CBGB's: a celebratory box set and a book released 20 years after the club's closure – Our podcast on the New York club

Twenty years after its closure, CBGB is back in the spotlight with a celebratory box set retracing its history across four CDs and 101 tracks, alongside a book that reconstructs that glorious musical era.

The history of the club

Founded in 1973 by Hilly Kristal, CBGB was born with a specific idea in mind: to host country, bluegrass and blues, as the acronym itself stated (Country, BlueGrass, Blues). That initial concept didn't last long. Kristal imposed a simple but decisive rule: only original songs allowed on stage. In a New York with very few venues available for emerging bands, that choice turned the club into a permanent laboratory.

In 1974 Television landed a weekly residency, laying the groundwork for a stable scene. Within a few months, the club's stage had hosted Patti Smith, Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads. The term "punk" began circulating precisely in that context, even if for many of its protagonists it denoted more of an attitude than a codified genre.

CBGB quickly drew figures from outside the strictly musical scene as well: Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Andy Warhol and Malcolm McLaren. It was McLaren who, back in London, reworked the aesthetic and sonic ideas he'd picked up on the Bowery to shape the image of the Sex Pistols, accelerating punk's international explosion.

The setting itself fed the mythology: graffiti-covered walls, a cramped stage, a bare-bones sound system, and bathrooms legendary for their squalor. A spartan dimension that encouraged physical closeness and direct exchange between musicians and audience. In the Eighties the club remained a reference point for the hardcore scene too, with afternoon shows open to minors.

The urban transformation of the Bowery and rising rents, however, led to a clash with the building's owners. After a lengthy legal dispute, Kristal was forced to vacate the premises. CBGB closed on October 15, 2006, after thirty-three years in business. The final night starred Patti Smith alongside Lenny Kaye, in a show that served as a collective farewell.

The book

Meanwhile, Roman Kozak's book "This Ain't No Disco" is also arriving in Italy, edited by Luca Frazzi and published by Interno4 — another editorial piece dedicated to the Bowery club that redefined rock's geography in the Seventies.

The podcast

Ramones, Suicide, Television, Patti Smith, Blondie, Talking Heads, Cramps, New York Dolls, Pere Ubu and many more, in “Cbgb’s – The Cradle of Made-in-USA New Wave“, a special episode of over an hour entirely dedicated to New York's Cbgb’s, in our special edition of Rock in Onda, the show hosted by Claudio Fabretti on the digital airwaves of Radio Città Aperta.

Here's the tracklist of the show.

1. Suicide – Cheree

2. Television – Venus

3. Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop

4. New York Dolls – Personality Crisis

5. Heartbreakers – Born To Lose

6. Patti Smith – Free Money

7. Blondie – X Offender

8. Talking Heads – Psycho Killer

9. Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance

10. Cramps – Human Fly

11. Teenage Jesus and The Jerks – Orphans

12. Minor Threat – Filler

13. Sonic Youth – Teenage Riot

The box set: four CDs, 101 tracks

Released by Cherry Red Records, the box set gathers material spanning the club's entire lifespan, alternating canonical names with lesser-documented acts. The selection includes classics such as "Beat On The Brat" by Ramones, "See No Evil" by Television, "Ghost Rider" by Suicide, "Picture This" by Blondie, "The Kid With The Replaceable Head" by Richard Hell & The Voidoids and "Garbage Man" by Cramps.

Alongside the best-known titles are rare recordings or tracks previously unreleased on CD, testifying to CBGB's role as a platform for constant experimentation. The journey extends into the Eighties, taking in the hardcore era with "Straight Edge" by Minor Threat, "Banned In D.C." by Bad Brains and early tracks by Beastie Boys and Sonic Youth.

The whole gives us a layered picture: proto-punk, new wave, no wave, hardcore. More than a simple anthology, the box set works as a sonic archive of an urban ecosystem that left a structural mark on Western music over the past fifty years.

Here is the complete tracklist of the collection.

