JOEY RAMONE 1951 - 2001
Article taken from NOSEBLEED
21
There've been punk bands throughout the
years who've shunned the idea of rock'n'roll hero worship, many of whom
would never qualify in that regard, but some do slip through the net
and rather than go out in a blaze of stupidity, there's a set number
who are forever destined to fade into the background. there's no reason
for this, it's just the way the cards fall. Joey Ramone died of lymphoma
on April 15th 2000, and while the band that made him famous had blended
in with other foggy entities of tired rock history 5 years previously,
the news of his death was enough to merit a tribute on the website of
any punk related band you care to check. Even the national scruffy pointless
fanzines such as the Star had to sandwich some manner of honourable
mention in there beside their "Atomic Kitten to appear in Home
And Away" hot feature.
The Ramones were a lot of things to a lot
of people. They were the first worldwide ambassadors of punk - true
that the Dictators, the Stooges, the NY Dolls were all prototypes, but
nobody communicated the absurdity of the simplest things in life like
the Ramones did. Even the bands they shared the stage with in their
parochial days considered them fun but dumb. But there was always something
sinister underneath. The Ramones had so many internal divisions, personal
problems, drug habits etc that if you read back through any random list
of song titles - "I Don't Wanna Go Down The Basement", "I
Wanna Be Well", "Cretin Hop" - with that in mind, the
underlying fabric of what spawned the Ramones was always a little more
complex than their tongue in cheek horror nursery lyrics, surf covers
and stupid haircuts. And the Ramones was a band with 2 heroes, Joey
and DeeDee - Joey because he was such an awkward looking fucker - Whether
sporting the classic 70's Ramones skuzz look or the '80s trasher look
of white runner boots & spiderleg jeans..... a role model for teenage
losers without any possible role model - and DeeDee, an incredible fuck-up
with a better understanding of constructing the Ramones song than any
other member, original or otherwise, would ever prove to be. Let's face
it, nobody's a fan of Johnny, Tommy, Marky, CJ - they just weren't the
ones with mystic aura seeping out of their pores. Joey would always
be the one you'd pick out of the crowd going "Hey, look at that
weird fucker"... some of those early haircuts were frightening....
look at the pictures from "It's Alive" - If you were to form
the ultimate punk band tomorrow, there's not a hope in hell that you'd
want someone who looked like that in your audience, never mind the centre
of attention. The charisma of the Ramones is very simple to pinpoint
- they were charismatic because they had no charisma. They were simply
scumbags from shittier parts of New York.
The look of cheapness - shit runners, hand-me-down
jeans, bad hair and sub-mentality t-shirts pointed towards a past for
so many people that no asshole with skateboard & baggy pants is
ever likely to appreciate. Even when they became famous, the Ramones
were decadence. Their album sales were poor ( commercially speaking
) and when they did take the commercial plunge, the piledrivers they
were famous for suffered. Discovering the hard way that commercial leanings
were not worth the effort, their last few albums almost seemed to resign
themselves into the armchair of legendary failure, and were better for
it - "Brain Drain", "Mondo Bizarro",
"Acid Eaters" & the swansong "Adios Amigos"
were quite obviously superior albums to the majority of the bands '80s
output...... most of the singles from the era are still wonderful, but
the albums which housed them needed spring cleaning.
In particular, the first post-DeeDee album,
"Mondo Bizarro", highlighted the Ramones as world players
once more and is undoubtedly their finest work this side of " Road
To Ruin ". Had it been a few years into the future, and had the
band survived, the distinct possibility of salvation would have been
there on a silver plate. Just as the band permanently consign themselves
to history with the passing of Joey, many of their counterparts from
the late 70s are being rescued by the now wealthy US punk underground,
who's labels are run by people reared on these bands. The obscure label
hop circus has been pot to a stop for a number of warhorses - The Damned,
now on Nitro Records, last time the Cramps surfaced it was with Epitaph,
and if they ever get it together, the Dickies next effort will be a
Fat wreck Chords release.For fans of the Ramones, the internal bitterness
and resentment is no secret, and although the formula had found new
life, it was almost a relief when it was announced that "Adios
Amigos" would be their final mark on the music world. Speculation
suggested that they can't possibly have the cash to retire permanently
and that further activity would be inevitable, but (no doubt due to
lack of communication) this never happened, and now, without the nasal
Queens drawl of Joey, is never a possibility. The Ramones formula was
simple yet unduplicated with any success, and anybody in the business
of punk (who has the remotest idea what they're talking about) recognises
them as probably the greatest punk band of all.
One for the space time capsule.
- BOZ
