The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk [Hardcover]

Steven Lee Beeber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2006

Based in part on the recent interviews with more than 125 people —among them Tommy Ramone, Chris Stein (Blondie), Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), Hilly Kristal (CBGBs owner), and John Zorn—this book focuses on punk’s beginnings in New York City to show that punk was the most Jewish of rock movements, in both makeup and attitude. As it originated in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the early 1970s, punk rock was the apotheosis of a Jewish cultural tradition that found its ultimate expression in the generation born after the Holocaust. Beginning with Lenny Bruce, “the patron saint of punk,” and following pre-punk progenitors such as Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman, Suicide, and the Dictators, this fascinating mixture of biography, cultural studies, and musical analysis delves into the lives of these and other Jewish punks—including Richard Hell and Joey Ramone—to create a fascinating historical overview of the scene. Reflecting the irony, romanticism, and, above all, the humor of the Jewish experience, this tale of changing Jewish identity in America reveals the conscious and unconscious forces that drove New York Jewish rockers to reinvent themselves—and popular music.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this welcome addition to the annals of punk, journalist Beeber does a commendable job of illuminating the Jewish backgrounds of many of punk's pioneers, including Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Hyman), Tommy Ramone (Tamas Erdelyi), as well as Lou Reed, Lenny Kaye, Blondie's Chris Stein, CBGB owner Hilly Kristal right up to the heir-apparent to the Jewish-punk crown, the Beastie Boys. The scene was centered in 1970s New York's Jewish Lower East Side, so it's fitting that punk might have a strong Jewish tradition. Beeber ably cobbles together interesting biographical sketches of the preeminent Jewish punks, rather astutely placing the punk rockers among the pantheon of Jewish entertainers, including the controversial comic Lenny Bruce. He also neatly ties the irreverent punk ethos to the American Jewish experience. Still, the book overreaches at times, straining under the weight of too much tangential cultural history and an overly academic tone. Beeber, however, has clearly done his homework, with more than 100 primary interviews and a clear grasp of the Jewish traditions within which he places punk. And just in time: with "Jewish-owned punk landmark" CBGB slated to close on September 30, Beeber's book will open a hidden chapter for many fans. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

From Al Jolson and Irving Berlin to the Brill Building and beyond, Jewish influence on American popular music is well documented. Less known is the role Jews played in the seventies New York punk-rock scene. Profiling performers Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman, Lenny Kaye, and the Ramones as well as key journalists, club owners, managers, and producers, Beeber discloses that prime movers in creating, supporting, and popularizing punk were Jews. Jewish identity is a touchy subject, however, and Richard Hell, aka Richard Meyers, refused interviews for the book because he disassociates himself from Judaism (Beeber insists he is still defined by it, anyway). Beeber draws a line from confrontational comic Lenny Bruce to Reed to the Beastie Boys and John Zorn. As perennial outsiders, especially as immigrants, urban Jews have traditionally straddled the sacred and the secular, adopting their new homeland's popular culture and adapting it with comedy, anger, and social commentary. An interview with Malcolm McLaren and an attempt to explain the Jewish punk fascination with Nazi imagery also prove fascinating. Benjamin Segedin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155652613X
• ISBN-13: 978-1556526138
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #323,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reviewed by Susan Helene Gottfried, January 24, 2007

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Front Street Reviews www.frontstreetreviews.com - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk (Hardcover)

Like most music freaks, if you ask me where punk rock originated, I wouldn't hesitate to tell you that it happened in England. After all, the Brits lay claim to pogo dancing, safety pins as a fashion statement, and the Sex Pistols. The whole concept of punk rock is, essentially, very Clockwork Orange.

Steven Lee Beeber's The Heebie Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk challenges that notion by showing us that punk began in New York -- and was heavily influenced and shaped by a variety of Jews from a variety of backgrounds. Beginning with the cutting-edge comedy of Lenny Bruce and the musical innovations that were Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, Beeber shows us how the music evolved. It is clear that without the involvement of Jews, there would have been no punk movement.

