Ongoing History of New Music

Ongoing History Daily: Try to imagine The Ramones’ first gig. It went down like this.

On March 30, 1974, a new band called The Ramones played their first gig.  It was at a place called The Performance Studio on East 23rd Street in New York City in front of about unsuspecting 30 people.  They were a trio at the time with Joey playing drums.  They played a grand total of seven songs, a set that took less than 14 minutes. 

For the record, the setlist was “I Don’t Wanna Go Down in the Basement,” “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around with You,” “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,” “I Don’t Want Be Learned, I Don’t Wanna Be Tamed,” “I Don’t Wanna Get Involved with You,” “I Don’t Like Nobody That Don’t Like Me” and they wrapped up with “Succubus.” 

The crowd left confused. But it was the first of over 2200 gigs to come.

The last post was all about band names as business assets.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38025 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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