There have been many venues that provided homes for crops of acts in certain periods that turned out to have pivotal place in music history. Think of Harlem’s Cotton Club or Liverpool’s The Cavern. But few have been as small and grotty as New York’s CBGB, maybe only London’s 100 Club can come close in that respect, drawing in a similar class of punk. But pivotal? Yes!
CBGB, with its tiny non-stage, was the centre of the music world after it opened in 1973 by owner Hilly Kristal. Not that anyone knew it at the time. This was simply a collection of art kids (in the case of Talking Heads), streets kids (The Ramones), and just very cool cats on a mission to say what they want to say (Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Wayne County).
