NEW YORK — THE BIRTH OF PUNK
CBGB, downtown Manhattan and the scene that changed everything
By the mid-1970s, punk had found its center in downtown New York. Around CBGB, Max’s Kansas City and a small network of clubs, lofts and apartments, a generation of artists was creating a new language — direct, independent and deliberately outside the conventions of the music industry.
The Ramones reduced rock and roll to its essential elements. Patti Smith brought poetry and performance into the club. Television, Richard Hell, Blondie, Talking Heads, the Dead Boys and Johnny Thunders each pushed the scene in different directions, while photographers working from inside this community created the images through which much of it is remembered today.
These photographs document more than performances and personalities. They record the clubs, streets, relationships and fleeting encounters of a downtown culture before it became an international movement.
The Ramones reduced rock and roll to its essential elements. Patti Smith brought poetry and performance into the club. Television, Richard Hell, Blondie, Talking Heads, the Dead Boys and Johnny Thunders each pushed the scene in different directions, while photographers working from inside this community created the images through which much of it is remembered today.
These photographs document more than performances and personalities. They record the clubs, streets, relationships and fleeting encounters of a downtown culture before it became an international movement.
