Hilly Kristal is dead. For a real rock and roll fan, that's big news. That's because Kristal, who died in Manhattan on Tuesday of complications from lung cancer at age 75, launched CBGB's in 1973 and in doing so helped spark the New York punk scene that centered around his club until its recent closing.

Among the countless bands that got their start at CB's were Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Blondie, The Ramones, Television and Sonic Youth. Others, like The Shirts (whom he managed) and the Laughing Dogs never became popular outside the city.

It was also often an early stop for British bands of the day and The Jam, The Police and others, all graced the oddly-shaped stage in a room that appears to have looked well-worn from the day it opened. Appropriate, perhaps, for a venue offering gritty music on the gritty Bowery.

In the '80s, when I was a kid, CB's had all ages shows, too, with the likes of the Bad Brains and the still-punk Beastie Boys. And the music never stopped. That is, until a long-running dispute with the landlord led Kristal to close the club last year.

Kristal might be seen as a "behind the scenes" guy outside New York, but in the city, every music fan knew his name and he was a rock and roll celebrity.

"There was no real venue in 1973 for people like us," Smith told the New York Times Wednesday. "We didn't fit into the cabarets or the folk clubs. Hilly wanted the people that nobody else wanted. He wanted us."