I feel very fortunate to live in New York City and be a part of everything that’s going on here now, but I also have nostalgia for the New York that was, which is a New York I never knew. I glimpsed hints of it in obscure song references and books and movies. Remember the Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime”? “This ain’t no Mudd Club, no CBGB, I ain’t got time for that now.”
How I wish I could have been at CBGB in the 70s or 80s! In case you don’t know, CBGB stood for Country, BlueGrass, and Blues, Hilly Kristal’s original vision for the club, yet CBGB soon became a famed venue of punk rock and new wave bands like the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith Group, Blondie, and Talking Heads. From the early 1980s onward, CBGB was known for hardcore punk. I had Blondie and Talking Heads on vinyl, and even played “Burning Down the House” during my mortgage burning party. But that’s a far cry from actually being here to be a part of the scene.
The full name of the club was CBGB OMFUG — Other Music for Uplifting Gormandizers. Although a gormandizer is usually a ravenous eater of food, what Kristal meant was “a voracious eater of… music.” What a guy! What a club. What amazing musicians and an exciting time in music history. Remember the Ramones’ “Rockaway Beach“?
Yesterday I went to Rockaway Beach with my friend Nikki, where I had the thrill of meeting a few native New Yorkers who actually hung out at CBGB back in the day. Walter Barry was a friend of Peter Steele of Carnivore, who was later in Type O Negative, an American gothic metal band formed in Brooklyn, New York in 1989, by Peter Steele (lead vocals, bass), Kenny Hickey (guitar, backing vocals), Josh Silver (keyboards, backing vocals), and Sal Abruscato (drums, percussions), who was later replaced by Johnny Kelly.
TON’s lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname “the Drab Four” (in homage to the Beatles’ “Fab Four” moniker). The band went Platinum with 1993’s Bloody Kisses, and Gold with 1996’s October Rust, and gained a fanbase through seven studio albums, two best-of compilations, and concert DVDs. The photo above is Peter Steele at CBGB, which Walter has on his iPhone to this day! Walter also still gets royalties to this day for singing backup on two TON songs. Cool!
We’ve made plans for Walter, his wife Karen, Nikki, and me to go see the Queen movie, Bohemian Rhapsody, when it comes out in November. Music is truly the universal language. I think in our time it has had a bigger impact than any other form of creative expression. And places like CBGB are the crucibles that the music gets mashed up in.