Legendary Studios of Midtown Tour

Throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, Midtown Manhattan was where the business of music was conducted in NYC. Record labels, music publishers, and recording studios were everywhere, and some of the greatest music ever made was done so in the most unsuspecting spaces. This walking tour highlights the extraordinary and widely-overlooked music history of a locally-loathed neighborhood now best known for its eye-catching tourist traps and kitschy gift shops.

Locations include:

- Numerous recording studios - including the Hit Factory, the Power Station, the Record Plant, Quad Studios, Mediasound, and more - where some of the most renowned records of all time were made, including (but hardly limited to):

  • Blondie - Parallel Lines, Eat to the Beat

  • David Bowie - Scary Monsters…and Super Creeps, Let’s Dance

  • Chic - complete discography

  • Leonard Cohen - New Skin for the Old Ceremony, Various Positions

  • The Fugees - The Score

  • The Go-Go's - Beauty and the Beat

  • Grateful Dead - Anthem of the Sun

  • The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland

  • Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm

  • John Lennon - Mind Games, Walls and Bridges, Double Fantasy

  • Kiss - Destroyer, Love Gun

  • Cyndi Lauper - She’s So Unusual

  • Madonna - Madonna, Like A Virgin

  • Van Morrison - Astral Weeks

  • New York Dolls - New York Dolls

  • Ramones - Rocket to Russia, Road to Ruin, Pleasant Dreams, Too Tough to Die

  • Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby, Street Hassle, New York, Ecstasy

  • T. Rex - Electric Warrior

  • Rolling Stones - Emotional Rescue

  • Roxy Music - Avalon

  • Patti Smith - Radio Ethiopia, Easter

  • Sonic Youth - Sister, Experimental Jet Set Trash & No Star

  • Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, Born in the USA

  • Suicide - Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev

  • Talking Heads - Remain in Light, Speaking in Tongues, Little Creatures

  • The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico

  • Wilco - A Ghost is Born, Sky Blue Sky

  • Stevie Wonder - Music of My Mind, Innervisions, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life

- We’ll also see the world famous Brill Building and 1650 Broadway, where songwriters like Burt Bacharach, Leiber & Stoller, Mann & Weill, Shadow Morton, Carole King and Jerry Goffin, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon, and many others wrote some of the biggest hits of the 1950s and ‘60s.

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE DO NOT ENTER ANY BUILDINGS ON THIS TOUR

Details

- Begins in Columbus Circle and ends near Times Square
- The tour lasts approximately two and a half hours and covers two and a half miles
- Comfortable shoes and bottled water are strongly recommended
- Gratuities are welcome but not mandatory

Rates

By appointment only. Rates available by request.