CBGB-OMFUG
CBGB was a music club that was located at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in Manhattan. The full name of the club was CBGB & OMFUG, which stands for Country Bluegrass Blues and Other Music for Uplifting Gormandizers. Known by many as purely CB’s now, the club opened in December 1973 and became famous as the birthplace of the American punk rock movement. CBGB’s was the hotspot for bands that were on tour in New York City. During the 70’s and 80’s when the penchant for that type of music was rising, CBGB housed many musical groups to perform American punk music. Acts such as the Ramones, Misfits, the Patti Smith Group, Mink DeVille, The Dead Boys, The Dictators, The Fleshtones, The Cramps, Blondie, The Shirts, and Talking Heads played at the CBGB club.
Thirty-three years later on October 15, 2006 CBGB hosted its final concert, before it was forced to close due to rent payment issues. Patti Smith, “the godmother of punk,” was the final act in one of New York’s most iconic music venues. CBGB is iconic because it founded, in a way, the musical genre of American punk rock. Patti Smith became a prominent element of the New York City punk rock movement partly because of the CBGB venue.
