Johnny Ramone is dead.

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Originally posted by Andii Vamp:
Also, isn't this the band that gave Queeny Blast Pop their name? Weren't The Ramones once described as "Blast Pop From Queens"? I assumed that iz how QBP got their name... could be wrong tho [img]tongue.gif[/img]

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<font size="4" face="Arial">Actually I think I remember one of my friends telling me that Les told her the name derived from Cheap Trick not Ramones. Something about "the queens that blast pop" in one of their old songs - correct me if I'm wrong people! I don't quite remember

Carl, that is cool. I did not know that song had a different title. Well at least you and I are on the same path.

I got to meet them on one of their last tours. Johnny and Joey were actually quite nice to group of us who got to meet them after the show.

Here's an interesting perspective from Kurt Loder off the MTV site.

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I remember riding down in an elevator with Johnny Ramone, somewhere back in the late '70s, and figuring this would be a good chance to ask him a question. It was something I'd wondered about ever since I'd heard the Ramones' first album, in 1976. Johnny was a glowery sort of guy ? "standoffish" didn't really capture his air of frosty disengagement ? and I suspected he wasn't the type of fellow human who welcomed random small talk or chatty interaction. But ... well, he wasn't going to hit me or anything, was he? (He was wearing one of those sleeveless T-shirts he favored, and I did note that at least one of his arms was powerfully muscled ? bulked-up, no doubt, from years of slamming out warp-speed sets with his band.) So I blurted it out.

"Where'd you learn to play guitar like that?" I asked.

He looked up from whatever interesting stain on the floor he'd been giving his undivided attention, and he said, "It's the only way I can play." Followed, as I recall, by silence.

Even more annoying than the belief, common in snootier musical circles, that the Ramones were wrong-side-of-the-bridge simpletons was the related aspersion that they were a three-chord junk-rock band with little ? make that nothing ? in the way of redeeming musical value. Only a simpleton could think such a thing. Take, oh ... take "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment," on Leave Home, the band's second album. Not only are there a whole bunch of chords packed in there, and not only are they gunned out at a speed not theretofore thought humanly possible, but the opening guitar riff is in 6/4 time. I mean, I can't imagine that John ever devoted even a passing thought to time signatures and suchlike ? life's too short ? but there it is. It was just part of the way he played ? the only way he played.

Watching him onstage with the Ramones, which I must have done a few dozen times over the years, I never ceased to be amazed by his fluidity, his precision ? the way he could run his left hand up and down the neck of the guitar through an intricate and eccentrically timed series of roaring power chords and never land on the wrong fret, never blow a note. And all of this, as I say, at NASCAR velocity. He had an absolutely unique way of playing his instrument, and he influenced more younger guitarists in lesser groups than I can be bothered to begin to name. He was one of a kind: a Reagan Republican who wrote the book on punk-rock guitar dynamics, and then had to sit by and watch an unending lemming-line of less creative players slip it into their tote bag on the way to the kind of big-time fame and fortune the Ramones never knew. Screw 'em.

The last time I talked to John was on the phone in June of 2002, on the morning that Dee Dee Ramone was found dead of a drug overdose in his Los Angeles apartment. He didn't sound shaken, but he was surprised. He said he'd seen Dee Dee around town from time to time, and that he looked healthy and claimed to have cleaned up. What're you gonna do? I asked him what he was up to. He said, "I'm enjoying my retirement." It was an odd thing to hear a Ramone say, but he meant it. I doubt he ever said anything he didn't mean.

The last time I tried to call John was this past June, when he was in Cedars-Sinai in L.A. and rumors of his imminent demise were blossoming like pustules all over the press (see "Johnny Ramone Is Not Dying, His Doctor Says"). I finally reached his hospital room and got his wife, Linda. There were about four or five doctors in the room, she said ? there did seem to be a lot of commotion on her end ? but he wasn't dying. It turned out that he was in Cedars to get rigged up with some experimental drug to treat his cancer. He hated the rumors, but he wasn't about to dignify them with a press statement. A press statement! Johnny Ramone! Picture it.

I kept meaning to call him at home after that, actually get him on the line. But June turned into July, then August, and by the time I heard the news today (see "Ramones Guitarist Johnny Ramone Dies At Age 55"), I still hadn't picked up the phone. This sucks, believe me. But I'm glad he was surrounded by friends at the end. And I think he had more well-wishers ? and certainly admirers ? scattered around the planet than he ever realized. And now that three-quarters of one of the most distinctively great bands in the recent annals of rock music have moved on to another plane, maybe the Ramones will start shifting some major units, record-wise. Johnny would have liked that. And the many people who never had ears to hear the band's rich contribution to American music, maybe now they'll give it a shot, a long-delayed serious listen. Johnny wouldn't have cared much about that, though. Screw 'em.

