It is 40 years since the release of the indie single that turned the entire world onto the NYC rock scene ,a scene which played a key role in transitioning what had been the glitter/glam scene into punk: Max's Kansas City is the downtown New York club where everything was born. Max's, which is celebrating it's 50th Anniversary this year, was the first true underground club. When it opened in 1965, The Beatles and The Supremes were the stars of the pop and rock universe. Andy Warhol and his "Factory' superstars made this new club, Max's,their second home. As the word spread, actors, authors, artists and music stars flocked there to see and be seen.
It was at Max's that Warhol's band, The Velvet Underground with Lou Reed, found it's way,and introduced a new, dark, menacing form of rock that set the stage for the farewell to glitter and the welcoming of something else. By 1976, Max's had changed hands, from original owner Mickey Ruskin to Tommy Dean, who took on the brilliant Peter Crowley as the club's manager and booker. Peter had already been working with Warhol star Wayne County (who these days we know as Jayne), and together Crowley and County took on the challenge of branding a new, harder scene that had been born from the ashes of The Velvets, and The New York Dolls, who had started playing a new kind of rock and roll at the same time that Wayne County moved from acting to fronting Queen Elizabeth, the most fierce, visionary creation to come out of downtown Manhattan.
As the scene began to gain attention worldwide, a decision was made to record and release an album spotlighting some of Max's biggest attractions, including Wayne County, The Fast and Cherry Vanilla, as well as the turbulent Suicide and the visiting out of towners Pere Ubu. Many had been waiting for something recorded by Wayne County, who had been signed in 1973 to MainMan, the company that Tony De Fries had built around David Bowie, but after mounting the ambitious stage production', 'Wayne County At The Trucks" ,for one night only at the Westbeth Theater (which had been recorded and filmed), MainMan cut ties with County, who continued to headline shows and attract massive press worldwide. By 1976, a County recording was long overdue, and so the Max's album gave us three tracks, "Cream In My Jeans", Flip Your Wig" and the role call of the downtown scene, "Max's Kansas City,1976".
The decision was made to release the lengthy "Max's" as a single, split into Parts 1 and 2, the A and B side of the single, something that James Brown used to do in the 70's as well. The single took on an iconic status as the first properly released indie single to come out of the scene, as well as name checking every band (as well as one that didn't even really exist yet) that mattered to what was about to become the punk scene.Members of The Sex Pistols, The Clash , The Damned and others all spoke of getting that first Max's album and playing it until the grooves wore down,when none of them had even come together as bands yet. After Max's closed in 1981, the Max's label recordings pretty much became collector's items, until Alan Hauser at Jungle Records decided to do what had to be done to make them available again.
Jungle, which has enjoyed great success with albums from Max's superstars Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, is re issuing the Wayne County "Max's 76" single, Parts 1 and 2, in a limited edition white vinyl 7 inch format, destined to be a sought after collectible moments after it hits the streets(after the white vinyl first pressing is gone, it reverts to equally collectible black vinyl.) Plans are underway for a deluxe edition of the Max's 76 album to be released sometime next year, in honor of the album's 40th anniversary, the first indie compilation album documenting the birth of the scene that we have all come to accept as the soundtrack to our lives. Don't wait too long to advance order your copy of the historic 7 inch single, "Max's Kansas City 1976" by Wayne County & The Backstreet Boys,and get ready for the big parade.
