Who were the top CBGB bands? Where are the club’s icons now?

Thanks to Jimi LaLumia for posting the following links on Facebook.

From Flavorwire’s CBGB Icons: Where Are They Now?, which was published last fall:

As the burgeoning punk nostalgia industry suggests, the downtown scene of the 1970s and early 1980s has officiallly become part of New York’s cultural mythology – but as ever, it’s a fairly narrow view that’s entered the history books. While the likes of Smith, Blondie, and The Ramones are justifiably (if belatedly) celebrated for their ongoing influence on music, there are plenty of other CBGB veterans who are still out there making fascinating music and art somewhere out of the public eye. We’ve investigated what ten of our favorite CBGB-related punk and post-punk artists are up to these days — read on after the jump!

There are updates on Television guitarist Richard Lloyd, Dick Manitoba of the Dictators, Wayne/Jayne County of The Electric Chairs, Richard Hell of Television and other bands, Alan Vega of Suicide, Cheetah Chrome of The Dead Boys, sax player James Chance, Tommy Ramone, DNA drummer Ikue Mori, and Tom Verlaine.

Here’s the blurb about Verlaine, whom I mentioned in a previous post, Listening to Television:

Then: The man who defined the word “angular”

Now: The man who defines the word “angular”

The Television guitarist and singer has been an elusive figure over the years, rarely giving interviews and surfacing every few years with a new solo album. However, if you believe this extensive interview he and the rest of Television gave to Brazilian MTV earlier this year, a fourth Television album may be on the cards (although apparently not with Richard Lloyd, since he’s not involved in the interview). In the meantime, Verlaine is apparently often to be sighted at Strand Books.

The piece includes some great video clips, including The Dictators:

Last fall the Houston Press posted The Top 15 Bands To Come Out Of CBGB:

CBGB, owned by Hilly Kristal and shuttered in 2006, obviously helped birth numerous bands. From the early pub-rock bands that made their scratch on the stage, the earliest stabs at relevance from various art-school grads, the leather-clad sneers of punk royalty, and the bloody Sunday matinee shows from the hardcore and crossover groups who kept the club’s spirit alive in the ’80s, it was the beating heart of too many scenes to count.

We compiled a list of just 15 bands that first made their mark on the stage at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street before finding themselves on shirts and jackets on everyone from Nebraska to Mumbai.

Obviously, such lists are wildly subjective.

But here’s the playlist with samples from the piece: