Over three decades ago, a band from New York City released a song that I think symbolizes what Sharon Zukin talks about in the chapter “How Brooklyn Became Cool.” In 1986, the Beastie Boys released the song No Sleep Till Brooklyn. Most people know that the song name is actually a reference to No Sleep til’ Hammersmith by Motörhead, but not many people know what Hammersmith is. According to the Wikipedia article on Hammersmith, it originally was an industrial site home to many factories and industries. Even its name shows that this district was originally a major hub for manufacturing. Now however, Hammersmith is a well-known district in London that’s home to the Lyric Theatre and Hammersmith Apollo concert hall. It is also home to many café, bars and gastropubs.
Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith District in London.
Picture taken from the Wikipedia Article.
Does this sound familiar? This is exactly what Zukin said happened to Williamsburg. According to Zukin, Williamsburg was one of the most industrial sites in Brooklyn in the 70s and now it is home to cafes and restaurants that serve bagels and Middle Eastern food (Zukin 42 and 49). The origins of both Hammersmith and Williamsburg despite being in two different parts of the world, have had similar beginnings and outcomes, and the Beastie Boys noticed this and therefore made the reference to the song by Motörhead.
The name may also be a reference to the saying that New York is the City that never sleeps. However, if that’s the case why didn’t they change the word Brooklyn to NYC or any borough, especially Manhattan. Manhattan is known throughout the world as a symbol of New York and is home to its most famous landmarks such as The Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and the Flat Iron Building. Even New York’s famous nickname, The Empire State, reflects the importance of Manhattan. Yet, the Beastie Boys still said Brooklyn. Zukin would probably like the idea of them using Brooklyn instead of Manhattan because of the idea of authenticity. Zukin mentions that many writers such as Walt Whitman and Truman Capote chose Brooklyn over Manhattan because of how “real each borough seemed’’. In Manhattan, everything seemed so artificial and fake, while in Brooklyn everything seemed more natural (Zukin 40). More people knew each other in Brooklyn than in Manhattan where they hardly knew your name. This shows that the Beastie Boys understood the importance of Brooklyn and what it represented and therefore decided that it needed to be specifically mentioned.
Some of the lyrics of the song are also a microcosm of the major ideas discussed before. One of the lyrics is “My job ain’t a job It’s a damn good time.” This represents the change that Zukin mentions that happens in Brooklyn specifically Williamsburg. As mentioned before, Williamsburg and New York in general used be major industrialized centers filled with many factories. But many factors caused them to move away from this and become filled with people from the creative class. The purpose of the creative class, coined by Richard Florida, was to fill New York with people that will innovate and create new things. These people were usually in the tech sector, the sciences or even the arts. These people were supposed to introduce new life into New York and the way they did that wasn’t by thinking of their job as a chore, but as something to be proud about. They should do it because they want to, not because they are forced to, and the Beastie Boys encapsulate this idea through their song.
Questions:
- What piece of media do you think encapsulates Zukin’s ideas of Brooklyn?
- Do you know how of any places that went through the same changes Williamsburg and Hammersmith went through?
- When you think of New York, what’s the first place you think of?
One thought on “No Sleep Till Brooklyn and Specifically Brooklyn”
I love this post because it reminds of this really great interview with Mike D. – he talks about raising kids in the city when they were growing up (“And yet the families that did stay here instead of move to the suburbs had a commitment to being here and letting their kids explore”) and the realities that you mention in your post: “This city is just so fucking expensive and for so long there was a way for culture to exist in its own, perverse, self-governed way. That’s largely gone now. You can’t have a studio here, the cost is so great. And the cost of that has been to box out culture.” In a way, I think the space carved out by the Beastie Boys – cultural products that are distinctly New York and speak as NYers to a general audience – is now occupied by Desus and Mero. (Thank goodness Wu-Tang Clan is still here to hold it down!)