Hilly Kristal is Dead

Somewhere, a guitar gently pukes. Hilly Kristal is dead and American degeneracy is more aimless than ever. He was an entrepreneur who saw promise in a neighborhood crawling with junkies, poets, beatniks and bums -- not that there was much of a difference between them all -- and built a bar in a former flophouse. He called it CBGB. Pretty soon it was an institution, then a cultural landmark. A few months ago it became a rotting façade again.

His fame is through his club (though "club" is perhaps too strong a word for a joint that stank so strongly of piss and beer), but what a club it was. Punk rock was invented there, for what it's worth, where poets and glue-sniffers gathered to play guitar, sing about Rimbaud, and dance the blitzkrieg bop. Hilly welcomed them all, and so that his joint would have character he ordered his bands to play original music, not covers. It made all the difference in the world.

If there were anything resembling a guiding principle for the punk movement, it was nothing more creative and less revolutionary than a four-letter word. It was a repudiation of the bloated, pretentious shlock that had come to define mainstream rock, a chain-smoking Bronx cheer in a leather jacket.

The music that blared across the Bowery soon emanated across the Hudson and ever outward from there. In London it got politicized by anarchists and spiked with eyeliner by goths; in Los Angeles it snarled faster harder until it became hardcore; and here in Washington it turned into an underground movement described by two phrases: DIY (do-it-yourself) and emotional hardcore. It could credibly be described as the parent of both indie rock and current emo, whether or not it recognizes its own paternity.

By the time all that happened, CBGB's best times were firmly in the past. The Ramones called their 1980 album End of the Century, and it was already the end of an era. CBGB's was a small venue and punk was giving way to the next big thing. Bands like Blondie and Talking Heads, who had first played on CBGB's dirty stage, were coming to define the vastly more commercially successful genre of "new wave," and lent their prominent synthesizers and chunky guitars to the top of the charts for the next decade.

But don't feel sorry for Hilly Kristal for being left behind. He made his money. Like Lorne Michaels, he birthed a New York institution in the mid-70's, helmed it for a few years with an unerring ear for talent, and then kicked himself upstairs and lived off the proceeds for the next 30 years. He wasn't a leech, a svengali, or a charlatan. He was merely a man who defined his own era and profited well from it. Like any protestant reformation, punk has a lot to answer for, and the Martin Luther who created it did not die sinless. Through the music he nurtured that lives on, as it was said, "loud at any volume," he atones. May he rest in peace.

Comments

[martinchill]

Once I had a love and it was a gas...

[Paw1]

The sad truth about CBGB's is that by the time it shut its doors, it hadn't broken a band in over 20 years. The OG punks had moved on years before - either to arenas or obscurity - and the hardcore matinees had long since ceased. The place survived on its rep, landmark status and merchandise sales.

Having said all that, there was no real reason to shut it down. The homeless coalition that owns the building has kept it shuttered and unused since the final night. And at the end of the day, it was always comforting to think that it (and its infamous toilet) would be around forever.

RIP Hilly. RIP CBGB's. RIP Continental Divide. RIP Tramps. RIP Manny's Car Wash RIP Bottom Line. RIP Village Underground. RIP My Father's Place.

[JoDeeVa]

In his own words:
The question most often asked of me is, "What does CBGB stand for?"
I reply, "It stands for the kind of music I intended to have, but not the kind that we
became famous for:
COUNTRY BLUEGRASS BLUES."
The next question is always, "but what does OMFUG stand for?" and I say
"That's more of what we do, It means:
OTHER MUSIC FOR UPLIFTING GORMANDIZERS."
And what is a gormandizer? It's a voracious eater of,
in this case, MUSIC.

http://www.cbgb.com/history1.htm

Fare thee Well, Hilly Kristal...

[RAMHaiti]

My first band used to play at CBGB's. We also used to play Max's Kansas City. There was even a yippie club across the street from CB's which is where I saw the graffiti "eat the rich" for the first time. The stage was crooked at CB's which I never quite got use to. We played there on a snow day once. It was a January First.The one guy in the audience dancing like crazy when we played and loudly puking against the wall between songs. We convinced ourselfves that we were paying our dues. We did have some great gigs there too. Hilly was always great. Used to see him in the afternoons. Not often, just once or twice.
"Original Music". Thats exactly what we used to call it. There were a few other clubs too back in the day. Hurrah's. The Mudd Club. The Rock Lounge, which became the Reggae Lounge. The Ritz came a bit later... The "revolution" was musical. Here in Port-au-Prince I had to deal more with guns and military people. Musicians getting arrested and taken away during a gig. That sort of thing. My musical buddies went to bands like Ween and the Rollins Band and Ministry. I went to Haiti....Rest in Peace Hilly and thanks...

[wanked]

We wouldnt want any of those CRAZED punk rockers to to go spewing truth all over the place. Better jack the rent up and force the place to close. We dont want to encourage terrorist bands. Gotta protect freedom.

[seewhy]

seems like just a year or two ago when he announced he was closing the place. and also, thinking of opening a "repli-bar" in vegas! ha ha. i guess the neighborhood went all upscale on him and the little rundown facade now looked out of place amongst the condo towers.

[Libsrule]

Best thing to come out of there was THE RAMONES!!

[PaxMundis]

The irony is that he was original a folkie - CBGB stood for "Country, Bluegrass and Blues." But he loved all the kids who came in. The sad thing is that to most people these days punk began with Green Day.

[PhillyQuaker]

Patti Smith remembers Hilly.
http://pattismith.net/kristal.html