"Some Kind of Wonderful": The Creative Legacy of the Brill Building

By Ian Inglis

There is a curious asymmetry surrounding the recognition accorded to the Brill Building among those who document the development of popular music. On the one hand, it is one of the few buildings whose name may readily evoke a particular period or circumstance—along with, for example, the Cavern, Graceland, Studio 54, and Harlem's Apollo Theatre. On the other hand, many commentaries on popular music either overlook its significance completely by failing to mention it at all or else dismiss it as a mildly interesting historical footnote by giving it only scant attention.