David Byrne never liked Max’s Kansas City: “We don’t fit in here”
During the 1970s, New York City was blessed with many iconic clubs that helped to foster the careers of many artists and musical movements, with CBGB, The Mudd Club, Studio 54 and Max’s Kansas City being among some of the most celebrated.
What these showcased was the sheer diversity of the music that the city had to offer, with everything from punk to disco and beyond, all being proffered by these establishments and many more. While California’s main cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco had arguably been the dominant forces within the American underground for large amounts of the 1960s, it was clear that the edgier underbelly of New York would eventually have its day, and in the following decade, it arguably usurped the West Coast’s authority.
However, while there was certainly some crossover between the clientele of the clubs and the artists that they used to book, there was also a sense of rivalry between those who remained faithful to one in particular, and a little bit of snootiness to boot, that meant your unsworn allegiance to one could prevent you from fitting into another.
For someone on the periphery who may have been looking in, this sense of exclusivity might have acted as a deterrent, giving you the impression that you’re not welcome, but at the same time, there would have been an immense appeal surrounding the idea of checking out what all the fuss was about.
For David Byrne, who had spent large amounts of his childhood moving from city to city before settling in Maryland and later attending art school in Rhode Island, he wasn’t quite familiar with the specific etiquette associated with some venues and how to become a part of the scene there, but nevertheless, his curiosity got the better of him.
In a 2018 interview with Pitchfork, he revealed that during his studies, he would frequently make the trip over to New York to indulge in the art it had to offer, but was put off by his experience at Max’s Kansas City, not realising that he wouldn’t fit in there.
“A friend and I had a group where I played ukulele and violin, and he played accordion, often in the street,” Byrne recalled of what he was like at the time. “We played standards and were kind of eccentric-looking. I would dress in old suits and had a long beard, and kids would come up to me and say, ‘Mister, are you one of those men who don’t drive cars?’ I was not.”
However, when he tried to infiltrate the scene at Max’s Kansas City, with its strong links to Andy Warhol and other icons of the art world, he instantly knew that he didn’t belong there. “My friend and I went in there, with the full beard and everything, curious to see where the cool people were,” he added. “We were so out of place, and I remember David Bowie came in dressed in his full glam outfit, with the orange hair, the space suit, everything. And I just thought, we don’t fit in here. We better go.”
Obviously, Byrne would later find a home at CBGB with Talking Heads, although not before he’d shed his bearded bohemian look and ukulele, and pretty quickly they found themselves quickly transcending beyond the club scene. Byrne may have felt frustrated that he never fit in at Max’s Kansas City, but it’s not as though he really needed it.
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