The Rat — Kenmore Square Boston’s Famous Rock n’ Roll House

— The early days saw Punk Rock vs. Disco Music!

[NOTE: Credit for the photos of Linda and Mitch go to rock n’ roll photographer extraordinaire Wayne Valdez.]

Boston Musical Artist Linda Veins

From Wikipedia:

The Rathskeller (known as The Rat for short) was a legendary[1][2][3] live music venue in Boston, Massachusetts that was open from 1974 to 1997. A dimly-lit, gritty establishment, the Rathskeller was considered the “granddaddy” of Boston rock venues.[4][5]

The Talking Heads at The Rat

During its heyday, the Rat hosted such acts as The Cars, Pixies, Metallica, Powerman 5000, Dead Kennedys, The Ramones, Talking Heads, R.E.M., The Motels, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, The Queers, and The Police. From 1980 to 1987, The Hoodoo BBQ — which Esquire called one of the “100 Best Restaurants in America” — was located at The Rat.[6]

Mitch, The Rat Doorman — Loved and Respected by All!

Notable Acts That Performed The Rat:

• 311
• 8-Eyed Spy
• AxCx
• Aerosmith
• Agent Orange
• Agnostic Front
• Angry Samoans
• Alex Chilton
• The Alley Cats
• Anti-Flag
• The Atlantics
• Aus-Rotten
• B-52s
• Bad Brains
• Bastel
• The Beastie Boys
• Big Black
• Big D & the Kids Table
• Blitzkrieg
• Blondie
• Blotto
• Boys Life
• Buffalo Tom
• Bullet LaVolta
• Mr. Butch
• Butthole Surfers
• The Cars
• The Casualties
• Celibate Rifles
• Crash Worship
• D Generation
• Dag Nasty
• The Damned
• Dead Boys
• Dead Kennedys
• The dB’s
• Del Fuegos
• The Delinquents
• Dervish
• The Descendents
• Destroy!
• Destroy All Monsters
• Dinosaur Jr.
• DMZ
• The Dogmatics
• Dream Syndicate
• Dropdead
• Dropkick Murphys
• Dumptruck
• DYS
• Ed’s Redeeming Qualities
• The Effigies
• English Beat
• The Fall
• Fishbone
• The Flesh Eaters
• The Fleshtones
• Flipper
• The Flying Lizards
• Foetus
• The F.U.’s
• The Freeze
• Game Theory
• Gang Green
• GG Allin
• The Godfathers
• Godsmack
• The Go-Gos
• Goo Goo Dolls
• Gorilla Biscuits
• Harlequin
• The Heartbreakers
• Henry Rollins
• Hole
• Holly and the Italians
• Human Sexual Response
• Hüsker Dü
• Inside Out
• Chris Isaak
• The J. Geils Band (Peter Wolf)
• The Jam
• Jerry’s Kids
• Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
• Joe Ely
• The Joe Perry Project
• John Cale
• La Peste
• Los Lobos
• Lou Miami
• Lyres
• Maelstrom
• Aimee Mann
• Mazzy Star
• Megadeth
• The Melvins
• Metallica
• The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• Miltown
• Mink DeVille
• Minutemen
• Mission of Burma
• Mother Love Bone
• The Neats
• The Neighborhoods
• Nervous Eaters
• November Group
• Only Living Witness
• Orbit
• The Outlets
• Patti Smith
• People in Stores
• The Plasmatics
• Poison (American band)
• Powerman 5000
• Pixies
• The Police
• The Queers
• Quiet Riot
• Rain Parade
• The Ramones
• The Real Kids
• The Real McKenzies
• Redd Kross
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• The Replacements
• The Remains
• R.E.M.
• Richard Hell
• Rick James
• Robin Lane and the Chartbusters
• Robyn Hitchcock
• Rogue
• Roy Buchanan
• The Runaways
• SS Decontrol
• SNFU
• Salem 66
• Sam Black Church
• Scruffy The Cat
• Sheer Terror
• Showcase Showdown
• Sick Of It All
• Slapshot
• Slash (band)
• The Smithereens
• Sonic Youth
• Soul Asylum
• Soundgarden
• Steve Earle
• Stevie Ray Vaughan
• The Stompers
• The Stranglers
• Straw Dogs
• Suicide
• Talking Heads
• Thin Lizzy
• Throwing Muses
• ’Til Tuesday
• Tom Petty
• Transformatix
• Translator (band)
• True West
• Tuff Darts
• The Unseen
• U2
• The Ben Vaughn Combo
• Volcano Suns
• Wargasm
• The Washington Squares
• White Zombie
• Willie “Loco” Alexander
• The Wipers
• Wrathchild
• Wu-Tang Clan
• Youth Brigade
• Zero Boys
• The Zulus

… to name just a few!

The Rathskeller

The Rat was located a a few hops, skips or jumps to and back from Fenway Park!

The Annual Rat Beach Party (scroll a little ways down the article to where you see The C-Note in the photos):

Boston Groupie News - Boston's Original Punk Rock Magazine