TL;DR Install an extension.

No, thanks. For the very same reasons I don't want all that junk on my new tabs, I don't want extensions.

Google can make the default whatever they want and I wouldn't complain if they'd just let me change it to what I want and if it would keep those settings across machines. Everytime I start Chrome and evertime I open a new tab in an existing window I want a blank page and an empty, focused omnibar. I'd also like to be able to remove the back, forward, refresh, bookmark star, and the '3 lines' button that no one has a good name for.