ABSTRACT
This chapter takes LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends,” as a starting point to explore the post-9/11 indie music scene in New York City. The September 11th terrorist attacks fractured a New York City that, already in recovery from the dot-com bubble crash at the end of the ’90s, was swiftly changing. The New York City that arose from the rubble, defiant and in the spotlight, brought with it new challenges for young artists. In both lyrics and sound, “All My Friends,” recreates the past to engage with the present. The track draws on musical styles that range from synth-driven new wave sounds of bands like New Order to the electric bass-heavy style of younger indie groups like the Strokes. All the while, a steady four-on-the-floor drum pattern undergirds James Murphy’s lyrics, which, resisting and reiterating partying tropes, are both an elegy for lost youth and a panegyric to the wisdom that comes with age.
