The club where the Cure’s Robert Smith “One day hoped to go.”
Here’s a YouTube playlist of some of these bands.
Bands that played the Antenna Club during the first five years (1981 to 1986) as listed on the T-shirt.
- The Fall (wiki)*
- 0:00 : Manision 1:20 : Bombast 4:28 : Barmy 9:49 : What You Need 14:39 : Spoilt Victorian Child 18:53 : L.A ( Take 2) 23:02 : Vixen 27:04 : Couldn’t Get Ahead 29:40 : Gut of The Quantifier (Rough Mix) 34:54 : My New House 40:10 : Paintwork 46:49 : I Am Damo Suzuki 52:30 : To NK Roachment : YarblesShow
- Neon Wheels (Live at the Antenna)(Discogs)
- Eat Flamingo (Chuck Spencer)
- Randy Band (Live at the Antenna)
- R.E.M. (wiki)(Live 1981 in Atlanta*)
- The Bongos (wiki)
- Zee
- Charlie Feathers (wiki)
- Debra Dejean
- Cockrock
- Factual
- Calculated X (Chuck Spencer)
- Dememta Precox (more)(Discogs)
- The N.R.C.
- Vietnam
- The Verbs*(Discogs from ’97 not sure this is the right band)
- Limbo District (from Athens, GA more) (NPR Article)
- “Limbo District has always felt like a myth hidden in plain sight. In the early ’80s, the band delighted and terrified Athens, Ga., with its provocative avant-garde post-punk performance art. Limbo District’s roster fluctuated with Southern bohemians — plus a French exchange student — but its most visible member was drummer Jerry Ayers, who co-wrote The B-52s‘ “52 Girls” and R.E.M.‘s “Old Man Kensey” and was part of Andy Warhol’s Factory. Ask anyone from that Athens era and they speak of Limbo District as a Vaudevillian unicorn.”
- Black Flag (Wiki)
- Bluebeats
- Boys Say No [Boys who Say No?](YouTube)
- Method Actors
- Bad Brains (Wiki)
- Mission of Burma (Wiki)
- Peter Holsapple (Wiki)
- White Animals (AllMusic)
- *Pylon (Wiki)
- The Pearls
- Guadalcanal Diary (Wiki)
- Generics*
- [00:00] The Bitt [02:37] Piv [04:13] Cost Cutter [06:21] War is a Waste “The Generics formed in Cross Lanes, West Virginia – a small town surrounding Lake Chaweva, just outside the state capital of Charleston. It was a tight-knit scene of bored kids growing up in the early years of Reagan-era America. Early skateboard culture – and it’s close ties to punk rock – became a major influence on the three 12 year olds who would form The Generics, their first band.”
- The Brains
- M.D.K.
- Barking Dogs(?)
- The Erector Set (missing peace) *(Discogs)
- Puesdo Bop
- LINDA HECK: TRAINWRECK “At 19 years old, Heck started her first band. It was called Pseudo Bop. Then her boyfriend at the time started a band called Kings of the Western Bop, and Heck left her own group to play bass for it. She didn’t really find her footing as a musician until the birth of Linda Heck and the Trainwreck, a grungy post-punk group that Heck started with Jimi Inc. She played a sample for me as we sat at her desk, drinking tea. From the laptop came the sound of a twenty-year-old Heck, her voice as clear and intense as her electric guitar. It was a dark and lovely song.”
- See “Experimental Connections in The Memphis“
- Paradoxical Babel
- The Essentials
- *Rubber Rodeo
- Love Tractor
- VEX
- M-80s
- Detox
- 4 Neat Guys
- Safety Last
- Kissing the Pink
- The Thrill kings
- Derf Scratch
- John Densmore
- Richard Orange
- Burnin Schmen
- Xavion
- Anzel
- The Snares
- Toxic Reasons
- The Crime
- Sidemen (sideman?)
- *UK Subs
- *Green on Red
- Quo
- Teddy Boys
- Get Smart
- No Trend
- In Pursuit
- Busta Jones
- Negative Approach
- The Necros
- The Romeos
- The Minute Men
- M.I.A.
