Naked City was an avant-garde music group from New York City, New York, Uni… Read Full Bio ↴Naked City was an avant-garde music group from New York City, New York, United States led by saxophonist and composer John Zorn, performed from 1988 to 1993. The ensemble was notable for remaining unconfined to any musical category, juxtaposing unrelated styles of music often within individual compositions at breakneck speed. Its music incorporated recognizable elements of jazz, grindcore, surf, classical, thrash, country music, punk rock and other genres. Carl Stalling has been cited as an influence on Zorn and the work of Naked City.

An embryonic version of Naked City appeared on Rubaiyat: Elektra's 40th Anniversary (1990). Zorn was joined by singer Yamatsuka Eye, guitarist Robert Quine, bass guitarist Bill Laswell and drummer Ted Epstein, for a spastic, caterwauling version of The Stooges' "T.V. Eye".

In Naked City's characteristic early style, songs were often performed at astonishingly fast tempos, drawing heavily on thrash metal and hardcore punk's emphasis on extreme speed. Many songs were quite brief, and typically switched musical genres every few measures, perhaps comparable to spinning a radio dial at random and hearing the same band performing on every station. One critic described Naked City's music as "jump-cutting micro-collages of hardcore, country, sleazy jazz, covers of John Barry and Ornette Coleman, brief abstract tussles — a whole city crammed into two or three minute bursts." This fast-change tendency was inspired in part by Carl Stalling — a Zorn favorite — who wrote music for many Warner Brothers cartoons (featuring Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and others); music that featured frequent shifts in tempo, theme and style.

Naked City's eponymous first album was distributed by Elektra Nonesuch and featured a famous Weegee photograph (taken 1943) of a dead gangster on its cover along with macabre illustrations by Maruo Suehiro. There was disagreement between Zorn and the label over cover art on subsequent albums. Zorn wanted to use explicit S&M pictures, images from 19th century medical archives, and execution photographs, most notoriously of a Leng Tch'e victim; Elektra Nonesuch refused. Zorn ended his relationship with Elektra, releasing subsequent Naked City albums on Shimmy Disc and his own Avant and Tzadik labels.

Naked City varied their stylistic approach on later releases. The cover repertoire was expanded to include pieces from various modern classical composers such as Alexander Scriabin, Claude Debussy, Charles Ives and Olivier Messiaen, whose works are featured on the album Grand Guignol. The album Leng T'che featured a single piece, over 31 minutes in length, of gruelingly slow heavy metal. Torture Garden was made up of several "hardcore miniatures," and Absinthe was ambient and noise textures.

Naked City found perhaps their greatest following among the fans of the many death metal, metal and grindcore bands with which they performed, such as Blind Idiot God, Napalm Death, Carcass and Live Skull. The appearance of "Osaka Bondage" - taken from the album Torture Garden - on the Earache sampler Grindcrusher 2: The Ultimate Earache helped this to some extent.

Zorn discontinued Naked City after Absinthe in 1993 when he felt "... the need to write music for other ensembles, in other contexts, with new ideas." A brief reunion occurred in 2003 for a few shows at European jazz festivals.

The original lineup:

John Zorn - saxophone, vocals, composer;
Bill Frisell - guitar;
Wayne Horvitz - synthesizer, piano;
Fred Frith - bass guitar;
Joey Baron - drums.

Additional members:

Yamataka Eye - vocals (early years);
Mike Patton - vocals (mostly for live shows).

The Cage
Naked City Lyrics

We have lyrics for 'The Cage' by these artists:

/Sonata Arctica A lifetime ago, with frozen eyes they closed the door Sudde…
A7ie Rotten corpse in a empty cage, never tried to escape Foreve…
Africa Unite Sitting on my thought while silence fill the air And the…
Alligator Upon a leaf, I saw a fly brutally killed, a…
Attrition Pulling on my cigarette A breath away from paradise I'm si…
Calibre Pah, Pah, Pah Yeah, there's monsters inside up my basement, …
Carrion Moth Now here I lay A beast Laid low Before The devouring chasm o…
Christian Simpson Trapped inside No air to breathe in here Prison walls made o…
Citizen Soldier You, you are the cage My crutch My own worst enemy You, you…

Cryptacize We're batting our wings Against the wall We're batting ou…
Dead Reckoning Living my life down but I will never be broken This…
Death Grips (I say kill it like ya You say hate it Kill it…
Diary of Dreams I cannot see when day is night Disguise my true identity W…
Disfear Dogmas put on podiums Swallow blind the bait Prime-time ad…
Elton John Have you ever lived in a cage Where you live to…
HIM For years I've seen you fighting Against your heart Living l…
Inter Omega Why give me reasons to leave this place When I have…
Jarboe ...I want to fuck your soul...…
Jens Johansson A lifetime ago, with frozen eyes they closed the door Sudde…
Johnny Hates Jazz For years I've seen you fighting Against your heart Living…
Justine & Juliette It was a thousand pound weight Moon down on the sun I…
Kadabra I don’t know what I believe But someday I will find Is…
Malky Deep in the darkness Heavenly heartless I believe those Slav…
Marie Naffah Move if you want Move if you want from the cage I'm…
Oasis & Paul Weller Spend you days just walking and shopping Depending on how mu…
Odd Man Lonely man Fighting with madness Stuck in a war that stole h…
Ofln - Death Grips (I say kill it like ya You say hate it Kill it…
Paul Weller & Oasis Spend you days just walking and shopping Depending on how mu…
Plants Well he says to me "I'm what I want to be" Detached…
Red Lamb Hush now baby, don't you cry I can't wipe your teary…
Ringworm Dark inside, walls all around me. Trapping the hatred within…
Rising Alma This crippled version of me Like a satisfaction in a broken…
Rsko Prends tes affaires seule, te fais pousser par personne Comm…
Sabrina Haskett Sabrina Haskett, the cage This life Why's it gotta be so, wh…
SMP You can't faze me I'll knock you down again You can't thre…
Sonata Arctica A lifetime ago, with frozen eyes they closed the door Sudden…
Stampin' Ground Trapped inside the cage All that you'll see you'll soon for…
Sugizo What is the truth? Reason to exist ...Unknown Destinatio…
The Cage I'm back and it is the same Still don't wanna get…
The Plants Well he says to me "I'm what I want to be" Detached…
The Smashrooms exploitation! condemnation! i walk in the cage, and all t…
The Thoughts Sunsets, sunrise Man in the cage don't see no lights Know pa…
Torment Lost in your mental void day and night Never you avoid…
Travis You broke the bread We drank the wine Your lip was bleedin'…
Tuxedomoon So he's learned to hold his cigarette and his drink…
Vera Sola How should I wear my teeth? And I color my cheeks? Where…