CBGB (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Deluxe Edition]

Available as a 20-track standard release or in a superior 33-track deluxe edition, the movie soundtrack to CBGB features excellent, seminal material that dates back to the bands that influenced the CBGB scene in its heyday (The Count Five, The Velvet Underground, MC5, The Stooges) to the bands that played there themselves (though legal snafus kept The Ramones and classic-period Blondie, among others, from appearing). The deluxe edition is preferred because it’s more of a good thing, with the addition of Television’s “Marquee Moon,” The Misfits, The Cramps, The Germs (an L.A. band from the era), Hüsker Dü, and Devo creating a wider picture of who made the CBGB scene relevant into the '80s. The Police’s “Roxanne” is the most commercial track here; that band didn’t come up in the scene, which had nurtured Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Dead Boys (Cleveland-hits-NYC) and Television: bands far more injected with the passion and eclecticism of the small graffiti-filled club.