OPEN BARS (10)
Moonstep
🇯🇵Tokyo, Japan
Primarily a live house hosting underground punk and hardcore bands, but the 2nd-floor pub is a destination in itself. Wooden, creaky, DIY aesthetic feels like a squat or punk house in London or Berlin.
Irving Plaza
🇺🇸New York, United States
A historic ballroom-style venue with capacity of ~1,200. Irving Plaza has served many identities: a 1940s ballroom, a Polish community center, and from the late '70s onward, a crucial rock concert hall. Known for hosting diverse genres – punk, new wave, metal, alternative, pop – over different eras.
New Cross Inn
🇬🇧London, United Kingdom
The bastion of the South London punk and hardcore scene. Specializes in punk, ska, and hardcore, serving as a vital node for touring bands who bypass the more expensive central London venues.
SO36
🇩🇪Berlin, Germany
Located in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, SO36 takes its name from the area's historic postal code. In the late 1970s and 80s, West Berlin was an island of subculture surrounded by the GDR, and SO36 was its epicenter. It was a hub for the squatter movement and radical left-wing politics, often compared to CBGB for its grit and artistic importance.
The Fighting Cocks
🇬🇧London, United Kingdom
A rock 'n' roll bar and venue described as small in size but big in attitude. Proudly independent. A haven for the inked, the pierced and the damned. Has a rich musical history dating back to the 1930s (jazz, then rock 'n' roll jam sessions). Features a best jukebox ever, old school arcades, and pool. Offers a huge selection of draft and bottled beers, lavish cocktails, seductive real ales, troublesome shooters and the nuttiest drinks deals in town.
Kafé 44
🇸🇪Stockholm, Sweden
Ideological heart of Stockholm's punk scene. Situated within the Kapsylen work cooperative—an old bottle cap factory occupied by artists in 1976. Operated by non-profit groups (Scen 44) with strict drug-free and vegan principles.
Klub 007 Strahov
🇨🇿Prague, Czech Republic
A miracle of survival. Located in basement of student dormitory on Strahov hill, operating since 1969. Under communism was "university club" with slightly more freedom—haven for dissident "Grey Zone" underground.
Blondies
🇬🇧London, United Kingdom
An excellent rock'n'roll dive bar with live music founded by Australian sisters Verity, Sharmaine, and Rochelle Cox. A down-and-dirty Mecca for music-lovers with delightfully wonky furnishings reflecting a DIY spirit. Known for insane music and a cultural hub for good vibes, great drinks, and even better company.
Comrade
🇯🇵Tokyo, Japan
Stands out in the analog world of rock bars by integrating technology. Recognizes that modern rock culture is visual—music videos and live footage as important as audio. Dominated by a 110-inch screen with smartphone terminal allowing customers to request music videos via YouTube.
El Corazon (The Off Ramp)
🇺🇸Seattle, United States
Definitive "grunge" club in aesthetics and atmosphere. Located beneath I-5 overpass—dark, dingy, notoriously hard to park. Architecture was functional bunker. Constant rumble from interstate combined with sonic assault inside created hermetically sealed noise environment.
CLOSED BARS (12)
CBGB
🇺🇸New York, United States
Situated at 315 Bowery in Manhattan's Lower East Side, CBGB stands as perhaps the most paradoxically influential venue in music history. Opened on December 10, 1973, by Hilly Kristal, the club's name was an acronym for "Country, Bluegrass, Blues," the styles Kristal originally intended to showcase. Yet, the venue became the undisputed "ground zero" for American punk and new wave. The physical space was essential to its legacy—a narrow, deep tunnel-like room with walls layered in decades of flyers, graffiti, and grime. Kristal's management philosophy was revolutionary: bands could play, but they had to perform original music. This rule birthed a scene of unparalleled creativity.
Gorilla Gardens
🇺🇸Seattle, United States
Twin-room punk/metal bar where early Soundgarden, Nirvana and Black Flag shared sticky floors.
Hong Kong Cafe
🇺🇸Los Angeles, United States
Located directly across the Chinatown plaza from Madame Wong's, the Hong Kong Cafe adopted a "catch-all" strategy, welcoming the punk and hardcore bands that Esther Wong rejected. This created a visible schism: New Wave at Wong's, Hardcore at Hong Kong.
Saint Vitus Bar
🇺🇸New York, United States
Spiritual successor to L'Amour for a different era. 2,500-square-foot venue prioritizing atmosphere over capacity—black-on-black aesthetic, cathedral-like lighting, 250 capacity. One of most respected metal bars in the world.
Fugazi Music Club
🇵🇱Warsaw, Poland
Brief but mythic squat-style bar that booked early Polish grunge and hardcore; named after the US band.
Metropolis
🇺🇸Seattle, United States
All-ages punk bar that broke The Lewd and The Enemy; first to book Black Flag in Seattle.
L'Amour
🇺🇸New York, United States
Bensonhurst warehouse turned 'Rock Capital of Brooklyn' and East-Coast thrash cradle. A storied rock/metal club that was the premier venue for heavy metal and hard rock in the NYC area throughout the 1980s.
Hey Ho! Bar
🇪🇸Barcelona, Spain
Tiny punk/hard-core bar once featuring a mini skate ramp.
Lismar Lounge
🇺🇸New York, United States
Notorious graffiti-covered punk-metal bar in the East Village.
Cathay de Grande
🇺🇸Los Angeles, United States
A subterranean punk/New Wave club that operated in the 1980s beneath a Chinese restaurant in Hollywood. The Cathay de Grande was a hotbed for the early hardcore punk scene and the burgeoning alternative rock movement in L.A. Its mix of musical styles and notorious reputation (it was in a sketchy basement) made it both beloved and infamous.
Club 88
🇺🇸Los Angeles, United States
An unpretentious, all-ages venue in a strip mall run by Wayne Mayotte, a retired engineer. Essential for punk and post-punk scene.
Coney Island High
🇺🇸New York, United States
A punk rock club on St. Marks Place in the East Village, active in the mid-1990s. Coney Island High was a two-level club (bar downstairs, stage upstairs) that became a center of the NYC punk revival, hosting everything from hardcore matinees to ska and rockabilly nights.