Song · The Demics
“New York City” by The Demics
From the EP Talk's Cheap (1979)
“New York City” by The Demics appears on 2 radio countdowns from 1 station between 1991 and 1999. It was first released in 1979 on the EP Talk's Cheap. Its best result is #205 on the CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #4,183 alternative song of all time.
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"New York City" came out in 1979 on Talk's Cheap, the debut EP from Canadian new wave punks the Demics, and it's a bratty, sneering send-up of the big-city dream. The joke runs deeper than it looks: as William New of Groovy Religion told Chart magazine, singer Keith Whittaker never actually wanted to go to New York, and the song was a friendly jab at fellow '70s punks the Regulators and their fixation on Lou Reed. Whittaker wrote it with Iain Atkinson-Staines, Rob Brent and Jimmy Weatherstone.
Canada took it to heart anyway. A 1996 poll by Chart named it the greatest Canadian song of all time, and it still sat at 5 when the poll came round again in 2000. A 1996 Demics compilation borrowed its title, and EMI Music Canada put it on the 1999 punk roundup Spiked.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 205 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) | 1002 |
| 1999 | 837 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) | 1002 |
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