News > Music > R.I.P. Hilly Kristal

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THURSDAY AUGUST 30 2007 5:07 PM

This is turning out to be a pretty sad month for rock music fans. First Tony Wilson, and now this: Hilly Kristal, founder of the legendary rock venue CBGB, passed away this past Tuesday due to complications of lung cancer. He was 75-years-old.

Kristal opened CBGB in 1973 in the then-low-rent, rough-and-tumble Bowery neighborhood. He originally intended to showcase "country, bluegrass, and blues," as the acronym CBGB suggests, but, as he wrote in his website's "history" section:

Unfortunately- or perhaps FORTUNATELY- things didn't work out quite the way I 'd expected.

How it did work out, as you already know, was that Kristal provided a venue for the burgeoning punk and art rock scene, playing host to performances by kickass, groundbreaking artists like Television, Patti Smith, Bad Brains, the Talking Heads, and the Ramones. Though he was skeptical at first, he took a chance on these new groups and gave them a place to play.

On the Ramones (via NPR):

They were yelling at each other on stage, and fighting, and their amps would go on and off...it was a fiasco. But they all wanted to play and convinced me again. And of course, they did get better, didn't they?

Though the quality and "relevance" of CBGB's shows arguably declined somewhat in the 90's and 00's, Kristal persisted in booking unknown acts in addition to larger ones. The club's Monday night audition gigs were a chance for fledgling bands to play on that famous stage and get a listen from one of the club's bookers.

When rising rent and gentrification forced Kristal to close the club in fall 2006, the place went out with a bang, with performances from surviving rock heroes like Bad Brains, Patti Smith, Marky Ramone, and Blondie. He talked about moving the club to Vegas, and it will be interesting to see what happens to it now. Hopefully it will remain a shrine to the greats of punk... though this seems unlikely, as pieces of the rock history are already being auctioned off on ebay, according to the CBGB website.

In any case, music history and New York City culture just wouldn't be the same if it weren't for Hilly Kristal's openness to new forms of expression. R.I.P., man...have fun hanging out with Joey Ramone and Sid Vicious in that dirty punk rock castle in the sky.

CBGB Tribute

Blondie

The Ramones

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Comments

Saraphine

SUICIDEGIRL

Pennsylvania, USA

AUG 30, 2007 09:06 PM

DownNeck said:
feenie beat me to it

I like the nicknames you make for me!

910dohead

Palm Springs, CA

September 2002

AUG 30, 2007 10:18 PM

Didn't OMFUG stand for Original Music From Unknown Groups?

I take it back. I looked it up. It stood for 'Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers'. I've been saying it wrong for years.

legionnaire

Belgium

November 2003

AUG 30, 2007 10:53 PM

While the influence and importance of CBGB's can't be denied - before we all wax too nostalgic about the club, realize that it wasn't closed because of gentrification, it was closed because Kristal was skimping on his rent. And it wasn't to a greedy corporate landlord, it was to the Bowery Residents' Committee, a homeless shelter that runs outreach and addiction programs and owns the club space.

I truly appreciate everything that Kristal did for punk music and regret his death, I just wish it all hadn't ended on a sour note.

Benzino

Winnipeg, MB

November 2006

AUG 30, 2007 11:49 PM

I'm not big into punk music, but this is a great loss. What he did for music is and will be remembered as legendary.

Tiger_Fodder

Braintree, MA

June 2007

AUG 31, 2007 03:56 AM

As I said in my blog, through High School and College, I hung out at CBGB's seeing some of the best punk bands of the 80s there, including The Ramones, The Dead Kennedy's, The Circle Jerks, Agnostic Front, Cause for Alarm, The Exploited, GBH, Murphy's Law, MDC, Channel 3, The Bad Brains and even The Beastie Boys. The closing of CBs last October, and the death of Hilly now, leave a hole in the hearts of those kids like me that grew up going to the all-age matinee shows or later to marathon shows that went through 4 AM. Many bands like Television, NY Dolls, Blondie, the Talking Heads and the Ramones owe much of their success to Hilly. All the acts that followed and were influenced by them, from the Sex Pistols to Green Day, have of course benefitted as well. RIP, Hilly!

anonymouse

Miami Beach, FL

OLD SKOOL

AUG 31, 2007 04:29 AM

The tee shirt emporium is closed.

(Was that a dick thing to say?)