This Ain’t No Disco: The Story of CBGB
By Roman Kozak

$22.95 in paperback, $8.75 eBook

On the Bowery in New York City, CBGB became the birthplace of punk and new wave in America in the 1970s. The Ramones, Blondie, Television, Talking Heads and many other groundbreaking bands got their start in the rock club on New York’s Bowery. Years later, CBGB became the cauldron for the New York hardcore scene.

Originally issued in 1988 and out of print for decades, This Ain't No Disco is a detailed warts-and-all history, with memories, stories and gossip from dozens of insiders who worked, played or just hung out at CBGB. Written long before the legend overtook the reality — while the club was open and most of the principals alive — this is the real story, told in gritty, outrageous and sometimes hilarious detail.

The text includes unguarded quotes from CBGB founder Hilly Kristal, Joey Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone (the Ramones), Clem Burke and Chris Stein (Blondie), David Byrne (Talking Heads), Jim Carroll, Willy DeVille (Mink DeVille), Annie Golden (Shirts), Richard Hell and Richard Lloyd (Television), Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), Handsome Dick Manitoba (Dictators), Wendy O. Williams (Plasmatics) and many others.

This 2024 edition includes a new foreword by Chris Frantz of Talking Heads, 12 pages of photographs by Ebet Roberts and historical reporting about the club's closing in 2006.

230 pages, illustrated. Paperback and eBook. Published 10/15/2024.
ISBN (paperback) 979-8989828333
eBook 979-8989828340

From the foreword by Chris Frantz:

On March 18, 2002, Talking Heads and the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in our first year of eligibility. Both bands famously began their careers at CBGB. Talking Heads invited Hilly Kristal to join us onstage as we accepted our award. We wanted to show our gratitude to him for providing us with a stage where we could hone our craft and establish ourselves as a band.

CBGB was like an incubator where young bands could develop their own unique style without any interference from the mainstream music business. CBGB was a place that not only allowed, but encouraged, self-expression, and the bands who played there had a lot of ideas to express. We thought that CBGB would be for us like the Cavern Club in Liverpool had been for the Beatles, and we weren’t wrong about that.

Despite its seedy Bowery address, the club became internationally known as a cool place to hang out and rub shoulders with young musicians, writers, painters and filmmakers. These were artists who were ready to get it on and, with time, they created cultural landmarks.