The music
The desolate streets of Alphabet City reverberated with the many musical genres of the 80s. Walking from block to block, you'd hear the latest hip-hop, rap, salsa, punk, new wave, no wave, and more. Names you've heard of and names you may not know appeared in empty lots, small clubs, and the bandshell in Tompkins Square Park. Here, too, the various components of hip-hop first came together, This is a small sampling of the talent we could hear and see in our neighborhood.
Dean and the Weenies
A six-foot-six drag queen with a deep voice and an extensive wardrobe of mini skirts and dangly earrings, Dean Johnson intoned songs commenting on gay life and the issues of the day, while the Weenies laid down great backup beats and sounds.
* R.I.P. Dean Johnson September 2007
grandmaster flash and the furious five
In 1981 the Sugar Hill Review at the Ritz, now known as Webster Hall, was one of the first live shows to bring together hip-hop emcees & DJs from uptown and the downtown punk/new wave and no wave scenes. The show featured Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
* R.I.P. Keith "Cowboy" Wiggins September 8, 1989
Pulsallama
Formed in early '81, this all-woman no wave band emerged from a Rites of Spring Fertility Bacchanal as a 17-piece pagan percussion ensemble. Featuring Ann Magnuson and Wendy Wild, among many others, the band played locally, toured the East Coast, and opened for the Clash.
* R.I.P. Wendy "Wild" Andreiv October 26, 1996
John Sex & the Bodacious Ta Ta's
Wendy Wild appears again as one of the Bodacious Ta Ta's with John Sex, cabaret performer known for the height of his teased and glued hair.
* R.I.P. John "Sex" McLoughlin October 24, 1990
ESG
Emerald, Sapphire & Gold, three young women from the South Bronx, fused funk, hip-hop, and punk music into infectious dance music that became part of the music tapestry of the neighborhood.
Bush tetras
Fan favorites in the Manhattan club scene and college radio in the early 1980s, the Bush Tetras influenced many bands of the New York's post-punk revival of the 2000s.
* R.I.P. Laura Kennedy November 14, 2011
* R.I.P. Dee Pop October 9, 2021
False Prophets
Formed in June 1980, the band went through several names and lineups before settling on the name False Prophets with Stephan Ielpi as lead singer, playing at several hardcore clubs in the East Village.
* R.I.P. Patrick Blank 2001
James Chance and the Contortions
Later James White and Blacks and sometimes James Black and the Whites, James Chance and the Contortions were considered pioneers of the no wave movement and were featured in Brian Eno's seminal compilation album, No New York.
* R.I.P. James Siegfried June 18, 2024
Blondie
"Fab Five Freddy told me everybody's fly." Watch for boy artist Jean-Michel Basquiat spinning the wheels as the DJ in this official video of Blondie's Rapture.
* R.I.P. Clem Burke April 6, 2025
Gray
Gray came together after filmmaker Michael Holman hosted a party showcasing Fab Five Freddy and the Fabulous Five graffiti crew. Jean-Michel Basquiat, then a graffiti artist working under the name SAMO, asked Holman if he wanted to form a band. Their music can be heard in several films about the Downtown scene.
* R.I.P. Jean-Michel Basquiat August 12, 1988
Rammellzee and the Death Comet Crew
Fellow graffiti artist and friend of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Rammelzee influenced performers such as the Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill and introduced elements of the avant-garde into hip-hop culture.
* R.I.P. Rammellzee June 28, 2010
Sally Venue
Voted Best Girl Drummer of 1978, Sally went by several names and played with many local bands, including John Sex and Death Comet Crew, as well as with Robert Palmer on the Addicted to Love tour. Here she's performing live in 1989 with Information Society.
* R.I.P. Sally Ven-Yu Berg June 2015
B-52s
Frequent performers at Wigstock in Tompkins Square Park, the B-52s feature a very young Ru Paul among the dancers in the official video for Love Shack.
Karen Finley
Scandalizing Congress with her raw and uninhibited critiques of sexuality and gender roles, Karen Finley's National Endowment for the Arts grant led to a law enforcing "general standards of decency" in NEA awards. She brought her anguished vocal delivery to many neighborhood clubs.
John Kelly
Multitalented and much-awarded performance artist, writer, and visual artist John Kelly contributed his extraordinary Joni Mitchell impersonation at the Pyramid Lounge and every year at the culmination of the Wigstock festival.
The Lady Bunny
Before her multifaceted career in film, TV, and performance venues, The Lady Bunny worked with RuPaul in Atlanta and then moved to New York City in the early 80s, making her home at the Pyramid Lounge and shaking up the drag scene.
Wigstock
Wigstock was born in 18984 when The Lady Bunny led drag queens from the Pyramid Lounge across the street to Tompkins Square Park to continue an evening's entertainment. The yearly celebration of drag performance became massively popular in subsequent years but was banned from the park by the Giuliani administration in the mid-90s. The festival moved briefly to a West Side pier before returning to Tompkins Square for a few years in the early 2000s.
the pyramid Lounge
Home of the Wigstock queens and locals who liked to dance, the Pyramid Lounge was a neighborhood hangout for people of all ages, colors, and sexualities, with punk-drag absurdist performances nightly.
* R.I.P. International Crysis March 26 1990
* R.I.P Ethyl Eichelberger August 12, 1990
* R.I.P. Gerard "Mr. Fashion" Little August 10, 2008
* R.I.P. Brian "Hattie Hathaway" Butterick January 30, 2019