Exclusive | NYC is full of iconic rocknroll moments like Bob Dylans album cover and this photographer is highlighting the history
New York City’s streets hide legendary rock ’n’ roll moments you never knew were there — until Steve Birnbaum brings them back to life.The Big Apple-based photographer and filmmaker is the brain behind @TheBandWasHere — a viral project that resurrects iconic album covers right where they were shot decades ago.Birnbaum tracks down where famous band photos were snapped, then goes back to those exact spots to re-create the shots — album covers, promo pics, you name it. His feed is a roll call of NYC rock legends like the Strokes, Talking Heads, Blondie, Ramones, Bob Dylan, and Simon & Garfunkel — all brought back to life right where the magic originally happened.Think Bob Dylan strolling on the same chilly Greenwich Village sidewalk in 1963, or the Ramones posing outside that gritty East Village wall in 1976, all perfectly framed as they are today.But his collection doesn’t stop there.He also has iconic images of the Notorious B.I.G., Bruce Springsteen, The Doors, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Taylor Swift and more.What excites Birnbaum most is reconnecting New Yorkers with the invisible soundtrack of their daily lives. “It’s crazy how much you walk the streets and go past things … so many of us walk by where Stevie Nicks once twirled or where Debbie Harry once stood … and don’t even notice.”Birnbaum’s nostalgia-powered hustle taps into our obsession with “then-and-now” culture and that classic NYC pride to hold on to the past — especially the golden eras of music that helped define the city’s identity.His feed — he counts Blondie’s Chris Stein, Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan and SZA as fans — is a living museum of rock ’n’ roll history, proving that while skyscrapers sprout and neighborhoods morph, the soul of NYC music still lingers — if you know where to look.But don’t mistake this for a quick snap-and-post hustle.
Birnbaum calls himself “a music historian” and makes it his ultimate priority to honor and cre...