?Kurt Loder

I didn't think he had long left. Bad stuff.

RIP Johnny.

Sandy, don't get me wrong I don't think the Ramones we're a one trick pony, I have quite a few of their albums and I agree on your 'variation' comment, it just always kinda made me wonder what made them so BIG (and where could I buy some! lol!) and I agree with you that being 'Punk Rock' may well have been the reasonin' f'sure...

And Andii...I have no damn idea!!!!! LOL! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

RIP ......

shit... another one bites the dust.....

HEY HO! LET'S GO!

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Originally posted by Sandy Hazard:
"My Brain is hangin'upside down" is an amazing song that should have been a hit. They never got pushed by the label and always seemed to get screwed over

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<font size="4" face="Arial">I never adapted to that title. I have the original 12" single with Reagan on the cover, using the original name "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg". It was a much catchier title than "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down", but I guess they may have changed it to not offend as many people.

I fell asleep one night recently, and School Of Rock came on the TV. I had never seen the movie and have little interest in seeing it, but as soon as the part with "Bonzo" came on, I shot up in bed and stayed awake just until the song ended. God I love that song!!!

Yeah, maybe "one trick pony" is a bit extreme, but there is NO DOUBT that when you hear 'em, you know it is the Ramones.

I will also stand by it that "Too Tough To Die" is still the most badassed album cover ever...almost. Black Sabbath "Mob Rules" is still tops.

Sandy, I think you and I are actually on the same path about A LOT of stuff musically! LOL!!! But yeah, "Bonzo" was the original title. You know that the song is all about Reagan going to Aushwitz and all those camps in Germany in the 80's, right? It was actually a VERY political song, that got lost on a lot of people, and by it being in "School Of Rock" just further proves how much people don't get what it is about.

Lyrics:
You?ve got to pick up the pieces c?mon, sort your trash
You better pull yourself back together maybe you?ve got too much cash
Better call, call the law when you gonna turn yourself in? yeah
You?re a politician don?t become one of hitler?s children

Bonzo goes to bitburg then goes out for a cup of tea
As I watched it on tv somehow it really bothered me
Drank in all the bars in town for an extended foreign policy
Pick up the pieces

My brain is hanging upside down I need something to slow me down

My brain is hanging upside down I need something to slow me down

Shouldn?t wish you happiness, wish her the very best fifty thousand dollar dress
Shaking hands with your highness see through you like cellophane
You watch the world complain, but you do it anyway who am i, am I to say

Bonzo goes to bitburg then goes out for a cup of tea
As I watched it on tv somehow it really bothered me
Drank in all the bars in town for an extended foreign policy
Pick up the pieces

My brain is hanging upside down I need something to slow me down

My brain is hanging upside down I need something to slow me down

If there?s one thing that makes me sick it?s when someone tries to hide behind politics
I wish that time could go by fast somehow they manage to make it last

My brain is hanging upside down I need something to slow me down

My brain is hanging upside down I need something to slow me down

My brain is hanging upside down I need something to slow me down

My brain is hanging upside down I need something to slow me down


The song was actually out for about a year before "Animal Boy" came out.

For the original cover:
http://punkandoi.free.fr/ramonesep16.jpg

Ummm, for the record, before we say that the Ramones invented punk rock, the New York Dolls preceded them by three years. [img]wink.gif[/img]

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Originally posted by Carl I.:
Sandy, I think you and I are actually on the same path about A LOT of stuff musically! LOL!!! But yeah, "Bonzo" was the original title. You know that the song is all about Reagan going to Aushwitz and all those camps in Germany in the 80's, right? It was actually a VERY political song, that got lost on a lot of people, and by it being in "School Of Rock" just further proves how much people don't get what it is about.

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<font size="4" face="Arial">The main inspiration was Reagan's visit to Bitburg cemetery, which is populated entirely by SS personnel.

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Originally posted by Cotton Candy Lover:
Ummm, for the record, before we say that the Ramones invented punk rock, the New York Dolls preceded them by three years. [img]wink.gif[/img]

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<font size="4" face="Arial">And the Sonics preceded the Dolls by seven years. Punk rock has been around a LONG time.