There are military service veterans who will speak fondly of boot camp, in spite of, or because of, the arduous slog of basic training. Before he was ever a dream-making impresario as the founder, manager, and owner of the (in)famous NYC club, CBGB OMFUG, Hilly Kristal was a Marine. Presumably, his no-doubt rigorous stint as a soldier came in handy running CBGB; a Bowery dive bar/breeding ground (for bands, and rats) that would rise to become one of the most revered venues in American music history. Along with his wife, Kristal built and maintained a beloved spot that featured both the best sound system and the most objectionable bathrooms in the city, and a stage that hosted often the earliest incarnations of Patti Smith, The Ramones, Television, Talking Heads, and Blondie, among many, many others.

Across the pond, starting in the early ‘60s, another husband/wife team- Harold & Barbara Pendleton- marshalled London’s Marquee club, and watched as artists such as the Rolling Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Dire Straits, and U2 cut their teeth- well before, of course, each would take a turn as the biggest band in the world. It’s no real stretch to assume and assign the subtitle- The story of the world’s greatest music venue– for its memoir. 

Both of these breezy readers from Trouser Press make the case for why each could claim the top rank. The Marquee certainly had the star power, and the longevity. Yet, CBGB wasn’t just about the artists that played there. It was ground-zero for tectonic shifts in the industry landscape- ushering in and, in some cases, coalescing the foundational forces of street rock, punk, new wave, hardcore, death metal, and other seminal genres- before the rest of the world knew even what to call them. Not to mention CB’s citizens as fashion and lifestyle influencers, decades before social media. 

Flip the coin back to London, and the Marquee, and the revolving door of utter rock royalty that didn’t just appear there, but clawed and fought to be on that stage. To play the Marquee was everything. Just ask American bands like REM and Guns n’ Roses. And so, fittingly utilizing two different stylistic approaches, these two expositions serve as companion pieces; as different but similar historical accounts of the last 60 years of rock-and-roll, from London to the Apple and back. 

Roman Kozak’s take is a re-press, slightly updated, but essentially reviving his contemporaneous 1988 study of CBGB, and reads like an extended magazine article series, moving both chronologically and thematically through- at the time- 15 years of mayhem. Kozak tells the story vividly and predominantly through interviews with all of the main players; many of whom have since passed on. In collaboration with Harold and Barbara’s son, Nick, Robert Sellers’ diary of the Marquee focuses more on the performances and cache of the artists, and their moments in time at the venue, leaning into a more historical record, as it were. Both are indispensable as both reference material and as pure insider-storytelling entertainment.

Artists exist to create.  Venues exist to stage those creations.  Here are two highly recommended literary observations of two venues that could each claim the crown of greatest boot camp in music history, and of the artists that served at them so well.