Name: Mykyta Barabanov's review of Meet Me in the Bathroom by Lizzy Goodman
Item: Meet Me in the Bathroom
Rating: 5
Author: Mykyta Barabanov

Lizzy Goodman

A SUNDAY TIMES, ROUGH TRADE, MOJO AND UNCUT BOOK OF THE YEAR New York, 2001. 9/11 plunges the US into a state of war and political volatility-and heralds the rebirth of the city's rock scene. As the old-guard music industry crumbles, a group of iconoclastic bands suddenly become the voice of a generation desperately in need of an anthem. In this fascinating and vibrant oral history, acclaimed journalist Lizzy Goodman charts New York's explosive musical transformation in the early 2000s. Drawing on over 200 original interviews, Goodman follows the meteoric rise of the artists that revolutionised the cultural landscape and made Brooklyn the hipster capital of cool-including The Strokes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem, Interpol, and Vampire Weekend. Joining the ranks of classics like Please Kill Me, Our Band Could Be Your Life, and Can't Stop Won't Stop, Meet Me in the Bathroom is the definitive account of an iconic era in rock-and-roll.

Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001–2011

Meet Me in the Bathroom

Elizabeth Goodman

A SUNDAY TIMES, ROUGH TRADE, ROLLING STONE, MOJO AND UNCUT BOOK OF THE YEAR LONGLISTED FOR THE PENDERYN MUSIC BOOK PRIZE New York, 2001. 9/11 plunges the US into a state of war and political volatility-and heralds the rebirth of the city's rock scene. As the old-guard music industry crumbles, a group of iconoclastic bands suddenly become the voice of a generation desperately in need of an anthem. In this fascinating and vibrant oral history, acclaimed journalist Lizzy Goodman charts New York's explosive musical transformation in the early 2000s. Drawing on over 200 original interviews, Goodman follows the meteoric rise of the artists that revolutionised the cultural landscape and made Brooklyn the hipster capital of cool-including The Strokes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem, Interpol, and Vampire Weekend. Joining the ranks of classics like Please Kill Me, Our Band Could Be Your Life, and Can't Stop Won't Stop, Meet Me in the Bathroom is the definitive account of an iconic era in rock-and-roll.

Sarah Christine Gill

Daniel Crichton-Rouse

Joining the ranks of the classics Please Kill Me, Our Band Could Be Your Life, and Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, an intriguing oral history of the post-9/11 decline of the old-guard music industry and rebirth of the New York rock scene, led by a group of iconoclastic rock bands. In the second half of the twentieth-century New York was the source of new sounds, including the Greenwich Village folk scene, punk and new wave, and hip-hop. But as the end of the millennium neared, cutting-edge bands began emerging from Seattle, Austin, and London, pushing New York further from the epicenter. The behemoth music industry, too, found itself in free fall, under siege from technology. Then 9/11/2001 plunged the country into a state of uncertainty and war—and a dozen New York City bands that had been honing their sound and style in relative obscurity suddenly became symbols of glamour for a young, web-savvy, forward-looking generation in need of an anthem. Meet Me in the Bathroom charts the transformation of the New York music scene in the first decade of the 2000s, the bands behind it—including The Strokes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem, Interpol, and Vampire Weekend—and the cultural forces that shaped it, from the Internet to a booming real estate market that forced artists out of the Lower East Side to Williamsburg. Drawing on 500 original interviews with James Murphy, Julian Cassablancas, Karen O, Ezra Koenig, and many others musicians, artists, journalists, bloggers, photographers, managers, music executives, groupies, models, movie stars, and DJs who lived through this explosive time, journalist Elizabeth Goodman offers a fascinating portrait of a time and a place that that gave birth to a new era in modern rock-and-roll.

Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City

Mykyta Barabanov

As biased as I may be about the phenomena of that type of music - the mere dream of ever contributing, even so slightly, to something as culturally significant as New York music scene of 2000's, is enough to make up for all the anxiety of not living up to the world of creativity that spurred into our lives whether you known it or not.

"Don't be a coconut" and choose what you listen to consciously.

