Any veteran punks notice CBGB's is suddenly "En Vogue"?

[TheBlob]

This is probably gonna sound petty to anyone who didn't frequent this club in the '70's and '80's but I don't care, here goes:

What the Hell is going on out there?
Everywhere I look lately people are wearing CBGB T-Shirts.
Belly-button pop stars, Colin Farrell on The Tonight Show, teenage "Friends" clones, etc.
Young, trendy girls who obviously never attended a CB's matinee in their lives are sporting these T-Shirts while drinking their Starbucks coffee and carrying their hefty Macy's shopping bags.

I ask the veteran punks out there, is this not the antithesis of what CB's has stood for all these years?

Is this one of the punk rock signs of the end times when CBGB's has become as fashionable as Britney Spears T-Shirts?

[soleft]

1. I could ask the kids at the NYU dorm they just built next to it

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. But upstairs it's an AIDS hospice

at least, the architectural firm I was in 7 years ago was designing one for it. Pretty cool!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

23. But they would have no idea...

to them it is a historical thing... like, they know their parents, like went there and listened to like, punk rock, ya know?

[Pillowbiter]

2. What I want to know

is do they even know what CBGB's is? Or is it just some marketing name to wear on their clothes like Vuarnet or DKNY?

PB

[catzies]

12. Vuarnet is now a cool logo or name to wear? I missed that.

I'm one of only a half-dozen people I know who actually know what they are. I don't do designers and I didn't know Vuarnet was part of that now.

[FlashHarry]

3. I played there in the early nineties. It's a hole!

A glorious hole (not a glory-hole), but a hole nonetheless. The last couple of times I was in NYC and walked by, it looked as if it was hosting nothing but hardcore bands. A shame, really. The Mercury Lounge or the Continental is where it's at--circa 1999, anyway. I haven't been back for a couple of years.

BTW, I heard they closed down Coney Island High. Shame. Nice club.

[TheBlob]

13. I've played there many times as well, in the mid-eighties.

Seen a bunch of great shows there too.

As a drummer who worshipped Stewart Copeland, it meant a lot to me knowing I was playing in the exact spot where Stewart had his drums set up for the first gig The Police ever played in the United States.

A lot of fond memories reside in that little dive.

[FlashHarry]

18. My thoughts, too.

When we played there, I was thinking of The Police, Television, The Talking Heads, Blondie and The Ramones. We also played Maxwell's in Hoboken on that tour. A lot of history there, too.

[mitchum]

20. Wasn't that always a kick...

standing onstage at CBGB's, 9:30 Club, Milestone, etc and thinking "BLANK stood (or sat) here"

[GOPEC]

4. Nothing in this country is what it once stood for...

It's the nature of our economy. How many times a day do you see the ad with Blizkrieg Bop as it's soundtrack. Should I Stay or Should I Go is in the current Rugrats/Thornburys animation and London Calling was selling Jaguars for a while.

[TheBlob]

6. Well damn them all to Hell

for co-opting our sacred bands and now our clubs.

[Scurrilous]

16. The Who Sell Out.

....and the Who is selling Hummers (Happy Jack). Blech!

[roughsatori]

5. One of the NSYNC boys had a CBGB shirt on the other day

That is how capitalism works. It consumes everything and then sells it back to us. I was there many times in the 70s and early S. Nothing lasts forever. Rebellion is fashion used as a marketing tool. Rock/Pop/Hip-Hop people are more and more conformist in nature then many of the "straight" people they mock.

The shtick of rebellion is entertainment for and by the monolithic US bourgeoisie. Don't worry someday they will make CBGB's into a museum for tourists (actually that may already be the case). How ironic it makes me sad in a Joni Mitchell, not Stiv Bators way: "They paved paradise put up a parking lot."

[TheBlob]

7. "One of the NSYNC boys had a CBGB shirt on the other day"

OK now you're just trying to kill me.

[roughsatori]

11. LOL, you know the truth is I really couldn't remember

but it was someone similar. To be honest, now that I am trying to remember harder, it may have been the guy from American Idol, Justin Guarini. Or maybe it was Brabara Walters. LOL

[demgrrrll]

8. This ain't no Mud Club, no CBGB this ain't no foolin around,,n/t

.

[FlashHarry]

19. Mudd Club..

:hi:

[quispquake]

9. Bugs me too...

I can't stand it when something that is so PERSONAL to me (i.e. the punk movement & alternative music in general) is co-opted by corporate America to sell us shit...I truly HURT when I saw the Stooges "Search & Destroy" being used to sell sneakers..."Blitzkrieg Bop" selling Telephones? Argghh!!!

I guess it's because the people in marketing have never had anything that meant something to them...otherwise, they may think twice before co-opting our culture...

Just gives me another reason to SHUT OFF the TV (or watch non-commercial, like HBO or IFC...certainly not Showtime anymore after the debacle of the 9-11 movie).

[MaineDem]

10. Ahhh

CBGBs and Debbie Harry. They seem to go together for some reason. :)

[ProfessorGAC]

14. The Answers To Your Questions Are YES

These people would have wet themselves had they ever been there in the late 70's. Too scary for them.
The Professor

[PittPoliSci]

15. EXACTLY!

its really quite pathetic to see these dorks masquerading around in CBGB's stuff.

[TheBlob]

22. Thanks guys

It's good to know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

[TheBlob]

21. Yeah that's pretty much how I feel about many of the people

who are moving into the East Village these days.
The entire identity of this area is being destroyed.

[jonnyblitz]

24. well...i talked to this gay friend who is FAR from being a punk who claims

that he and his friends stopped there during a night of bar hopping, which included very trendy places like Exit and the Roxy...so go figure. These guys are the total opposite of who would have frequented CBGB's back in the day.