The Ramones : Classic Or Dud

rocket to russia is my fave, the first four are all great tho

This is fantastic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1QG8MJ7jv4

This is a segment with interview, live footage and sometimes hilarious fan reactions to a Ramones show in Minneapolis in 1978. I like to imagine that all the '80s hardcore kids were at this show, or at least caught this video on their PBS affiliate.

Was inspired by this thread to listen to some of The Ramones first album. "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" sounds so sincere with its 50s pop sound. I'm surprised an indie film or a TV commercial haven't used it yet.

(xpost) That vid is great, thanks for linking! I grew up in the Twin Cities, but didn't live here '76 - '78. I had forgotten they went from playing at a dive bar in St. Paul in the summer of '77, to a large theater in January of the following year. With The Runaways!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycdreamin/4310636885/

"I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" sounds so sincere with its 50s pop sound. I'm surprised an indie film or a TV commercial haven't used it yet.

It actually got an airing in the late 90s indie flick Whatever, but only me and maybe five other people remember the film. Good soundtrack tho, Pretenders, Motorhead, The Jam...

Almost can't be bothered to contribute, as they were/are so obviously classic .

Agreed,though ,they never matched the first three in the studio. My introduction to them was It's Alive. I bought that, I only had my paper round money and it seemed such great value for money back then.
Sadly, I can't even recall the name of their last 16 albums. For me, they tailed off massively around the only time I ever saw them live in 85 at teh Lyceum (Too Tough to Die)

amazing clip

"they're not the most talented, but they're the most fun" !!! lol

funny revive, just tonight a guy 10 years older than me told me that he discovered the ramones in '78, his senior year of high school, and it sort of changed the world for him. i had the same experience about 4 or 5 years later in middle school.

'i remember you' is just about the perfect pop song, i've realized.

Not listening to them for a while, then going into overdrive listening to the first four I came across the notion, that I really needed all of the Ramones studio albums. I've been picking them up one after another over the past few months and some of the later ones like Brain Drain and Acid Eaters which I haven't heard since they were new, while not sonically touching those early works are still pretty damn good for what they are and at points great. I never had Mondo Bizarro or Adios Amigo, but I will at some point in the next few months. I still need to get Animal Boy, which is out of print like some of the later 80s stuff currently is at this point. But on the rest, I say they were more consistent than perhaps given credit.

Animal Boy is pretty horrid, apart from Bonzo Goes to Bitburg.

The "Weird Tales of the Ramone" set is very worth it.

Disc 1 represents the first four albums.

Discs 2 and 3 represent all the others with at least four tracks off each, enough to show there wasn't a massive slacking off of quality anywhere.

Disc 4 is a DVD of mainly later period stuff, but then again that wouldn't get collected any place else really.

And the booklet is excellent, different cartoonists illustrate how they were, episodes from their history (check the dirctor's audio track from the R&R High school DVD for sources), and general fan-style nuttiness.

I got one cheap in an HMV sale around 8 years ago, glad I didn't plump for the 2CD "anthology"...

I must admit I prefer the Ramones' version of "Baby I Love You" to the original.

Alice (now 11), as regular readers know, her first favourite band was the Ramones..

cf: Parents forbidding music

.. anyway, not that long ago we were in a shoe shop and "Baby I love you" came on, she'd not heard it before.

"That's the Ramones!" I say.

"Really?"

"Yep. That was their biggest hit."

"Oh! Was that because....." she begins.

"what, because it sounds nothing like their other stuff?"

"Yeah"

"Yup"

i had no idea it was a hit, let alone their biggest.

No 8 in 1980. Made it to Top of the Pops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4H9yZBjgSI

It's the easiest Ramones single to find on 7" in the UK, so they must've sold a lot of them.

I agree with the abundant praise for It's Alive on this thread. and for any doubters - here's the 26 minute edit of the show from the dvd; one of the greatest half hours of rock concert footage ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imf25Squ8ro

has anyone read johnny's book?

A young music critic at the time speaks:

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/c12.0.403.403/p403x403/408392_4798168918970_1487741182_n.jpg

I assume that was the Morrissey letter that was going around Facebook earlier, but I'm not seeing anything linked to. Is that my computer?

It is -- odd, working for me here.

would love to know what lp this young'un won.

I have this impression that Morrissey only likes 12 bands and that that has never changed (Patti Smith, the Dolls, T. Rex, Sparks, Bowie eh who cares who the others are)

Jobriath would be another.

the last sentence should be referred to his solo career

I remember when he was a big supporter of the Woodentops, then they put out a single he didn't like (as good as anything else they did) and he started referring to them as "the Suddenflops" and spent about twenty hours dismissing the single. Which was actually pretty great. He did a similar thing with James, but they probably deserved it.

funny you should say that, as i clearly remember having a discussion with a smiths fan, and he hated the woodentops, whereas i loved them, and we used to have heated debates as to the merits of each band.

the line in the sand was drawn, and i have often wondered what caused the rift.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mao35421NH1qaxybpo1_500.jpg
not sure what's worse, writing that letter or drinking a corona on johnny's grave

behave. he never drank the beer.

lol regrets?

wow never seen Johnny's grave before that is amazing! where is it

i think it's in the Hollywood Forever cemetery.

http://www.hollywoodforever.com/stories?ls_id=20259

Morrissey was apparently a big Ramones fan during the Smiths days, so I guess it didn't take him <i>too</i> long to come around.

Forgot to hit that "convert to BBcode" button. Rookie mistake.

welcome rookie.

nicholas cage's johnny impression!!

aw that nicholas cage thing is actually really sweet

The Ramones meet Regis and Kathy Lee

Meanwhile, on the 6 train...

awesome clip - thx!

xpost -- I see you noticed that as well.

i don't know if i've ever seen a human male with skinnier legs than joey ramone.

inventing post rock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MPEqGJqqSI

has anyone read johnny's book?

― fit and working again, Saturday, August 11, 2012 8:02 AM (5 months ago

Yep. It's a great read. Not brilliantly written - it jumps all over the place, he skips a lot, repeats a lot and a few other problems. But you really get a sense of his character - and what a character he is. He's a grouchy, conservative, misanthrope with a chip on both shoulders who won't tolerate bullshit of any kind and loves baseball, movies and punk music (in that order). He's paranoid about the Ramones' image but loves them and is so proud of them, regards as the best ever and loves his celebrity friends (there are probably hundreds of photos of him with famous people). Seems like he and Joey were complete opposites and Joey made him crazy. Dee Dee he loved and he really respected him, while openly admitting to bullying him and considering him a fuck-up. There's good, non-judgmental insights into the various drug problems etc that they went through. He writes about each album and rates them etc, like a true music geek. There's lots of lists actually. Then it ends as he is dying and it's pretty touching as he does the "I couldn't have wished for a better life" routine. Worth your time if you love the Ramones.

Here's an interesting question that was asked on twitter...who played the keyboards on "Let's Dance"?

Craig Leon. This is mentioned in Mickey Leigh's book "I Slept With Joey Ramone".

The two of them, plus other people like Arturo Vega added quite a few tiny details on top of the bass/guitars/drums/vocals of the Ramones after the formal recording of the album - handclaps, a few "ooooohs" here and there, that weird tss-boom sound on the chorus in Havana Affair etc. For Let's Dance he specifically mentions that Leon played a huge pipe organ that was in the studio.

Via Facebook via Rolling Stone--the Sun Sessions 1974:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI4EDSw3K3A

Tommy (who I seem to remember from the documentary had a more normal rock group pedigree): "I can't take it."