Old New York

Album: The American Dream Died (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • When Agnostic Front formed in the '80s, their home base of New York City was far more dirty and crime-ridden than it later became. In this song, the band reflects on how they miss the skeevy side of the city, as the inherent danger helped build character and was a big part of their hardcore scene.

    Clearly, a safer, cleaner city is better in many ways, but the band still has some nostalgia for the element of fear that helped inform the band.
  • In our interview with lead singer Roger Miret, he said that the movie Taxi Driver was a big influence on this song. The film is from 1976, which was a time when New York was at its most gritty.

    The song opens with a clip from the movie where its star Robert DiNero says, "All the animals come out at night: whores, skunk pu--ies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets."

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