- Agent Orange
- Ill Repute
- The Vandals
- Hell Fire
- Fingerprints
- Zeitgist
- Windows
- Our Favorite Band
- Bob-O
- 45 Grade (45 Grave?)
- Samhain
- Brian Brain (Wiki) 12/11/1985
- My Sin (Discogs) 12/12/1985 (from San Francisco)
- Neon Bushmen (Album for sale)
- Doctor No
- The Mydols (Mydolls?)(YouTube)
- Bohemia
- Cynic Committee
- Beat Cowboys 12/7/1985
- Paul Burleson
- J.J. and the Hitmen (YouTube)
- Alex Chilton
- Gang Theory
- The Scam
- Dangerous Bacon
- Angerhead
- The Press
- Flipper
- The Dads
- Dream Kings
- Rank and File 12/15/1985 from Austin TX
- The Micronotz
- Etc.
- The Accelerators
- Kings of Western Bop
- Tex and the Horseheads
- Milfred and the Modifiers (Tribute at Hi-Tone, Facebook)
- Brides of Funkenstein
- Joe Loftis and the Pinks
- Marilyn and the Monroes
- Mudboy and the Neutrons
- Jason and the Scorchers
- Neighbor Texture Jam Band
- Chris Lea and the Syncopaters
- Webb Wilder and the Beatnecks
- Johnny Singer and the Highlites
- Wil Rambo and the Delta Hurricanes
- George Reinecake and the Swinging…(GR was in Panther Burns (youtube))
- Shockabilly
- Circle Jerks
- Art in the dark
- The flaming oh’s
- Channel 3
- A Blind Dog Stares
- Gun Club
- Meat Puppets (wrote “Lake of Fire, covered by Nirvana)
- R.T. Scott
- Leroy Brothers (LeRoi Bros?)
- Scream
- Kilkenny Cats
- Elvis Brothers
- The Raunch Hands
- Metho Waste
- Screaming Sirens
- Now Explosion
- Indigo Nowhere
- Mighty Atoms
- Jean Loves Jezebel
- Odd Jobs
- Replacements
- The Producers
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Primitons 12/6/1985
- The Plimsouls
- Moto-X
- DC3
- Green Day played on Sunday Dec. 1, 1985 (EMI Records Presents)
- * Personal Favorites
From the now gone historical marker:
The Antenna Club–”World Famous” and Family Owned Months ahead of MTV, the Antenna broadcast “Rock America” videos on five TV sets. They were turned on before and after live performances from such groups as The Crime, The Modifiers, Tav Falco & Panther Burns, Alex Chilton, The Randy Band, The Hellcats, Calculated X, Jim Dickinson, Quo Jr., The Marilyns, and many others. Steve McGehee booked touring bands, such as R.E.M., The Replacements, and Black Flag before they became internationally known. The club’s array of music attracted a diverse crowd, and this family-run business kept them coming back. Steve’s brother, Mark McGehee, managed the daily business, and sister Robin McGehee worked the bar. Mark “Angerhead” Kallaher and Kenneth “Rebel” Weakley were the two doormen. The club was used for music videos, movie locales, and band reunions. It also is the subject of a 2016 documentary film, “Antenna.”
The Antenna Club–An Original Punk Rock VenueThe Antenna, otherwise known as “Memphis’s original punk rock club,” operated on this site at 1588 Madison from 1981 to 1995. Before The Antenna, nightspots under other names-“The Library,” “The Mousetrap,” “Detroit Rock City,” and “The Well”-were in business at this address. After the Sex Pistols performed in Memphis on January 6, 1978, “The Well” featured local bands as early as 1979 and it was the starting point for an underground music scene that The Antenna adopted and expanded. The Antenna opened on June 26, 1981,under the ownership of Steve McGehee, who would break new ground to elevate and energize the music scene in Memphis and place it on the national map and beyond. McGehee based the name of the club on television sets that had “rabbit ear” antennas. David Fisher designed the club’s logo.
