-1986 is a just-opened museum exhibition on view at the Museum of the City of New York, exploring the peak years of the Big Apple’s musical renaissance which changed the local cultural landscape and eventually found its way to a global stage, the NY Post reports.
During the early 1980s, New York experienced a community-driven musical renaissance – the Museum’s website explains. The result was an era of creativity and genre-defying performance that stands as one of the most influential in musical and cultural history.
A wide range of music, from punk to pop to hip-hop to salsa to jazz, mixed in a dynamic arts scene that stretched across clubs and bars, theaters, parks, and art spaces. Together, they provided fertile ground for a musical revolution – one that continues to influence pop culture to this day.
Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of MTV, New York, New Music: 1980–1986 will highlight diverse musical artists – from Run DMC to the Talking Heads, from Madonna to John Zorn – as a lens to explore the broader music and cultural scene, including the innovative media outlets, venues, record labels, fashion and visual arts centered in New York City in these years.
One of the 14 featured moments in the exhibition is Madonna‘s debut performance at the Danceteria on 16 December, 1982.
Sean Corcoran, the exhibition’s curator explains:
It speaks to the idea of this young woman coming from Detroit to New York to make it, and make it she did.
New York, New Music: 1980-1986 at the Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave., at 103rd Street – MCNY.org