Chapter by chapter, Beeber traces the bands and the people, focusing on the Jewish players who coalesced around the Jewish-owned punk mecca, CBGB. This is dense reading, best taken slowly so that all of the facts and details -- not to mention the personalities -- can sink in.

One theme that Beeber refers to often is the link between the Holocaust and punk. His claims make perfect sense: the emotions invested in the children of survivors provided the fuel for punk's trademark anger. Yes, there is anger that so many people were eradicated, but one of the more surprising revelations is that some of the anger comes from and is fueled by the fact that the Jews allowed themselves to be victims. At the same time, though, there is an awareness that the word allowed is inaccurate. That anyone, faced with such a circumstance, would have done exactly the same thing. Ultimately, this isn't an emotion of victimization, but of helplessness and futility -- two strong emotions that run through the undercurrent of punk, both in its lyrics and its attitudes.

Beeber takes us across the ocean for a visit with the start of British punk -- the Sex Pistols -- but focuses on the Jews involved in creating that scene. From Sex Pistols creator Malcolm MacLaren to the ill-fated Nancy Spungeon, lover of Pistols frontman Sid Vicious, it is obvious that here, too, punk music and the Jewish tradition are linked so closely that removal of the Jew removes the music.

Many would argue that punk died out with the Sex Pistols, to be replaced by music from cities like LA and San Francisco, peopled with musicians and fans who shocked New York ex-pats with virulent anti-Semitic themes, attitudes, and lyrics.

Beeber returns to New York to show us what punk evolved into: John Zorn's dissonant art and even, perhaps unbelievably, the Beastie Boys, perhaps the most punk of all the bands in the book.

Even more than the Ramones, those poster boys for American punk?

You be the judge. For any music fan, this is essential reading. It's not just that this is a clear evolution of the music scene over the span of forty-some years, from the late 1960s to the present. This book traces the shifts in our culture during this time period, and the shifts in attitude that allowed punk to be as vibrant as it was.

Beeber's prose is smooth and charming, always focused on the topic at hand and never getting sidetracked like so many Jewish storytellers of old. He's also a master craftsman, showing his writer's roots in the construction of each chapter, bringing back points made in opening paragraphs, tying it all together with a neat black leather jacket and peppy beat.

For the music lover, the historian interested in Jewish history, or for anyone intrigued by how someone as tall, skinny, and scary as Joey Ramone could become a pop icon, The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk is one of those books you won't want to miss. Certainly, my copy now occupies a space between Deena Weinstein's seminal Heavy Metal and Joe Berlinger's Metallica: This Monster Lives.

To bring up one last point Beeber makes: Jews are people of the book. Heebie Jeebies is just one in a long line that proves this.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Praise from a shiksa, January 29, 2009

By 

Clare M. Dunsford - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk (Hardcover)

You don't have to be a Jew or a lover of punk to appreciate this well-researched, smartly written book. Beeber's voice, part wise guy and part acolyte, carries this book even for a "shiksa goddess" like me. He opens up a fascinating culture (or two) in an accessible, enjoyable way. I highly recommend this book.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Heeb-tastic, extremely entertaining history, October 15, 2006

By 

toner__low (Brookyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk (Hardcover)

From his thunderbolt of an introduction, talented writer Beeber launches into a terrific history of New York's punk rock movement and its roots in postwar American Judaism. Beeber not only reveals the links between the Jews who played major roles in developing the new sound and sensibility--Lou Reed, Chris Stein, half of the Ramones, CBGB owner Hilly Kristal, Genya Ravan, and plenty of others--but going below the surface, he makes a persuasive argument about how alienation can give rise to irony--after all, one of the factors that made punk so popular was its dark sense of humor. It's a thesis that Beeber teases out very delicately, without bashing the reader's head in with academic hooey. And it allows him to survey the less pleasant aspects of the movement, such as its frequent fascination--even among Jewish punks--with Nazi paraphernalia. An eye-opening, dangerous, and way-the-hell fun book--I can't recommend it enough.