I’ve been catching up with some old episodes of that 1977 Yankees mini-series, The Bronx is Burning. It’s embarrassing to say that I enjoy it, at least for John Turturro’s gremlin-like prosthetic ears, the cop scenes that look so grittay, and the brass-and-wah-wah-pedal theme music that so effortlessly evokes that time of polyester, cologne and cocaine. A friend tells me that the movie leaves out much of the original racial tension in the book, which might certainly be the case, since most of the tension surrounds the players Commitment to Winning and Upholding The Yankee Tradition.
One completely unbelievable element of the series, however, is the ubiquity of music by the Ramones. One mulletted youth even switches off Joey and the gang on the car radio, seconds before he’s shot by Son of Sam, as if “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” was a Top 40 hit. As hilarious as it’s been to watch certain scenes and listen for the appropriate Ramones song–“Beat on the Brat with a Baseball Bat” during Reggie Jackson’s initial struggles was especially inspired–using them so much in the soundtrack gives one the impression of the whole of NY being edgy and hip and ironic, “all revved and ready to go now.” Where’s the disco music, the “Saturday Night Fever” that those kids getting shot by Son of Sam were probably listening to? Where’s the hair metal? KISS and the “Grease” Soundtrack? The Fleetwood Mac and Gerry Rafferty music the players were probably listening to as they bedded their groupies? It’s a sure cure for 70s nostalgia (and maybe any era) to give a thought to the music that was actually popular then, and not the music the producers like to think was cool.
But that’s not even a quibble, just an observation. It’s been fine late-summer slush, although it’s disorienting to be sucked into the troubles of Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson and Thurman Munson, and actually pull for them to win the World Series. It’s such a relief, a recapture of equilibrium, to return to the evening scores on “Baseball Tonight” and cheer a little cheer when the Yankees lose.