On December 10, 1973, Hilly Kristal’s biker bar at 315 Bowery in Manhattan’s East Village became CBGB OMFUG (Country, BlueGrass and Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers).
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| CBGB at 315 Bowery |
Although his original vision for the club of country, bluegrass and blues didn’t come to fruition it did become a lightning rod for the protopunk and punk movement in New York City.
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| Hilly Kristal (1931-2007) |
Bands such as the Patti Smith Group, Television, Blondie and the Talking Heads got started there.
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| Television (1974) |
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| Blondie (1975) |
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| Talking Heads (1977) |
The Ramones played their first official show at CBGB in August of 1974 and then went on to play there almost every other day for the remainder of that year.
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The Ramones - Basically CBGB’s house band
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CBGB closed its doors for the last time on October 15th, 2006 over a rent dispute with a final concert by Patti Smith with many special guests.
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Flea with Patti Smith (10/15/2006)
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