In activity from December 1973 to October 2006, the CBGB embodied a state of mind marked by freedom and served as a launching pad for several groups that later became unavoidable, including the Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads…
In activity from December 1973 to October 2006, the CBGB embodied a state of mind marked by freedom and served as a launching pad for several groups that later became unavoidable, including the Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads…
Marginalized people came to the CBGB, whose floor was littered with the owner’s dog poop. “Just getting to CBGB’s was a feat. If you didn’t want to get mugged, you had to look tough. It was a dangerous place and its customers felt like survivors,” said photographer Bob Gruen in 2004, as recounted by Steven Blush in his book.
This atmosphere is well reflected in the film CBGB by Randall Miller. Not exactly the kind of bar where you could run into students from the region’s major universities.
It was the perfect place for beginners and clueless musicians to collectively create a new kind of music. The Ramones gave their first concert in these yellowed walls on August 16th 1974, playing very loud and very fast, followed by Blondie, Television and The Talking Heads.
As the reputation of this temple of alternative culture grew, the stage welcomed The Dead Boys, The Cramps, Iggy Pop and then in the 1980s went on to hardcore, giving bands like Sick Of It All, the Bad Brains or Agnostic Front the opportunity to make their mark.
While outside, the grip is tightening and New York is gentrifying block after block, the CBGB makes resistance. A battle that Hilly Kristal led until 2006 before giving up in the face of ever-increasing rents.
On October 15, 2006, Patti Smith, Sonic Youth and the Dead Kennedy’s were among the artists present to celebrate the closing. Decided to open a new CBGB in Las Vegas, Hilly Kristal is finally carried away by the disease in August 2007.
His bar became a relic of a bygone era. A dismantled monument. YouTube takes over some of the furniture for its Los Angeles studios and John Varvatos, a fashion designer, sets up a clothing store. 85$ a t-shirt.
We are far from the spirit of the beginning. You can still admire the walls, left as they are, and the bar counter.
Not far from there, at 325 Bowery, the Joey Ramone Place also refers to this era. Its sign is one of the most stolen in New York!
Embark immediately on an exhilarating world tour with some of music’s most iconic bands and artists!
Head to Melbourne, Australia for a stroll along AC/DC Lane before crossing the iconic Abbey Road pedestrian crossing in the company of The Beatles. Visit Janis Joplin‘s home in San Francisco and find out how Johnny Cash ended up playing his greatest hits to a crowd of prisoners in San Quentin. Travel the winding roads of Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and stop in Japan to catch up with Deep Purple, Phil Collins and Daft Punk. Drive down the Tina Turner Highway before entering some of the most legendary studios in music history. Go back to the troubled origins of Billie Holiday and make a pact with Robert Johnson at the famous crossroads in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Embark immediately on an exhilarating world tour with some of music’s most iconic bands and artists! Relive the Jimi Hendrix concert on the Isle of Wight before paying tribute to Bob Marley in Jamaica.
Produced by a team of pop-culture specialists and enhanced by numerous anecdotes, Cult! musictells the secrets of the places that made the history of music.
