Anyone is welcome to submit a Guest Blog Entry to torontomike.com. I received the following submission earlier today.
Re: Your Top 100 Moments entry
What's #4 all about? It's not ringing any bells at all.
Mike Hollick
I had no idea either. Number four reads, "Collapse of the Mercer Arts Centre and CBGBs convinced to have a rock night." I had to do a little research to figure it out.
The Mercer Arts Center was located at 240 Mercer Street New York City. It was the home-base for bands like the New York Dolls, and when it literally collapsed in 1973, CBGBs (Country Bluegrass Blues) filled the void nicely. "The bands that converged on CBGB rejected the blandly professional pop, overblown guitar jams and elaborate progressive rock they were hearing on the radio. But instead of attempting some kind of revival, they reconfigured old rock virtues into music that had not been heard before."
So, the demise of the Mercer Arts Center created a setting at CBGBs that would give birth to The Ramones and we have our fourth top moment in new rock history.
