CBGB Book Reviews

CBGB by Richard Hell, Christopher D. Salyers & John K. Putnam Book Summary

CBGB, the music club that helped define New York City’s punk scene by introducing the world to such bands as the Talking Heads, Blondie, Television, Misfits, Patti Smith, and the Ramones, is little more than a bar, a stage and two bathrooms. From 1973 to it's demise in 2006, very little had changed about the physical space, with one exception: the graffiti. The club had never stopped its patrons from adding to the mosaics of ink and pencil that literally covered every square inch of the club’s walls. As grimy and layered with ink as they were, the walls contained the history of the club, from the musicians on stage to the fans who barked back.

CBGB: Decades of Graffiti documents this phenomenon. The verve of the lettering and the passionate, drunken silliness of the words and messages echo the power and innovation of the countless hours of music that have screamed off the stage. Ephemeral and fleeting as those emotions are, they are things people want to possess, and this book will provide the opportunity to do so. While CBGB’s reputation is rooted in the music, the music spawned a scene that people now associate with the club as a physical space. Without the music, there would be no club; the same as without the club there would be no music. Without this book, there would be no record of these graphic treatments of the punk aesthetic, especially since the club will soon no longer exist.

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