New York’s lower east side club CBGB (not operating anymore) became legendary as Ground Zero for the growth of the city’s punk rock scene in the ’70s, with such bands as Television, Ramones, Blondie and soon after Patti Smith and Talking Heads. Now the club is being celebrated with a 4-CD box set from U.K. label Cherry Red Records.
The collection, CBGB: A New York City Soundtrack 1975-1986, will be released on Jan. 30, 2026. It’s available for pre-order in the U.S./worldwide here.
The venue’s official name, CBGB & OMFUG, was actually an acronym for Country, Bluegrass, Blues, and Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers, though it’s doubtful whether its denizens knew what it stood for.
From the label’s announcement: In December 1973 Hilly Kristal—a photo of him in front of the club is on the cover of the box set—changed the name of his roots music bar from Hilly’s on the Bowery to CBGB and altered his musical policy to hire mostly rock bands. He was indifferent to many of them (“No one is going to like you guys, but I’ll have you back,” he told Joey Ramone), blissfully unaware of how important his scruffy little club would soon become.
Those five groups quickly got record deals and became popular enough to outgrow CBGB’s. By the fall of 1977, Smith was the only one who was still playing there. What succeeded the Big Five was an array of new and retro styles: No Wave (Sonic Youth, Bush Tetras), post-punk (Ritual Tension, Khmer Rouge), mutant funk and R&B (James Chance & The Contortions, Mink DeVille), art-rock, hardcore punk (Bad Brains, Beastie Boys), and power pop (The dBs).
