Ramones
They compressed punk into 2 minutes and 3 chords — nothing more needed.
Velvet Underground
Andy Warhol's house band — they merged music with art before anyone else.
Talking Heads
New Wave meets art-rock — cerebral, funky, and endlessly inventive.
Jay-Z
Marcy Projects to mogul — the blueprint of modern hip-hop ambition.
Anthrax
One of the Big Four of thrash — New York's answer to California's metal scene.
Type O Negative
Gothic doom metal from Brooklyn — slow, heavy, romantic, and utterly unique.
Notorious B.I.G.
Brooklyn's greatest — his flow and storytelling remain the gold standard.
LCD Soundsystem
James Murphy's dance-punk meditation — All My Friends is a masterpiece.
Beastie Boys
White boys who earned hip-hop credibility and then transcended it entirely.
A$AP Rocky
Harlem's fashion-forward rapper — TESTING pushed hip-hop into experimental territory.
Patti Smith
The punk poet laureate — Horses fused Rimbaud with rock and roll.
Television
Marquee Moon's guitar interplay is the most beautiful thing to come out of CBGB.
Interpol
Post-punk revival royalty — Turn on the Bright Lights is a landmark record.
Simon & Garfunkel
Queens-born folk-pop duo of extraordinary harmony.
The Strokes
2000s garage-rock revival's defining New York band.
Vampire Weekend
Columbia-formed Afropop-inflected indie-pop innovators.
A Tribe Called Quest
Queens jazz-rap pioneers who redefined hip-hop's sound.
Wu-Tang Clan
Staten Island's sprawling, martial-arts-inspired hip-hop dynasty.
Sonic Youth
No wave-descended noise-rock institution.
Nas
Queensbridge's most revered lyricist, Illmatic's author.
Chic
Nile Rodgers' disco-funk architects.
The New York music scene
New York (USA) is represented on the Genesis of Sound map by 21 bands and artists across 6 genres. CBGB legend, hip-hop's cradle, thrash metal pioneer, punk revolution. Every street has its own frequency.
The most represented genres are hip-hop (7), rock (5) and indie (3). The scene also includes punk, metal and electronic.
The earliest year on record is Simon & Garfunkel (1956) and the latest is A$AP Rocky (2011); the busiest decade on the map is the 1970s with 6 acts.
Notable acts to start with: Ramones, Velvet Underground, Talking Heads and Jay-Z. Every entry links to Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube searches.
Nearby music scenes
- Newark New Jersey, USA · 15 km
- Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA · 129 km
- Boston Massachusetts, USA · 307 km
- Washington DC USA · 328 km
- Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, USA · 507 km
- Montréal Canada · 535 km
Questions about New York music
What music is New York known for?
New York is known for rock, electronic, metal, punk, hip-hop, jazz, pop music. Notable acts include Ramones, Velvet Underground, Talking Heads.
How many bands are from New York?
The Genesis of Sound map features 21 bands and artists from New York, spanning punk, rock, hip-hop, metal, electronic, indie.