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The Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, & More Punk-Era Greats Featured on Upcoming Box Set Celebrating Famed NYC Punk Club CBGB

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A new CD box set celebrating the first decade or so of the legendary New York City punk club CBGB will be released on January 30, 2026. CBGB – A New York City Soundtrack 1975-1986 is a four-CD collection featuring 101 tracks.

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The expansive compilation features songs by the early punk bands and acts that helped earn the gritty downtown Manhattan venue its reputation as ground zero for the punk-rock explosion in the U.S. Among the groups and artists featured in the box set are the Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie, Talking Heads, and Television.

[RELATED: New Ramones Box Set Features Atmos Mixes of the Punk Legends’ First Four Albums]

Beyond those famous acts, the box set also includes tracks by other influential groups who performed at CBGB during its early heyday, among them The Dictators, The Cramps, Suicide, The Dead Boys, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, and ex-New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders’ band The Heartbreakers.

CBGB – A New York City Soundtrack also features tracks by noteworthy artists from various other genres and punk offshoots—including New Wave, No Wave, post-punk, hardcore, power pop, avant-jazz, and funk—who played at the club in the late 1970s and 1980s. These include Mink Deville, James Chance & The Contortions, The dB’s, The Bongos, The Lounge Lizards, Minor Threat, Bush Tetras, Beastie Boys, Bad Brains, Sonic Youth, and Nona Hendryx.

In addition, the box set offers up tracks by a variety of lesser-known groups who are worth revisiting.

A dozen songs on the compilation have never been available on CD before. Two tracks, “Come On Up” by The Planets and “Next Question” by Urban Verbs, are previously unreleased.

You can=pre-order the box set now at CherryRed.co.uk.

More About CBGB

Owner Hilly Kristal opened CBGB in December 1973 at the site of his previous bar, Hilly’s, at 315 Bowery. The venue full named was CBGB & OMFUG, which stood for “Country, Bluegrass, Blues, and Other Music for Uplifting Gourmandizers.” Kristal initially intended to hire roots artists to play at the bar, but soon shifted its focus to rock groups when bands like Television and the Ramones started playing gigs there during its early days.

CBGB soon developed a reputation for being the place one of the most popular places for young, edgy, and offbeat artists to perform in New York City.

CBGB continued to be a relatively popular music venue until it closed in October 2006. Patti Smith was the final artist to perform at the club. Kristal died from complications of lung cancer in August 2007 at age 75.

Since April 2008, the site of CBGB has been occupied by a John Varvatos high-end fashion store. The store occasionally hosts concerts and other rock-related events that celebrate CBGB’s legacy.

CBGB – A New York City Soundtrack 1975-1986 Track List:

Disc One

  1. “(I Live for) Cars and Girls” – The Dictators
  2. “S&M (I Can’t Live Without You)” – The Harlots of 42nd Street
  3. “S&M – Leather Queen” – The Magic Tramps
  4. “Free Money” – Patti Smith
  5. “Be a Man” – The Brats
  6. “Travelin’ Man” – City Lights
  7. “Call Me” – The Hounds*
  8. “It Was So Funny (That Song That They Sung)” – Erasers
  9. “Beat on the Brat” – Ramones
  10. “Everybody’s Depraved” (Live at CBGB) – Stuart’s Hammer
  11. “Come On Up” – The Planets (Previously unreleased)
  12. “Not Enough Girls (in the World)” – Milk ‘n’ Cookies
  13. “They Live by Night” – Just Water
  14. “See No Evil” – Television
  15. “Crocodile Tears” – Mumps
  16. “Born to Lose” – The Heartbreakers
  17. “You Don’t Break My Heart” – Testors
  18. “Ain’t Nothing to Do” – The Dead Boys
  19. “You Really Piss Me Off” – The Senders
  20. “F*** Off” – The Electric Chairs
  21. “Forgive and Forget” – Marbles
  22. “Hard as a Rock” – Cherry Vanilla
  23. “Fun City” – Tuff Darts
  24. “A Clean Break (Let’s Work)” (Live) – Talking Heads

