The Ritz (rock club)

Last updated

The Ritz was a New York City rock club in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Contents

History

The Ritz was founded in 1980 by Jerry Brandt in the historic Webster Hall ballroom and concert space on 11th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. The address was 119 East 11th Street. The Ritz focused primarily on live performances, often of newer acts, but also featured dancing. The Ritz was one of the first clubs to incorporate video screens into the club experience with a 30' screen and a projector which cost $120,000. MTV made its debut at The Ritz. In April 1989, The Ritz moved to the site of the former Studio 54 on 254 West 54th Street, where it was called "The New Ritz" and continued to host concerts for several years. [1] From 1990 onward it reverted to the name "The Ritz". The original 11th Street space reverted to the name Webster Hall after The Ritz relocated.

MTV's "Live at The Ritz"

MTV aired a series of concerts called "Live at The Ritz" on Saturday nights in the 1980s. Performers included Guns N' Roses, Gene Loves Jezebel, the Saints, the Cult, Nik Kershaw, the Smithereens, Oingo Boingo, Julian Cope, Great White, Hoodoo Gurus, White Lion, Iggy Pop, Eurogliders, Blancmange, [2] and Simon Townshend.

Public Image Limited appearance

The club received national attention after an antagonistic performance by Public Image Limited on May 15, 1981. [3] They were a late substitution for Bow Wow Wow, who were originally scheduled to perform. [3] The band was more interested in creating performance art than giving a traditional concert; to this end, they appeared onstage deliberately obscured by a projection screen and played their records through the club's public address system while playing entirely different music onstage. [3] Taunted by lead singer John Lydon (formerly of the Sex Pistols), the Ritz's unhappy patrons rioted, throwing bottles and garbage cans, and pulling on the video screen that covered the front of the stage. [3] [4] [5]

Notable shows and recordings

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sepultura</span> Brazilian heavy metal band

Sepultura is a Brazilian heavy metal band formed in Belo Horizonte in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera. The band was a major force in the groove metal, thrash metal and death metal genres during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with their later experiments drawing influence from alternative metal, world music, nu metal, hardcore punk and industrial metal. Sepultura has also been credited as one of the second wave of thrash metal acts from the late 1980s to early-to-mid-1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derrick Green</span> American musician

Derrick Leon Green is an American musician best known as the vocalist of Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura. He joined the band in 1997 after the departure of band founder Max Cavalera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nippon Budokan</span> Sporting arena in Tokyo

The Nippon Budokan, often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts contests, the arena has gained additional fame as one of the world's most outstanding musical performance venues. The Budokan was a popular venue for Japanese professional wrestling for a time, and it has hosted numerous other sporting events, such as the 1967 Women's Volleyball World Championship. Most recently, the arena hosted the Olympic debut of karate in the 2020 Summer Olympics, as well as the judo competition at both the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Paralympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venom (band)</span> British heavy metal band

Venom are an English heavy metal band formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1978. Coming to prominence towards the end of the new wave of British heavy metal, Venom's first two albums, Welcome to Hell (1981) and Black Metal (1982), are considered major influences on thrash metal and extreme metal in general. Their second album proved influential enough that its title was used as the name of the black metal genre; as a result, Venom were part of the early wave of the genre, along with Mercyful Fate and Bathory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Jellÿ</span> American comedy rock band

Green Jellÿ is an American comedy rock band formed in 1981. Originally named Green Jellö, the band changed its name due to legal pressure from Kraft Foods Inc., the owners of the Jell-O brand, who claimed that it was an infringement of their trademark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Derringer</span> American musician

Rick Derringer is an American musician, producer and songwriter. He achieved success during the 1960s with his then band, the McCoys. Their debut single, "Hang on Sloopy", was a number-one hit in 1965 and became a classic track of the garage rock era. The McCoys then had seven songs that charted in the top 100, including versions of "Fever" and "Come on Let’s Go".

The Grammy Award for Best Performance Music Video was an honor presented to recording artists at the 30th Grammy Awards in 1988 and the 31st Grammy Awards in 1989 for quality performance music videos. The Grammy Awards, an annual ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Bogert</span> American musician (1944–2021)

John Voorhis "Tim" Bogert III was an American musician. As a bass guitarist and vocalist he was best known for his powerful vocal ability and his fast runs, fluid agility and ground-breaking sound on his Fender Precision bass. He was one of the pioneers of using distortion with his bass to help it cut through the mix with the low-powered amps of his time which also imparted a very sharp-edged sound to it. He was a frequent collaborator with drummer Carmine Appice; the duo performed in such bands as Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Merrill</span> American musician (1951–2020)

Alan Merrill was an American vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. In the early 1970s, he was one of the few resident foreigners to achieve pop star status in Japan. He was the writer of, and lead singer on, the first released version of the song "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was recorded by his band the Arrows in 1975. The song became a breakthrough hit for Joan Jett in 1982.

