Mention the fabled name CBGB, and a number of artists are instantly conjured in one’s head, foremost among them usually being Television, The Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, The Cramps and the like. If you’re a wee bit younger, you might sooner cite the Bad Brains, Kraut, Agnostic Front or maybe the Cro-Mags. You also wouldn’t be wrong to maybe think of Sonic Youth or Teenage Jesus or SWANS or Cop Shoot Cop. While they vary in style and intensity, all of these names ultimately stem from a common thread, that being Punk Rock.
While it’s inarguably true that CBGB was the flashpoint of all things Punk, this isn’t to say that Punk Rock was all said venue played host to. It’s prudent to remember that the initials originally stood for owner Hilly Kristal’s preferred brands of music, that being Country, Bluegrass and Blues. But, as they say, sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
Personally speaking, I saw a number of different acts at CBGB over the course of the latter half of the 80’s and into the 90’s. While nine tenths of those shows had something to do with punk, there were certainly exceptions to that rule. I believe I saw a friend's girlfriend perform some kind of acoustic folk act there one night. I also believe there was booing involved.
A fine –- if extreme -– example of this might be that scene in “Staying Alive,” the abortive sequel to “Saturday Night Fever” wherein lunkheaded Tony Manero’s girlfriend –- played by Cynthia Rhodes --- gets up at CBGB to sing strikingly banal, middle-of-the road balladry alongside a scowling Frank Stallone on the same, grotty stage that was simultaneously home to bands like the Dead Boys, Cause for Alarm and Letch Patrol.
I wrote a post about this strange cameo way back in 2007 (in a post in dire need of paragraph breaks). Find that post here, if you care, but here’s a clip of that scene now…
Hard to fathom, eh?
In any case, the only reason I’m bringing this up is because of the clip below I stumbled upon from as recent as 1992 (for some of us, at least, that year still illogically seems recent). As further ample proof that CBGB didn’t have some kind of absolute “punks only” rule, here’s arguably indefensible mainstream metal act Law & Order zealously flipping their hair around within the atmospherically divey interiors of CBGB.
I’m assuming either they were aiming to capture some kind of gritty, street vibe… or maybe the Cat Club and the Scrap Bar were closed the day of the shoot.
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