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Song Breakdown
Blank Generation-Richard Hell
Ah, one of my heroes, Richard Hell...founding member
of Television, the first "new wave" band to get attention at CBGB's, then with The Heartbreakers for a while, and
was involved in one way or another with most of the Mercer*/CBGB's bands (Blondie, Wayne County, Suicide, Talking Heads, Ramones)-this
song was performed by TV and by The Heartbreakers but was never recorded until Richard Hell and The Voidoids finally did it,
years later...Richard says "the song was taken wrong, as if 'Blank' meant dumb or mindless, when I intended it like 'fill-in-the-blank',
like we were creating what we were as we went along as opposed to following a pre-set plan". Either way the song rocks,
we luv doin it, and Rich deserves our attention as one of the pivitol figures in modern music ! -TiMs. *In
the early 70's The Mercer Arts Center was a rotting shell of a building in the bowery that, to hear Joey tell it, "no
one was sure who owned it or whatever but sure as hell nobody maintained it...anyway somebody would organize gigs there with
admission and concession and security, sort of, all on our own, The Stillettos, Suicide, Wayne County, Johnny Thunders and
Rich...it was ours ya know, our scene..."-Joey Ramone. This was pre-CBGB, it was one of the only clubs in NY where unsigned
bands could play...it collapsed, literally, in a rainstorm in '73, leaving few places for new bands to play...enter CBGB's!!!
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