2008 Woodie Awards
CBGB: The Club That Saved Rock
Venue closes after steady decline
Emily Esguerra
Issue date: 11/7/06 Section: Detour
Though there are few clubs in America that can take credit for fostering some of the greatest punk and rock musicians of our time, the one that stood proudest was the legendary CBGB in New York City. For those who have never experienced the greatness of the CBGB, I'm afraid that your fate has already been been decided, as the 36-year-old club closed permanently this October. However, recent times at the CBGB were nothing compared to the hard-core days of its youth, turning into more of a hang out for NYU students, rock & roll old timers, and young native New Yorkers. Founder and owner Hilly Kristal opened the CBGB in 1973, in hopes to attract the musical fans of the club's acronym: Country Bluegrass Blues. But Kristal's plans for a Country Bluegrass Blues crowd backlashed, and instead he created the greatest underground rock club in American history. Kristal states, "Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, things didn't work out quite the way I'd expected." Little did Kristal know at the time, that there would be many more unexpected additions to his rock and roll empire.
The club's full name is CBGB & OMFUG, though most simply know it as the "CBGB," and many people are more often bewildered by the second acronym to the club's name, than the first. So what does OMFUG stand for? Kristal replies, "That's more of what we do. It means Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers;" a gormandizer being a voracious eater of, in this scenario, music. However, it wasn't the music that was attracting fans to the club in its later years, but its history. New York University student and next door neighbor to the CBGB, Bronwyn James, sheds the same sentiments as a frequent CBGB clubber: "I guess it was inevitable that it wouldn't always be able to host Blondie and the Ramones, but people still appreciated it for its history and we're even proud to say that we've been there."
Though its elder years weren't as successful as its younger ones, hundreds of New Yorkers still attended nightly events and concerts at the club. James remarks, "I live right next door and there would be people out every night, usually just a bunch of hipsters smoking, but the sidewalks on this block were never empty." Even in its glory days the club was seen as an outlet for good, solid, "back to basics" kind of rock, particularly because the club opened in the summit of the Disco era. Kristal states, "The formula driven Disco music and the long drawn out solos and other complexities in much of the rock of the late '60s and early '70s encouraged a lot of disgruntled rock enthusiasts to seek the refreshing rhythms and sounds of simple, high energy rock and roll, which seemed to take place right here at CBGB." And rock and roll they did, even in the final minutes prior to the club closing.
The club's full name is CBGB & OMFUG, though most simply know it as the "CBGB," and many people are more often bewildered by the second acronym to the club's name, than the first. So what does OMFUG stand for? Kristal replies, "That's more of what we do. It means Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers;" a gormandizer being a voracious eater of, in this scenario, music. However, it wasn't the music that was attracting fans to the club in its later years, but its history. New York University student and next door neighbor to the CBGB, Bronwyn James, sheds the same sentiments as a frequent CBGB clubber: "I guess it was inevitable that it wouldn't always be able to host Blondie and the Ramones, but people still appreciated it for its history and we're even proud to say that we've been there."
Though its elder years weren't as successful as its younger ones, hundreds of New Yorkers still attended nightly events and concerts at the club. James remarks, "I live right next door and there would be people out every night, usually just a bunch of hipsters smoking, but the sidewalks on this block were never empty." Even in its glory days the club was seen as an outlet for good, solid, "back to basics" kind of rock, particularly because the club opened in the summit of the Disco era. Kristal states, "The formula driven Disco music and the long drawn out solos and other complexities in much of the rock of the late '60s and early '70s encouraged a lot of disgruntled rock enthusiasts to seek the refreshing rhythms and sounds of simple, high energy rock and roll, which seemed to take place right here at CBGB." And rock and roll they did, even in the final minutes prior to the club closing.