Ryan Adams 10 Years Later

In 2001, in the aftermath of September 11, the tune “New York, New York” by Ryan Adams reluctantly became an anthem. The music video featured Adams performing in front of the city’s skyline on September 7th.  The song peaked at #18 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 in February 2002.

Adams said that he actually begged music TV executives not to play its accompanying music video, which features the Twin Towers, and snubbed offers to use “New York, New York” in ad campaigns and soundtracks. “Basically, my request was that the song wouldn’t be used in any television, documentaries or commercials, and that they would just take the video off. I was told they couldn’t take the video out of rotation… It played a few times, and I said that if they didn’t add some kind of statement to the video, I was gonna protest in some way. Finally they took care of it.” Contactmusic quoted him as telling Billboard.com.

Ryan Adams will release his first album in a few years called “Ashes and Fire” on October 11th.