The Beginnings of Punk in the East Village – How the Ramones Came to CBGB

On August 16, 1974, a young, four-man rock group took the stage at a dingy East Village bar. Unbeknownst to those attending, this event would become legendary in the punk and music scenes, so much so that momentous occassion would be celebrated decades later. This is, of course, The Ramone’s first performance at the legendary CBGB. The band and venue would continue to have a close and mutually beneficial relationship for many decades, with the Ramones playing at CBGB over 70 times. Let’s take a look back at the beginnings of the Ramones and CBGB to see how their iconic creative partnership came to be.

The Beginning of the Ramones

While the downtown scene in Manhattan has become synonymous with The Ramones, it was the borough of Queens where the band began. Tommy Erdelyi, John Cummings, Doug Colvin, and Jeffrey Hayman grew up in the “model suburb” of Forest Hills in the 1960s. Home to Forest Hills Stadium and Flushing Meadows Corona Park, this neighborhood of Queens drew many middle-class families during the time. 

While at Forest Hills High School, Tommy, John, and Doug formed a band called The Tangerine Puppets. Inspired by the Beatles and Mod fashion of the time, this group was a far cry from the speedy, grungy style they would later become known for.

Separately, Jeffrey Hyman was getting his musical start in a glam rock band called Sniper. Going by the alias “Jeff Starship”, Hyman and the band played at many of the happening downtown venues of the time, including the mob-operated Club 82.

After getting kicked out of Sniper, Jeffrey was invited by John and Doug to join them in creating a new group. Doug decided to call himself DeeDee Ramone, after Paul McCartney’s pseudonym Paul Ramon, and the rest of the band followed suit. John became Johnny Ramone and Jeffrey became Joey Ramone. Tommy soon joined the group, initially as the band’s manager, and then as the drummer, Tommy Ramone. 

Initial Ramone’s rehearsals happened in the basement of Joey’s mom’s art gallery on Queen’s Boulevard. The band’s very first performance happened on March 30, 1974, at Performance Space (23 East 20th Street). This initial show wasn’t wildly successful. As author Everett True said, “It was by all accounts, appalling.” Thankfully, by the time the band performed at CBGB later that year, they had solidified their sound and put on a promising show.

The Beginning of CBGB

CBGB owner Hilly Kristal started his career as a musician, and after being frustratingly close to signing with Atlantic Records in the late ‘50s, transitioned to working as a manager and booker for the Village Vanguard. He then opened his first bar, a cabaret club called Hilly’s, at 62 West 9th Street. 

Hilly then turned his attention to starting a bar in the East Village and opened “Hilly’s on the Bowery” at 315 Bowery in 1969. This address also housed the Palace Hotel, a flophouse with 105 windowless cubicles and 224 beds, which could be purchased for as little as $2.85 a night. The residents of the Palace Hotel became a major clientele at Hilly’s new bar, though this traffic wasn’t enough to prevent the dire financial strains that quickly plagued the spot. 

Because of Hilly’s experience in the music industry, he decided to try to remedy the bar’s financial problems by beginning to bring in live performances. Rebranding the bar to match this new venture, he came up with the name CBGB OMFUG (standing for Country, Bluegrass and Blues and Other Music for Uplifting Gourmandizers). 

While Hilly intended to have CBGB present acts that were primarily Country, Bluegrass, and Blues music, the interest of local rock and punk bands to play at CBGB quickly changed this. For the opening night of CBGB, Hilly began creating a roster of jazz musicians. Glam punk band the Magic Tramps asked Hilly if they could perform, to which Hilly said no. In response, the band offered to build CBGB’s first stage in exchange for a place in the program, and Hilly agreed.

Similar bands followed suit. In 1973, the popular performance spot Mercer Arts Center tragically collapsed, killing 4 people and leaving the city without the valued performance space. Thus many bands were looking for new places to play. The band Television began playing consistently at CBGB, quickly bringing in other acts to play with them, including the already successful Patti Smith. 

The Ramones come to CBGB

The Ramones came upon CBGB at the recommendation of the band Jane County. By this time, Hilly had opened the stage to almost anyone interested in playing. As author Everett True says, “It’s just a cruddy neighborhood bar where almost literally anybody can come play. And when these bands start playing there, they are not good bands…. And it doesn’t matter. Because Hilly sees something in them, and the overhead is so low…”

So, on August 16, 1974, the band Angel and the Snake (later changing their name to Blondie) took the CBGB stage, with none other than the Ramones as their opening act.

A Continuing Legacy

The Ramones would go on to produce seventeen live and studio albums and play 2,263 shows until they broke up in 1996. Their influence and success is in large part thanks to Hilly and CBGB.

CBGB closed its doors on October 15, 2006 due to lease issues. Patti Smith performed for the bar’s send off, an event that was highly publicized and widely attended. The iconic performance venue has now been replaced by that of luxury brand John Varvatos.

In 2003, the corner of the Bowery and East 2nd Street, outside what was then still CBGB’s, was named “Joey Ramone Place.”  In 2013, the building that was once CBGB, 315 Bowery, was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Bowery National Register of Historic Places District.

Village Preservation has a plethora of resources to learn more about the history of Punk Rock in the East Village:

Visit our Guided Punk Rock Tour as a part of our East Village Building Blocks Project.

Check out historic images of the Bowery through our Historic Image Archive.

See all the images in our Historic Image Archive of CBGB.