<i>Evilive</i> 1982 live album by the Misfits

Evilive is a live album by the American punk rock band Misfits. It was initially released as a 7-song EP in December 1982 and later added 5 more songs and released as an album in October 1987. It was released on frontman Glenn Danzig's Plan 9 Records. The title of the album is a palindrome. The album is included in the Misfits' Box Set. There is a record company owned by Glenn Danzig under the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catupecu Machu</span> Argentine rock band

Catupecu Machu is an Argentine rock band, usually classified as within Rock en Español. Its current band members are Fernando Ruiz Díaz on vocals and guitar; Charlie Noguera on bass guitar; Agustín Rocino and Julian Gondell on drums; and Macabre González on keyboards and samplers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Fenwick</span> English guitarist (1946–2022)

Raymond John Fenwick was an English guitarist and session musician, best known for his work in The Syndicats and in The Spencer Davis Group in the 1960s, and as the lead guitarist of Ian Gillan's post-Deep Purple solo project, the Ian Gillan Band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Bongos</span> American band

The Bongos were a power pop band from Hoboken, New Jersey that emerged from the New York City arts scene, primarily active in the 1980s, led by Richard Barone. With their unique musical style, they were major progenitors of the Hoboken indie-pop community, college radio favorites, and made the leap to national recognition with the advent of MTV. Their breakthrough song "Numbers with Wings" garnered the group a major cult following and was nominated at the first MTV Video Music Awards. Along with a handful of others, the Bongos were instrumental in the advancement of the alternative rock movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Dunn</span> British guitarist

Jeffrey "Mantas" Dunn is a British guitarist best known as one of the founding members of the heavy metal band Venom, with which he played as a guitarist from 1979 to 1985 and 1989 to 2002. He currently plays in Venom Inc. alongside fellow former Venom member bassist/vocalist Tony Dolan and drummer Jeramie Kling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palladium (New York City)</span> Former concert hall and nightclub

The Palladium was a movie theatre, concert hall, and finally nightclub in New York City. It was located on the south side of East 14th Street, between Irving Place and Third Avenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Mignone</span> American director and screenwriter

Thomas Mignone is an American feature film, streaming media, commercial, and music video director, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing and writing the dark drama On the Doll and The Latin From Manhattan and for directing conceptual music videos and live concerts for various hard rock and heavy metal artists.

<i>Eine kleine Nachtmusik</i> (album) 1986 live album by Venom

Eine kleine Nachtmusik is a live album released by English heavy metal band Venom in 1986. It contains partial recordings of two different concerts with two different setlists. The first disc contains a show recorded at Hammersmith Odeon in London on 8 October 1985 and the second disc recorded at The Ritz in New York City on 4 and 5 April 1986. The title Eine kleine Nachtmusik is German for "A Little Night Music". The title is taken from Mozart's piece of the same name.

DOOM Incorporated is an American film production company based in Los Angeles, California. The company was founded by film director and screenwriter Thomas Mignone.

From 1981 through 2014, MTV aired New Year's Eve specials. The special was first held in 1981 as MTV's New Year's Eve Rock N' Roll Ball, which featured a concert from the Hotel Diplomat in mid-Manhattan featuring Bow Wow Wow, Karla DeVito, and David Johansen. For its early editions, the Rock N' Roll Ball was hosted by MTV VJs; the 1986–87 edition would instead be hosted by Joe Piscopo and carry an Ancient Rome theme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloodlust (Venom song)</span> 1982 single by Venom (speed metal band)

"Bloodlust" is a single released by English speed metal band Venom on August 13, 1982 through Neat Records. It is the bands second single and the follow-up to their debut single "In League with Satan".

References

  1. "Minor Musings: The Ritz – NYC!". October 13, 2012.
  2. Blancmange – Live at The Ritz 1985 – Taped from MTV on Betamax on YouTube
  3. 1 2 3 4 "New York, Ritz, USA, May 15th, 1981 (Review and Setlist)" . Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  4. http://www.furious.com/Perfect/pil.html Ed Caraballo's account of Pil @ The Ritz.
  5. https://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/rstevus/pil2.html&date=2009-10-26+01:52:31 Rolling Stone review + other remiscensenses of Pil @ The Ritz.
  6. "Official Misfits Discography". Misfits.com. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  7. Sarzo, Rudy (2017). Off the Rails (third edition). CreateSpace Publishing. ISBN   1-53743-746-1
  8. Pareles, Jon (November 28, 1987). "Pop: Bo Diddley Tour". The New York Times .
  9. "Venom – Eine Kleine Nachtmusik". Encyclopaedia Metallum . Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  10. "A Look Back at Guns N' Roses' Legendary Live Show at the Ritz in '88". InsideHook. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  11. "Kiss – The Ritz on fire (Broadcast 1988) – (Vinyl LP) – musik". Ginza.se – Musik – Film – Retro (in Swedish). Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  12. Living Colour Rocks The Ritz. East Village Eye. December 1986. p 6.
  13. McLennan, Scott (June 3, 2019). "David Bowie & I: Socks, Sax & Sex Shops" . Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  14. "Sepultura Tour Dates". metallipromo.com. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  15. Bradley, Torreano. "Live at Budokan Review". AllMusic.com. Retrieved March 16, 2023.

Further reading

40°43′54″N73°59′21″W / 40.73175°N 73.98912°W / 40.73175; -73.98912