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CBGB and OMFUG: Thirty Years from the Home of Underground Rock
Hilly Kristal originally intended his club to showcase the type of music his venue's notorious letters stand Country, Bluegrass, Blues. Little did he know his club on the Bowery would be the birthplace of a new era of music in New York Punk. While CBGB ultimately didn't describe the music the club was known for, OMFUG (Other Music for Uplifting Gormandizers) still represents what the club provides for all voracious "eaters" of music.
CBGB & OMFUG is a musical and cultural landmark, recognized worldwide and visited by countless tourists and music lovers each year. In these luminous pages, CBGB's influence and legacy is honored with 200 photos of some of the most celebrated artists in music history. With an introduction by Hilly Kristal, an afterword by David Byrne, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and cofounder of Talking Heads, and additional commentary by numerous performers and patrons, CBGB & OMFUG features unforgettable images by the many photographers who documented an American institution.
CBGB & OMFUG is a musical and cultural landmark, recognized worldwide and visited by countless tourists and music lovers each year. In these luminous pages, CBGB's influence and legacy is honored with 200 photos of some of the most celebrated artists in music history. With an introduction by Hilly Kristal, an afterword by David Byrne, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and cofounder of Talking Heads, and additional commentary by numerous performers and patrons, CBGB & OMFUG features unforgettable images by the many photographers who documented an American institution.
160 pages, Hardcover
Published July 1, 2005
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348 people want to read
About the author
Hilly Kristal
2 booksHillel Kristal was an American club owner, manager and musician who was the owner of the iconic New York City club CBGB, which opened in 1973 and closed in 2006 over a rent dispute.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 10, 2024
Just another book that makes me nostalgic for a time and a place I never got to experience ): This book is an incredible time capsule for this iconic rock venue; it’s filled with gritty images of so many bands from a bygone era. I’m so sad I was never able to see it in its glory days
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August 26, 2024Picked up this coffee table book about the legendary CBGB from the library on a whim the other week and had a lot of fun paging through it. Some stray observations:
-Shocking that CBGB stands for Country, Bluegrass and Blues as that was Hilly Kristal's original intended genre programming for his venue. Punk's most mythic concert venue became that totally by accident.
-Very funny to see the photos later in the book from the 90s when Dave Matthew Band, the Googoo Dolls, Bush and other thoroughly uncool acts graced the stage that plenty of people would say is the coolest in rock history.
-Was color photography prohibited in the venue? Why is all the photography black and white? I mean obviously it looks cool but did they actually make that a rule, only black and white photography in the venue, or in the book? Even Jim Jarmusch eventually started shooting some of his movies in color...
-A lot of the book is about the cultivation of a healthy creative ecosystem. You need a place where people feel free to play around and try out pretty much anything. The adult supervision has to be focused on what really matters - a good sound system. And performers have to want to hang around the venue even when they're not performing - meaning they need to be able to get in free, get some free drinks, etc. That way there's always an audience, and the artists become a strong, vibrant, and self sustaining community.
-Who cares what Henry Rollins thinks? Why does he get multiple quotes in the book, more than anyone else...but of course his story about the lighting guy responding to the band's request for an extremely bright, well lit stage is to run around yelling "I'm gonna make it hotter than hell up there!" is pretty good I have to admit...
-Shocking that CBGB stands for Country, Bluegrass and Blues as that was Hilly Kristal's original intended genre programming for his venue. Punk's most mythic concert venue became that totally by accident.
-Very funny to see the photos later in the book from the 90s when Dave Matthew Band, the Googoo Dolls, Bush and other thoroughly uncool acts graced the stage that plenty of people would say is the coolest in rock history.
-Was color photography prohibited in the venue? Why is all the photography black and white? I mean obviously it looks cool but did they actually make that a rule, only black and white photography in the venue, or in the book? Even Jim Jarmusch eventually started shooting some of his movies in color...
-A lot of the book is about the cultivation of a healthy creative ecosystem. You need a place where people feel free to play around and try out pretty much anything. The adult supervision has to be focused on what really matters - a good sound system. And performers have to want to hang around the venue even when they're not performing - meaning they need to be able to get in free, get some free drinks, etc. That way there's always an audience, and the artists become a strong, vibrant, and self sustaining community.
-Who cares what Henry Rollins thinks? Why does he get multiple quotes in the book, more than anyone else...but of course his story about the lighting guy responding to the band's request for an extremely bright, well lit stage is to run around yelling "I'm gonna make it hotter than hell up there!" is pretty good I have to admit...
August 27, 2019
Hermoso recorrido en fotos que va retratando año tras año la historia del lugar más emblemático del under. Una joyita.
September 7, 2007
people of a certain age will get all warm & fuzzy perusing this book. (& rightly so!) wonderful, gritty photos of pre-legendary musicians from an age long gone. a pure, visual joy for youngsters & oldsters alike.
June 7, 2011
I think this was an interesting book about how the punk scene was along time ago. I find this book interesting to read because it shows pictures of the bands that used to play there and they had a summary about them. For example the Ramones would play at CBGB.
May 24, 2011
My favorite music in the world was born inside CBGBs. I hate that I never made my way there before it closed down. This book is a phenomenal time capsule of that historic venue and the culture it unleashed upon the world.
February 14, 2007
good pictorial history of modern music's last great shrine.
January 1, 2009
Like watching a movie of the club that started. The ramones, the new york dolls, and many more bands.
January 1, 2011
Great pictoral essay of a lost era.
May 18, 2011
Great shots, could use a few more stories.
February 26, 2014
Excellent. Sorry I never went there. Sort of.
April 20, 2014
it is now a shoe shop
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews