Tommy Ramone RIP (1 Viewer)

There must be something terrible in the water in Forest Lawn Queens, all of those guys died relatively young.

I heard about Tommy at about 3 a.m. on BBC news, and it surprised me when they said, "The Ramones were credited with creating punk rock." The British being so generally argumentative about that fact. The certainly invented what most people consider to be that 70s wave of punk rock, since so many of the second wave of punk bands adopted their wall-to-wall blitzkrieg of sound. And of course their black leather motorcycle jackets became (and remain) the uniform of punks all over the world.

I know for my friends and I that first Ramones album was nothing short of a revelation. It's easy to lose sight of it now, but at the time it was revolutionary. No one had ever heard anything like it. So minimalist. So brutally fast. So funny.

He wasn't a Beatle, but speaking of drummers, there are some funny interviews with Marky Ramone, who took Tommy's place as drummer in the band after the third album. Tommy taught himself how to play, which resulted in some weird styles apparently, because Marky often said that while it looked like he was hardly moving when he played, it exhausted him to replicate Tommy's parts every night. A result of not knowing the rules of proper drumming I suppose. And one of the things that made the Ramones different right out of the gate.

But I always think of that when I see some kid who studied guitar at MIT trying to play something off the Stooges Funhouse, or any rock and roll really. It isn't easy for them to do it - in most cases they can't do it - because the people who created that stuff didn't know that they weren't supposed to be doing things the way they did them. Thankfully.

So yeah: fuck.
 
Not knowing much about the Ramones (shame on me, I know) except parts of their music I watched a documentary about them the other day and this
I know for my friends and I that first Ramones album was nothing short of a revelation. It's easy to lose sight of it now, but at the time it was revolutionary. No one had ever heard anything like it. So minimalist. So brutally fast. So funny.
was what everybody said about them, even the bandmembers themselves. They must have made quite an impact when they appeared and buried almost everything which had been done in rock music before them.

The other - suprising - thing I learned was that it seemed to be no fun at all to be in the Ramones. At least that's what they said. "Structured like the military" (wtf?) and especially Johnny Ramone gave out rather ugly vibes, sorry to say that. Upright right-wing, bossing and slapping the others around and they were "not allowed to have other haircuts" so that the Ramones-look wouldn't be compromised (wtf?). You probably all know this, but it was news to me.

Tommy Ramone at the other hand seemed a really nice, humble and cool guy in these interviews.
 
Johnny was a prick, yes. But he's the one who made them rehearse before every show (playing the entire set in the dressing room, and not just when they were starting out - every night of their career!) and it was his guitar sound and style that all the kids who came after them wanted to emulate. So without him, things would have been very different.

And really, after the initial excitement wears off, it's no fun to be in any band. ;)

A career oriented band anyway. Maybe weekend bands are fun, I don't know. I've never played in one.
 
I read this interview with their ex-manager once. He recalled their first tour through the South. They pulled into a gas station and the band piled out while an old guy filled the van with gas. The old guy says to the manager, "It's sure nice of you to drive those poor retarded kids around."
 
They must have made quite an impact when they appeared and buried almost everything which had been done in rock music before them.
I've been thinking about that, and what's funny is the Ramones didn't really bury 70s rock, their progeny did. They were never really successful, at least not in the way that success is measured in THE MUSIC BUSINESS. They struggled constantly and only persevered through stubbornness and an unwillingness to quit.

None of the bands who created what became punk rock were successful: the Stooges, the Velvet Underground, the MC5, the New York Dolls, the Ramones. None of them were successful, but all of them were influential. The old joke is that the Velvet Underground only sold 10,000 records, but everyone who bought the record started a band. You could say the same thing about the Ramones.

What all of those bands did is plant an important seed in the minds of the people who loved them. "Hey, if those guys can make a record, so can we!" That's what buried 60s and 70s rock. That and the fact that if you liked a band like the Ramones, it made it hard to take the indulgent unicorns and castles music seriously. They reminded us that rock and roll was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be simple and it was supposed to be kind of stupid.

That's why any time I see a new band and think to myself, "Is this a joke?" I pay attention. Because I'm old and if I think something is stupid, its chances of being the next punk rock are good. If we can ever have (or ever want) another musical upheaval like that, of course. But I don't see that happening. The Internet seems to have put the brakes on that. For now, anyway.

Now that everything is available to everyone, you just don't see musical trends coming and going anymore. Only technological trends in the way music is produced and recorded. It's no accident that the last truly revolutionary music to be created, hip hop, predates the Internet.
 
None of the bands who created what became punk rock were successful: the Stooges, the Velvet Underground, the MC5, the New York Dolls, the Ramones. None of them were successful, but all of them were influential. The old joke is that the Velvet Underground only sold 10,000 records, but everyone who bought the record started a band. You could say the same thing about the Ramones.

That was being said in the documentary too.

Also, that when the Ramones listended to the Clash's first album, they considered it a cheap rip-off of their style. And that Johnny Rotten didn't dare to enter their dressing room when they played in London, because he (and everybody) thought the Ramones were a gang from Brooklyn and would beat him up :D

On the other hand the Ramones themselves were hugely influenced by Iggy and the Stooges and the New York Dolls, they stated. So there really seems to be some sort of logical continuity there.
 
Also, that when the Ramones listended to the Clash's first album, they considered it a cheap rip-off of their style. And that Johnny Rotten didn't dare to enter their dressing room when they played in London, because he (and everybody) thought the Ramones were a gang from Brooklyn and would beat him up :D

That loveable old codger Lemmy seems to have a similar opinion, this was a good interview with him from a few years ago, I laughed when he is referred to as the Forrest Gump of Rock - it's apt. Was going to take out the excerpt re The Ramones and Rotten and The Clash, but, the whole interview is a good read:

http://www.spin.com/articles/spin-interview-motorhead/
 
Who you or Lemmy?:)

I think they managed to achieve it in many ways, I saw Motorhead in 1982, incredible. First time I heard it and even to this day, Ace of Spades is the only song that gets my resp rate and heart rate up just listening to it. For sheet energy, power and speed. Suppose like the MC5.

i'm worried about Lemmy though, he isn't in great health, the tour last year was cancelled, I know Slash is a regular visitor to him (they share implantable defibrillators for alcohol/drug related cardiomyopathies - don't mean they share it literally:)).
 
When I was little, I wanted to be one of the Pan's People Dancers on Top of The Pops, then when I got really old - like 20yr - I would spend my time popping out of Giant birthday cakes, wearing nothing but a bikini and a smile, up and down the cote d'azur at fancy parties - too many silly films!
Wonder what everyone else wanted to be?
 
"I remember going down to the [London club] Roxy one night just to see what the punk thing was all about. I was standing at the bar, and this bush behind me said, "I used to sell acid at [Hawkwind's] all-night shows in King's Cross." And I turned around and it was Johnny Rotten. I remembered him: He used to have long hair, with pockets full of drugs."

8-0 ... wtf, that's news to me.
 
Pre-punk Lydon:

johnny-rotten_1798765.jpg


All of the original punks were former hippies, heshers, metalheads...they had to come from somewhere.
 
I've seen this picture before but didn't know how serious this was.

Johnny Rotten as an acid-pushing hippie at Hawkwind concerts. Jesus.
 
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"Hawkwind" -- that's precious. Can you please start a Hawkwind thread -- if it does not already exist?

Besides MJP, Stick and a few other Yanks on here, I don't think most Americans know of the legend that IS Hawkwind... it makes Zep look like a cheap cover band...
 
I have a funny relationship with Hawkwind in that, although I'm not really a big fan of theirs, my mate loves them so I've seen them live 4 times (which is more than any other band, I think) and I was absolutely off my tits two of those times. I don't own any of their albums either. You meet some right characters at their gigs. They really need to knock it on the head now though. They were pretty terrible the last time I went to see them (about 5 years ago). I think they're still going but Dave Brock looked like he'd been dug up (as did most of the crowd).
 

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