Disc Two

  1. “Ghost Rider” – Suicide
  2. “I Feel Bad” – Pure Hell
  3. “Room to Rage” – Helen Wheels
  4. “Picture This” – Blondie
  5. “Helen Forsdale” – Mars
  6. “Don’t Walk on the Kitchen Floor” – Come On
  7. “‘A’ Train Lady” – Mink Deville
  8. “Instant Love” – The Heat*
  9. “Aye Co’lorado” – Genya Ravan
  10. “Lovin’ in the Red” – Theoretical Girls
  11. “The Kid with the Replaceable Head” – Richard Hell & The Voidoids
  12. “Pink Stillettos” – The Stillettos
  13. “Baby, Let’s Stick Together” – The Paley Brothers
  14. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Alive” – Neon Leon*
  15. “The Way (You Touch My Hand)” – Revelons
  16. “Just Like Dresden ’45” – New York Ni**ers
  17. “Fun House” – L.O.K.*
  18. “O.A.O.” – Material
  19. “I Need a Million” – The Laughing Dogs
  20. “Combat Love” – Shrapnel
  21. “Heart Disease” – Peroxide
  22. “Christmas Weather” – Student Teachers
  23. “Breakin’ in My Heart” – Tom Verlaine
  24. “Number Nine” – Richard Lloyd
  25. “Jailhouse Rock” (Live at CBGB 1978) – James Chance & The Contortions

Disc Three

  1. “Garbage Man” – The Cramps
  2. “I Don’t Wanna Dance (with You)” – The Dots*
  3. “We Deliver” – The Miamis
  4. “Shift the Blame” – Model Citizens
  5. “Black and White” – The dB’s
  6. “On the Beach” – The Rattlers
  7. “The Revolution Is Personal” – Love of Life Orchestra
  8. “Next Question” – Urban Verbs (Previously unreleased)
  9. “Teenage News” – Sylvain Sylvain
  10. “Loud Fast Rules” – Stimulators
  11. “Reduced” – Tot Rocket and the Twins
  12. “Telephoto Lens” – The Bongos
  13. “I’m Searchin’ for You” – Outsets
  14. “Teenage Heartbreak” – Sorrows
  15. “Do the Wrong Thing” – The Lounge Lizards
  16. “There She Goes” – Nervus Rex
  17. “Wild Moose Party” – The Cosmopolitans
  18. “Your Dragging Feet” – Polyrock
  19. “Child Bride” – Lenny Kaye with The Lone Wolves*
  20. “Arp’s Carpet” – R.L. Crutchfield’s Dark Day
  21. “Jealousy” – The Colors
  22. “(Don’t Blame It on the) Weekend” – TV Toy
  23. “Blonde Red Head” – DNA
  24. “Sherri Goodbye” – The Rudies
  25. “Tight Turn” – The Raybeats
  26. “Asexual” – Phosphenes*
  27. “Straight Edge” – Minor Threat

Disc Four

  1. “Things That Go BOOM in the Night” – Bush Tetras
  2. “(Say No to) Saturday’s Girl” – Human Switchboard
  3. “Information” – Disturbed Furniture*
  4. “Back to You” – The Necessaries*
  5. “Oriental Television” – Chemicals Made from Dirt*
  6. “If It’s New” – China Shop
  7. “Open House” – James Blood Ulmer
  8. “You’re to Blame” – Nihilistics
  9. “Egg Raid on Mojo” – Beastie Boys
  10. “My Three Sons (Revolve Around the Earth)” – The Individuals
  11. “Drastic Classicism” (Edit) – Rhys Chatham
  12. “Boys-Girls (Radio)” – Unknown Gender*
  13. “Hinterland” – Khmer Rouge
  14. “Banned in D.C.” – Bad Brains
  15. “English C*nts” – Heart Attack
  16. “Fight” – Outpatients
  17. “Housewives on Valium” – Vatican Commandos
  18. “The World Looks Red” – Sonic Youth
  19. “Operating Instruction” – Jeff & Jane Hudson
  20. “Deception” – Glorious Strangers*
  21. “Transformation” – Nona Hendryx
  22. “No Class” – Reagan Youth
  23. “Assassin” – Rat at Rat R
  24. “Social Climber” – Ritual Tension
  25. “Grace” – The Ordinaires

* = Previously unreleased on CD.

(Photo by Roberta Bayley/Redferns)

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