Lux Interior, Patti Smith, Joey Ramone
1973: a time of limbo and confusion in America. The social upheaval of the 1960’s had fizzled away, President Nixon had been impeached, the Vietnam War ended. The young were disillusioned, frustrated, unsettled, they wanted more.
1973, and Hilly Kristal opens a club in New York City with the catchy name of CBGB OMFUG… or ‘Country Bluegrass Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormanizers’, providing performance turf for aspiring folk rock musicians. But in December of that year, “three scruffy dudes” looking for a gig approached him. The band was called Television.
Television, The Ramones, and Blondie were all propelled into the limelight by CBGB in the same year. Their sound was raw and original; it wasn’t technically brilliant, it was almost unbearable. People weren’t looking for perfection; they wanted rock to go back to its essence. They labelled it ‘Street Rock’ at first, and then Punk.
CBGB’s success soon snowballed. Patti Smith played to an audience of Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg and Allen Lanier (from Blue Oyster Cult)… amazing. Talking Heads were next. Following a heavily promoted festival gig in 1974, every rock band around the world wanted to play, as a stepping stone to rock stardom, or even just to be part of history.
When these bands came to a little island to the north of Europe, they had no idea of the reception they would receive. Americans were bored, they wanted a change; the British needed it. It was a grim era: millions were on the dole; people were living under grey clouds, getting by, tense and uncertain. Young people wanted to be heard, “Listen to us!” they demanded. Music was their outlet. The Ramones were worshipped; the Sex Pistols became the definition of hostile youths in Britain. Vivienne Westwood had everyone wearing tartan trousers and gimp masks. Punk was rocking.
CBGB closed two years ago, but its legendary status hasn’t left us, and neither has its influence on today’s rock sound.
In celebration, Kristal’s daughter is opening a photography exhibition at Proud Galleries in Camden Town, London. The pictures depict an era, and make us want to throw on a leather jacket and board the next plane to the Big Apple!
And if visual stimulation isn’t enough for you, musical mastermind Zane Lowe will be there on the 24th June taking us back to the time that was, the heyday of rock, for one night only boys and girls.
The exhibition runs from the 4th June to the 9th August, 2009.
Words: Amelia Phillips
