Hilly Kristal died today from lung cancer. To be honest I don't know much about him other than he is personally responsible for punk rock as I know and love it today. He founded the legendary club CBGB in New York and without it the Ramones probably never would have found a voice and a following. No Ramones would mean no Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Toy Dolls, Adolescents, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Descendents or any other punk/hardcore band from the 70's and 80's. Each of those bands, in turn, inspired hundreds upon hundreds other bands to pick up a pen and start writing songs about rebellion and being different.
Not only did he offer a microphone to the world for the Ramones, he basically let anyone who wrote their own songs and could draw a small crowd play at his club. Punks from all over the world had a big city place to get their sound out. There is not a nationally known punk band around today that didn't play CBGB at one point in time before it closed in October of last year. Many got their start there and others made it a tour stop, but the context doesn't matter. The point is you can't consider yours a successful, true punk band if you haven't played CBGB.
As far as I'm concerned Hilly Kristal, no matter how indirect, gave birth to the punk scene and started a movement. Now some people might argue that even if the Ramones didn't make it there was the Sex Pistols pioneering punk in England. Bullshit. The Sex Pistols didn't have any staying power and no one who followed them cared enough about anything to actually do something worth while. Ok, ok...maybe that's a bit of an over generalization, but my point is the Sex Pistols were just a group of brats who cared less about doing something important then just pissing off anyone who would look in their general direction. Sid Vicious can rot in hell (swastikas are not punk).
I digress...
Hilly Kristal - R.I.P.
(sorry, I have a tendency to go off on tangents)
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