The Mudd Club
MUDD CLUB
All the way downtown
MUDD CLUB
They ain't messin' around
MUDD CLUB
Just turn to the left 'n look around
Because it's there somewhere
If you ain't found it, better
Hurry up
The folks down there's on auto-destruct
And so can you be too
(Fact of the matter,
it's made for you...)
Try it on a Saturday 'bout four o'clock in the mornin'
Or even a Monday at midnight
When there's just a few of them
Fabulous Poodles
Doin' the Peppermint Twist for real
In a black sack dress with nine inch heels
And then a guy with a blue mohawk comes in
In Serious Leather...
- - extract from the lyrics of Mudd Club on You Are What You Is
The Mudd Club was a 'loft' niteclub, located in the TriBeCa, at 77 White Street in downtown Manhattan. Opened in October 1978 by publisher Steve Mass, art curator Diego Cortez and singer Anya Philips the club quickly became a major fixture in the city's underground music and counterculture scene.
With gender-neutral bathrooms, a rotating gallery on the fourth floor and live performances showcasing punk rock, new wave, and experimental music The Mudd Club acquired a chic, often elitist reputation and was frequented by many of Manhattan's up-and-coming cult celebrities- such as artists Basquiat and Haring and musicians like Talking Heads' David Byrne and Adrian Belew. It's popularity increased in proportion to the decline of uptown's Studio 54, a club also referred to in the above song.