Disc 1

1. The Dictators – (I Live For) Cars And Girls

2. The Harlots Of 42nd Street – S&M (I Can’t Live Without You)

3. The Magic Tramps – S&M Leather Queen

4. Patti Smith – Free Money

5. The Brats – Be A Man

6. City Lights – Travelin' Man

7. The Hounds – Call Me (Previously Unreleased On CD)

8. Erasers – It Was So Funny (That Song That They Sung)

9. Ramones – Beat On The Brat

10. Stuart's Hammer – Everybody's Depraved (Live At CBGB)

11. The Planets – Come On Up (Previously Unreleased)

12. Milk ’N’ Cookies – Not Enough Girls (In The World)

13. Just Water – They Live By Night

14. Television – See No Evil

15. Mumps – Crocodile Tears

16. The Heartbreakers – Born To Lose

17. Testors – You Don't Break My Heart

18. The Dead Boys – Ain’t Nothing To Do

19. The Senders – You Really Piss Me Off

20. The Electric Chairs – Fuck Off

21. Marbles – Forgive And Forget

22. Cherry Vanilla – Hard As A Rock

23. Tuff Darts – Fun City

24. Talking Heads – A Clean Break (Let’s Work) (Live)

Disc 2

1. Suicide – Ghost Rider

2. Pure Hell – I Feel Bad

3. Helen Wheels – Room To Rage

4. Blondie – Picture This

5. Mars – Helen Forsdale

6. Come On – Don’t Walk On The Kitchen Floor

7. Mink Deville – ‘A’ Train Lady

8. The Heat – Instant Love (Previously Unreleased On CD)

9. Genya Ravan – Aye Co’lorado

10. Theoretical Girls – Lovin’ In The Red

11. Richard Hell & The Voidoids – The Kid With The Replaceable Head

12. The Stilettos – Pink Stilettos

13. The Paley Brothers – Baby, Let’s Stick Together

14. Neon Leon – Rock ’N’ Roll Is Alive (Previously Unreleased On CD)

15. Revelons – The Way (You Touch My Hand)

16. New York Dolls – Just Like Dresden ’45

17. L.O.K. – Fun House (Previously Unreleased On CD)

18. Material – O.A.O.

19. The Laughing Dogs – I Need A Million

20. Shrapnel – Combat Love

21. Peroxide – Heart Disease

22. Student Teachers – Christmas Weather

23. Tom Verlaine – Breakin' In My Heart

24. Richard Lloyd – Number Nine

25. James Chance & The Contortions – Jailhouse Rock (Live At CBGB 1978)

Disc 3

1. The Cramps – Garbage Man

2. The Dots – I Don’t Wanna Dance (With You) (Previously Unreleased On CD)

3. The Miamis – We Deliver

4. Model Citizens – Shift The Blame

5. The dB’s – Black And White

6. The Rattlers – On The Beach

7. Love Of Life Orchestra – Revolution Is Personal

8. Urban Verbs – Next Question (Previously Unreleased)

9. Sylvain Sylvain – Teenage News

10. Stimulators – Loud Fast Rules

11. Tot Rocket And The Twins – Reduced

12. The Bongos – Telephoto Lens

13. Outsets – I'm Searchin' For You

14. Sorrows – Teenage Heartbreak

15. The Lounge Lizards – Do The Wrong Thing

16. Nervus Rex – There She Goes

17. The Cosmopolitans – Wild Moose Party

18. Polyrock – Your Dragging Feet

19. Lenny Kaye With The Lone Wolves – Child Bride (Previously Unreleased On CD)

20. R.L. Crutchfield's Dark Day – Arp's Carpet

21. The Colors – Jealousy

22. TV Toy – (Don’t Blame It On The) Weekend

23. DNA – Blonde Red Head

24. The Rudies – Sherri Goodbye

25. The Raybeats – Tight Turn

26. Phosphenes – Asexual (Previously Unreleased On CD)

27. Minor Threat – Straight Edge

Disc 4

1. Bush Tetras – Things That Go Boom In The Night

2. Human Switchboard – (Say No To) Saturday’s Girl

3. Disturbed Furniture – Information

4. The Necessaries – Back To You

5. Chemicals Made From Dirt – Oriental Television

6. China Shop – If It’s New

7. James Blood Ulmer – Open House

8. Nihilistics – You’re To Blame

9. Beastie Boys – Egg Raid On Mojo

10. The Individuals – My Three Sons (Revolve Around The Earth)

11. Rhys Chatham – Drastic Classicism (Edit)

12. Unknown Gender – Boys-Girls (Radio)

13. Khmer Rouge – Hinterland

14. Bad Brains – Banned In D.C.

15. Heart Attack – English Cunts

16. Outpatients – Fight

17. Vatican Commandos – Housewives On Valium

18. Sonic Youth – The World Looks Red

19. Jeff & Jane Hudson – Operating Instruction

20. Glorious Strangers – Deception

21. Nona Hendryx – Transformation

22. Reagan Youth – No Class

23. Rat At Rat R – Assassin

24. Ritual Tension – Social Climber

25. The Ordinaires – Grace

     

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