After Hours Pictures of Patti Smith, Blondie, and the Ramones Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before

David Godlis’s after-hours photographs of the birth of punk rock at CBGB’s on the Bowery in New York between 1976 and 1979 are a defining document of a loud, evolutionary movement that burned hot and fast. Looked at now, this period of rock’s primacy feels distant. And when you consider the state of rock’s relationship to fashion, which is mostly non-existent, it can feel embalmed. Godlis’ images, which have been collected into a new book, History is Made at Night, function as an act of cultural preservation. See images of Patti Smith, Blondie, and the Ramones as they lived—late at night, in the dark corners—and before punk died.