** spoiler alert **
           Ryan Adams is a knob.

Marlee Stark

Took awhile for me to get used to the format but overall an enjoyable read

Long and a bit repetitive but overall I enjoyed this! I like that it is just intensely focused on a specific time and place: New York's music scene in the early 2000s - and the oral history style was perfect for telling this story. It's basically 200 interviews with bands, music journalists and bloggers, producers, party makers and publicists edited into a narrative. Pretty cool and super atmospheric.

Most interesting parts for me were about the impact of 9/11, Iraq and Bush on New Yorkers and on the musicians making music there. And the arrival of the internet, blogs / new media and Napster on the music industry. Would have loved even more of this! Recommend!

PS. I could have done with a print-out of the 'who's who' at the beginning haha. 


Ryan Nylander

After tearing through the first half of this, the chapters started to feel repetitive, and certain artists (such as the Strokes) felt way over-represented in comparison to others. Still, I'm a fan.

First of all, it's tremendously funny. Many of the interviewees come across as egomaniacal assholes, which is acceptable insofar as it's entertaining. There's a lot of name-dropping and shit-talking, and misty-eyed nostalgia for the good old days before iPhones, when New York was still dangerous.

It's important to note that these dudes are (for the most part) preppy white guys who could afford to slum it, put on a bohemian disguise for a few years, and then move on unscathed. It's surprising that there aren't more anecdotes about getting mugged, seeing as many of them were arguably asking for it. (It is pretty funny to read, on the other hand, that apparently Jack White can fight.)

Perhaps I'm a bit gullible for being impressed by all the name-dropping, but something that hadn't occurred to me before this book was how small the New York scene seems to have been. The book makes a really compelling case for a coherent LES bohemia, where everyone knew everyone, when Darren Aronofsky hung out at James Murphy's club, and everyone thought he was a fucking nerd. (If you've ever seen Pi, you might agree.)

I feel like most people who bought and read this were into the music while it was fresh. Personally, I was too young. I missed this scene completely; I came to New York just a few years back and of course, there's nothing left of the LES and Williamsburg that the interviewees are talking about. Young people seem to come to New York for the food scene nowadays. Rock still exists, but it's greatly diminished, a legacy art, a form of Americana. So maybe you can forgive me for swallowing some of this bullshit -- borrowed nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

I don't mean to be reactionary about it, by the way. Nothing lasts forever. Rock music began as an underground art form, and it's long since returned from whence it came, with bands everywhere continuing to create exciting art on the margins of popular music. The douche-y, sexist, cooler-than-thou boys' club that this book focuses on had its day, and now we're all a tad too woke to enjoy its libidinal thrills. But despite the questionable morality of it all, I have to wonder; what would it take to get people dancing like this again?

Juan Sacco

Mat Connor

Vincent de Widt

Allison Dempsey

Joining the ranks of the classics Please Kill Me, Our Band Could Be Your Life, and Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, an intriguing oral history of the post-9/11 decline of the old-guard music industry and rebirth of the New York rock scene, led by a group of iconoclastic rock bands. In the second half of the twentieth-century New York was the source of new sounds, including the Greenwich Village folk scene, punk and new wave, and hip-hop. But as the end of the millennium neared, cutting-edge bands began emerging from Seattle, Austin, and London, pushing New York further from the epicenter. The behemoth music industry, too, found itself in free fall, under siege from technology. Then 9/11/2001 plunged the country into a state of uncertainty and war—and a dozen New York City bands that had been honing their sound and style in relative obscurity suddenly became symbols of glamour for a young, web-savvy, forward-looking generation in need of an anthem. Meet Me in the Bathroom charts the transformation of the New York music scene in the first decade of the 2000s, the bands behind it—including The Strokes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem, Interpol, and Vampire Weekend—and the cultural forces that shaped it, from the Internet to a booming real estate market that forced artists out of the Lower East Side to Williamsburg. Drawing on 200 original interviews with James Murphy, Julian Casablancas, Karen O, Ezra Koenig, and many others musicians, artists, journalists, bloggers, photographers, managers, music executives, groupies, models, movie stars, and DJs who lived through this explosive time, journalist Lizzy Goodman offers a fascinating portrait of a time and a place that gave birth to a new era in modern rock-and-roll.

Daniel Crichton-Rouse &
Meet Me in the Bathroom by Lizzy Goodman

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