Yes, 39 years ago today,
The Ramones played their first CBGBs show. And that’s where it all started.
Well, there were influences before that, and The Ramones played other places
for smaller guest audiences earlier, but punk rock was born that day: August
16, 1974, when they went pro and made CBGBs into a cultural landmark (not
appreciated by the city, by the way). It wasn’t an immediate success, but it
built into a movement, and it worked its way around the world like a pandemic. And
three years to the day later, Elvis died (in what I heard was intended as a protest
against these young ruffians and their progeny. Okay, maybe not. But it was an
ironic passing of the torch, anniversary-wise, especially as the whole mission
of The Ramones was to bring back the fun and the fury of the 1950s rock n’ roll, of
which Elvis was “The King”.).
