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Kembrew McLeod
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The Downtown Pop Underground: New York City and the Literary Punks, Renegade Artists, DIY Filmmakers, Mad Playwrights, and Rock 'N' Roll Glitter Queens Who Revolutionized Culture Kindle Edition

by Kembrew McLeod (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 out of 5 stars 64 ratings
“McLeod’s deft and generous book tells of a constellation of avant-garde squatters, divas, and dissidents who reinvented the world.” —Jonathan Lethem, New York Times-bestselling author of Motherless Brooklyn

The 1960s to early ’70s was a pivotal time for American culture, and New York City was ground zero for seismic shifts in music, theater, art, and filmmaking. The Downtown Pop Underground takes a kaleidoscopic tour of Manhattan during this era and shows how deeply interconnected all the alternative worlds and personalities were that flourished in the basement theaters, dive bars, concert halls, and dingy tenements within one square mile of each other. Author Kembrew McLeod links the artists, writers, and performers who created change, and while some of them didn’t become everyday names, others, like Patti Smith, Andy Warhol, and Debbie Harry, did become icons. Ambitious in scope and scale, the book is fueled by the actual voices of many of the key characters who broke down the entrenched divisions between high and low, gay and straight, and art and commerce—and changed the cultural landscape of not just the city but the world.

“The story of underground artists of the 1960s and ’70s, an amalgam of bustling radical creativity and fearless groundbreaking work in art, music, and theater.” —Tim Robbins

“Breathes new fire into a familiar history and is a must-read for anyone who wants to know how American bohemia really happened.” —Ann Powers, critic, NPR Music

“Honors those who were at the forefront of a movement that transformed our understandings of sexuality and artistic freedom.” —Lily Tomlin
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  1. Print length
    590 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    ABRAMS Press
  4. Publication date
    October 23, 2018
  5. File size
    14.9 MB
  6. Page Flip
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  7. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“McLeod’s deft and generous book tells of a constellation of avant-garde squatters, divas, and dissidents who reinvented the world—a story which comes to seem more improbable the more meticulously he records it. Through a panoply of witnessing voices, he channels a recent past so familiar we risk taking it for granted.”―Jonathan Lethem, author of The Fortress of Solitude

“Downtown New York in the latter half of twentieth century was so much more than a Warhol print and a CBGB-OMFUG T-shirt. McLeod tracked down more than 100 denizens of that freaky bohemian milieu to tell the stories most people don’t know. The Downtown Pop Underground breathes new fire into a familiar history and is a must-read for anyone who wants to know how American bohemia really happened.”―Ann Powers, critic, NPR Music

“The Downtown Pop Underground honors those who were at the forefront of a movement that transformed our understandings of sexuality and artistic freedom.”―Lily Tomlin

“I love this book. It’s filled with insight about a very important group of artists making blueprints for the avant-garde. They were so far ahead of the mainstream curve that they created new shapes out of the curve, revealing cracks in the yoke of custom and convention. McLeod has done us all a favor by focusing on the lives of these fabulous futurists and oddball observers who looked at life and showed us that reality is absurdity dressed in a three-piece suit.”―Jane Wagner, author of The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe

“Kembrew McLeod manages a Herculean task: mapping the vast spider web of intersecting trajectories in pre-careerist downtown New York. He makes it plain how much of the action occurred in theater, and how much of the culture we owe to gay men and women.”―Luc Sante, author of Low Life and The Other Paris

“The Downtown Pop Underground tells the story of underground artists of the 1960s and ’70s, an amalgam of bustling radical creativity and fearless groundbreaking work in art, music, and theater . . . Having walked these streets as a child, I can attest to the visceral accuracy of the book's portrayal of a time when artists affected a true change in the way that we view our culture and ourselves.” ―Tim Robbins

"An important addition to the cultural history of New York and America."―Booklist (Starred)

“The author covers plenty of ground smoothly and organically, immersing readers in this exciting period.”

―Library Journal

“This is a fascinating look at a long-gone New York City art scene.”―Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Kembrew McLeod is an award-winning author of several books whose writing has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Slate, and Salon. A professor of communication studies at the University of Iowa, he is the recipient of a recent NEH Public Scholar fellowship to support this project.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07BTFW2W9
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ ABRAMS Press; Illustrated edition (October 23, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 23, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 14.9 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 590 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 64 ratings

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Kembrew McLeod

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4.6 out of 5 stars
64 global ratings

