![]() ![]() In the 1980s, searing Hardcore boiled in the garages and rec centers of the island, only to be trumped in the 1990s by Greenlawn’s most famous export - Mariah Carey. Moe Tucker, Sterling Morrison and Lou Reed - misfit Long Islanders - straddled an increasingly thin musical line between the gutter and glam. While Billy Joel is, perhaps, Long Island’s most famous musical souvenir, he also obscures the great weirdness of the truth. But critics sniffed out this treachery and punished him for his entire career over it. Long Islanders claimed him and adored him. He wanted to exorcise that guy so he could be George Gershwin or Paul McCartney in the big city. But Billy Joel didn’t want to be the piano man from Hicksville. But Billy Joel signified the elevated version of the story - the “Movin’ Out” version. Until the 1990s, he was the most popular artist born on the Island. To many, Billy Joel is the embodiment of Long Island’s music. It is this ethos - fast talking, charming and aggressive but also very needy and gaudy - that made for high musical variance. ![]() Because, as much as it is a geographic entity, it is more so a mindset. Even if you include those who do eventually leave, one hundred percent of Long Islanders stay in Long Island. The gravitational pull, however, ensures that the actual number who get out is much smaller. A recent study found that over 70% of young Long Islanders want to make their future far away from their home. It has also always been desperate - for wealth, recognition and exceptionalism. It was a generation behind its more urban neighbors and determined to be great on its own terms. ![]() Again, there is something in the music that correlated to the socio-economic trend.īut Long Island does not abide. Queens, started with Simon and Garfunkel but then, as population shifted and opportunity regressed, gave birth to The Ramones and, years later, to Chuck D. Brooklyn, as it ascended, produced Neil Diamond in one generation and The Beastie Boys in the next one. The music of Long Island, for instance, is wholly unlike that of Manhattan’s outer boroughs. This tectonic change - from open and quiet to dense and loud - created a petri dish for odd cultural experiments and mutant outcomes. Within a decade, the natives were overrun by an ambitious, but parochial, generation of new homeowners. Nevertheless, these suburbs photographed beautifully and the new lots sold quickly. Many of the communities were insular and all-white. With this migration, came a booming middle class, the roots of tribalism and not so latent racism. And, soon enough, droves of upwardly mobile immigrant families - Irish, then Italian, then Jewish - left their first island for their second one. It’s scenery and proximity were unmistakable. Underneath the natural beauty and unnatural glamour, however, is where Long Island gets very weird.Īfter the second World War, real estate developers who predicted the Baby Boom began to pounce on Long Island. In the summer, dilettantes, investment bankers and everyone in between make the trek out east for the beaches - yes - but also for the proximity to yachts and celebrities. The trappings of wealth are still evident, especially as you travel further east, to the Hamptons. But the water that runs through those suburbs is completely full of shit.įor decades, Long Island was considered a tony outpost of Manhattan, defined by mansions and littered with fishermen. The island’s surrounding beaches are among the most beautiful in the country, if not the entire world. But that gravity is in conflict with a “you think you’re better than me?” posture that requires the natives to stand their ground. Long Islanders have a genetic call that pulls them towards bridges and tunnels. It’s only a few miles away from the city, but it may as well be another planet. Most people can’t distinguish it culturally from Queens, or Brooklyn, or Manhattan, for that matter. Unless you’ve actually lived there, it can be hard to describe. ![]()
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