The fact that punk broke through out of nowhere in London in 1976 has been relegated to the realm of legends several times. With “The Blank Generation” by Ivan Král and Amos Poe, a film document has also been available since 1976 that bears witness to an immensely busy American scene with deep roots.
Patti Smith, Television, The Ramones or the Talking Heads didn’t need help from the Sex Pistols and Malcolm McLaren. It was probably the other way around.
Again and again new old film and video clips with concert recordings from the New York proto-punk scene appear, mostly from the legendary club “CBGB” (short: CB). In addition, with “Max’s Kansas City” (Max’s for short) in Manhattan, there was another decisive melting pot that is often forgotten. The brand new documentary “Nightclubbing: The Birth of Punk Rock in NYC” now compensates for this shortcoming.
From the Velvet Underground to Liz Taylor, from Jane Fonda to Frank Zappa
The title, of course, quotes Iggy Pop’s hit song of the same name. It says: “We see people, brand new people, they’re something to see…” Meeting people, brand new people, was an important unique selling point at “Max’s”. They didn’t let everyone in there. Andy Warhol’s “Factory” was only a few steps away, he and his “superstars” used the club as an extended living room. In doing so, the establishment built important bridges between different subcultures and the mainstream. Listing all the guests here would lead to endless name dropping: from the Velvet Underground to Liz Taylor, from Jane Fonda to Frank Zappa. It was here, for example, that Iggy Pop met David Bowie, who later became his mentor. And Malcolm McLaren promoted the band The New York Dolls before flying back to London. But that’s another story.
“Nightclubbing” was shot by Danny Garcia, a punk fan from Barcelona who has already submitted portraits of The Clash and Sid Vicious. In front of his camera, he assembled two handfuls of eyewitnesses who were willing to share information: for example, transgender pioneer Jayne County (statuary), Patty Smith guitarist Lanny Kaye (authentic), creepy rocker Alice Cooper (nice) and original punker Billy Idol (sporty). Their chatter is interspersed with archive footage, and for obvious legal reasons we often only see photos, accompanied by indifferent music. The passages with original recordings like The Testors or Sid Vicous turn out to be much more energetic.
For lovers, “nightclubbing” provides important missing links that round off the overall picture of the punk phenomenon. However, one should not expect analytical depth of field like in the books by Greil Marcus or Simon Reynolds. At the same time, the film shows once again what a rough, inhospitable place New York must have been in the late 70s and early 80s. Drugs, prostitution or the mafia also had direct access to “Max’s”, which was anything but a “protected space”. Johnny Blitz, drummer for the Dead Boys, was attacked by a gang on his way to the club in April 1978 and received 17 life-threatening stab wounds. He barely survived. Max’s closed forever in 1981.
Nightclubbing: The Birth of Punk Rock in NYC“Lichtblick” cinema, July 30 at 8:15 p.m
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