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new york at it's best
5 out of 5 stars
new york at it's best
solid overview of artsy activities in new york between '65 and '80ish.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • JMH
    5.0 out of 5 stars Well written
    Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I was looking for something on the early punk scene in New York. The Downtown Pop Underground: New York City and the literary punks, renegade artists, DIY filmmakers, mad playwrights, and rock ’n’ roll glitter queens who revolutionized culture gets to this period about 2/3 of the way through the book. Up to that point the book lays out a lot of information about the NY creative art scene prior to the late 70s.
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  • Patricia H.
    5.0 out of 5 stars They changed the world
    Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2018
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    This book is about eight people who were drawn to lower Manhattan during the 1960s, re-inventing themselves as artists and sparking a revolution in music, theater and art that influenced the world. Among the eight are the well-known like Andy Warhol and Patti Smith but equally interesting are the lives of the lesser known who had just as much impact on the era. I especially enjoyed the story of Ellen Stewart who founded the now-famous Cafe LaMama theater, and of Hibiscus (think Flower Power and glitter bombed gender-bending musicals) —now that’s entertainment!
    3 people found this helpful
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  • duncan
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good book!
    Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    A fairly good overview and some interesting inside information about the underground scene. I was hoping for more on the East Village.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • jon cobb
    5.0 out of 5 stars new york at it's best
    Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    solid overview of artsy activities in new york between '65 and '80ish.
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    jon cobb
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    new york at it's best

    Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2021
    solid overview of artsy activities in new york between '65 and '80ish.
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    One person found this helpful
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  • Michael Smith
    5.0 out of 5 stars Off-Off-Broadway to Punk Vividly Evoked
    Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2019
    Fifty years later, we are beginning to have some perspective on the extraordinary eruption of creativity in lower Manhattan in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which transformed all the arts and echoes to this day. Kembrew McLeod interviewed a wide range of survivors of the scene, sussing out the generative interconnections and delivering a richly nuanced view of the highs and lows that made everybody so excited. His appreciative, insightful survey sweeps up a fresh, generous bounty of "downtown" arts and artists and catches the unique twisted brilliance of the time. Illustrated with many surprising photographs, the tale begins with the outrageous "camps" of dramatist H. M. Koutoukas on the original Off-Off-Broadway stages—Caffè Cino in the heart of Greenwich Village, La Mama in the East Village, and Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square—and winds up a decade later with Debbie Harry at CBGB. McLeod's other key figures are Andy Warhol, filmmaker Shirley Clarke, Patti Smith, poet-publisher Ed Sanders, Ellen Stewart of La Mama, and Hibiscus, but just about everyone makes an appearance in these pages. It is, sadly, an inexorable tale of innocence lost, as the idealistic opening of the psychedelic sixties gives way to the ironic, harsher realism of the punk seventies. McLeod gets it. You will not find a truer picture of this vital, troubled time.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • bookwomen37
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fun History
    Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2019
    I had a lot of fun reading this book. The book centers around the artists and musicians who came to New York City and reinvented themselves and the art world. Some became famous but others have become lost to time. I really enjoyed reading about the lesser known personalities and the behind the scenes stories. Many of the accounts are first hand accounts. Even today you can see the influence of these trail blazers on music, art, theater and movies. The writing is good and the book is easy to read. Historical photographs also accompany the text. Enjoy this look back.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Urban Marauder
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Narrative Venn Diagram of Culture!
    Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2019
    The Downtown Pop Underground is a delicately crafted history of the interstices between the major cultural and artistic movements of the last half of the 20th century. Within those spaces reside the most important makers of contemporary culture, some are household names (Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry) and others are less familiar (Shirley Clarke, Ellen Stewart) but their influence has been profound and irrefutable. Kembrew McLeod brings them all to life and paints a vivid portrait of Downtown New York City in the 60’s and 70’s in a compelling and fascinating narrative. Music, art, film, theater and performance fans of all stripes take note -- this is a must read (and hard to put down).
    Customer image
    Urban Marauder
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    A Narrative Venn Diagram of Culture!

    Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2019
    The Downtown Pop Underground is a delicately crafted history of the interstices between the major cultural and artistic movements of the last half of the 20th century. Within those spaces reside the most important makers of contemporary culture, some are household names (Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry) and others are less familiar (Shirley Clarke, Ellen Stewart) but their influence has been profound and irrefutable. Kembrew McLeod brings them all to life and paints a vivid portrait of Downtown New York City in the 60’s and 70’s in a compelling and fascinating narrative. Music, art, film, theater and performance fans of all stripes take note -- this is a must read (and hard to put down).
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    3 people found this helpful
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  • Michlmac
    5.0 out of 5 stars a large canvas for an incredible time
    Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2019
    Not since the New Journalism of Tom Wolfe has anyone been so in tune with the culture/counter-culture of the sixties. Kembrew McLeod seems to have interviewed everyone who has survived the era, read everything written about it, and listened to everything recorded. His exquisite talent recounts it all in a relaxed, almost conversational tone, and an incredible time is lovingly depicted on a grand canvas. When I first opened the book, I didn’t come up for air for two hours. It’s that good.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Sam Dixon
    5.0 out of 5 stars This is well worth your time and money
    Reviewed in Canada on September 7, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    The book offers a view of the scene in slices - which helps you keep track of the many personalities at play, which makes it an entertaining and non-judgmental look at the collection of people that made up the scene.
    It sets out the events in context and allows you to understand the cast of characters that probably would have been far more than avant garde back then. The ones who made so many changes possible.
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  • ruggero brunello
    5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly precise and romantic. A Must Read
    Reviewed in Italy on September 8, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Utterly precise and romantic. A Must Read for connoiseurs, beginners and enthusiasts
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