Big Apple (club)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Address | Leopoldstraße 23, 80801 Munich |
|---|---|
| Location | Schwabing, Munich, Germany |
| Coordinates | 48°9′27.8″N 11°35′3.8″E / 48.157722°N 11.584389°E |
| Type | nightclub |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1963 |
| Closed | 1975 |
| Demolished | 2013 |
The Big Apple was a nightclub in Munich's Schwabing district from 1963 to 1975 and, together with the PN hit-house, formed the center of the southern German beat and rock music culture during the Swinging Sixties.[1][2][3]
The Big Apple opened in 1963 a few months after the Schwabinger Krawalle riots at Leopoldstraße 23 in the then trendy Munich district of Schwabing.[2][4] Influenced by the African-American culture of the troops of the United States European Command, soul music was initially predominant in the Big Apple.[2][3] The club's first DJ was Jürgen Herrmann, the later presenter and music editor at Bayerischer Rundfunk.[2][5]
Later, the initially pure discotheque also hosted concerts, for which beer tables were tied together and served as a stage. Among the first bands to perform live at the Big Apple were The Yardbirds, The Spencer Davis Group, The Animals and Deep Purple.[1][6] The house band of the club was Amon Düül, who always played on Mondays with their own PA system.[1] The club's audience was made up of students, young employees, and G.I.s.[2]
In November 1966, the then unknown Jimi Hendrix and his band The Jimi Hendrix Experience played their first gigs in Germany in the Big Apple.[2][3] At this occasion Hendrix had a show experience that would define him from then on: when trying to escape in panic from a frenetic audience that had pulled him off the stage, he smashed his guitar for the first time in a sound explosion on stage, which was perceived by the audience as part of the show.[1][7][8][9] When Hendrix's manager Chas Chandler observed the audience's reaction, he decided to include the guitar destruction as a permanent feature of the Experience's show in the future.[10][11][12]
The club's inner circle also included Uschi Obermaier, who later wrote in her book "High Times. Mein wildes Leben" about the numerous, wild nights in her regular nightclub.[1][4] It was in the Big Apple that Jimi Hendrix and Obermaier met and began a love affair.[9][5]
In the 1970s, the Big Apple eventually became a celebrity discotheque with regulars like Uschi Glas and Dolly Dollar.[1]