End of the Century

I'm a fan of the Ramones, but not an hard core 'owns every LP' fan. That said - I found this doc very informative. Some of the B&W footage from CBGBs is fascinating, and the interviews with the band members were great though often conflicting. The late Dee Dee in particular is highly entertaining. The print that I saw had a fair bit of white text over sections of live footage, but my guess is that this will be removed for the final print or (hopefully) DVD. Johnny comes across as one tough-minded SOB, but I get the impression that without him the band wouldn't have functioned at all.

This really well made documentary is finally out and it is great for all rock n roll / punk or just music fans. Not only it is very interesting about the Ramones and give them their "pioneers of punk" status, but it is also very funny. It features all the Ramones and also Clash frontman Joe Strummer in previously unseen interviews. Almost everything you'll here in this documentary comes from the mouth of the "actors" themselves. It shows and we can make our opinion on the band and its different members. For instance this scene where Johnny Ramones thanks god and G. Bush during the Hall of Fame ceremony is quite surprising.

This movie tells us the story of the Ramones, but in fact also the story of many other bands ...

I've been a Ramones fan since the release of their first album. The first song I learned to play in 1978 when I joined my first decent punk band was "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue". But I've never been the kind of fan who felt the need to know a great deal more about the bands I loved. With most of the Ramones gone, and knowing that this documentary had been well received, I decided it was time to reacquaint myself with these old friends of my youth.

Obsessive troubled shy liberal giant Joey. Laid-back easy-going drug addict Dee Dee. Angry driven tough guy neocon Johnny. Alcoholic Marky. Intelligent and over-sensitive Tommy. The core members of the Ramones could not have been more different people. To create a sense of unity, they cultivated a trademark look and gave themselves the surname Ramone. Then, in 1975, they basically invented American punk and inspired a whole generation of DIY rock and rollers. For the next 20 years, this disparate group would behave more or less as if they really were a band of brothers.

All five of the core members, and even CJ and Ricky, speak very openly about the band and their frustrations with the U.S. music industry, and there is plenty of music, including some rare early live stuff, to keep the film rolling. In addition to what the Ramones say about themselves, the film offers a very strong vision of the personalities that drove the band. Johnny comes across as honest, incredibly forceful and domineering - and the sheer volume of words he presents could leave you with the impression that he dominates the film. He does not. Dee Dee, who did not even stay with the band through the 1990s, got equal time. And even Tommy, the often absent founding drummer and later producer, might have been given equal time. Joey - never a great talker - is so quiet off-stage that he will leave you wishing for more.

This retrospective documentary is not an expose, but rather a respectful tribute. Framed around the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the film spends a great deal of time discussing the band's failure (in their own eyes at least) to achieve commercial success in the U.S.A. As somebody who was involved in Punk Rock from its beginnings in the U.S., I found this surprising. After all, the Ramones had more commercial success than virtually any American punk band of their generation, and, long before they broke up, achieved the status of a legend. If anything, this more-or-less constant theme is the most monotonous aspect of the film.

The documentary is good and very much worth watching for Ramones fans. The directing, editing and cinematography are not particularly innovative, but they get the story across in a straight-forward way. The Ramones were never boring, but this documentary, at times, gets pretty close.

Highly recommended for Ramones fans. Others may wish to avoid.

I have been a fan of the Ramones for most of my life and never realized how much I didn't want to know about them until now. I don't care about what they did before or how they met. Listening to them talk is just sad. I wish the movie would have continued after the farewell tour and covered the tour they did the next year. I would have loved to hear why they did that. But it is a good movie if you think you need this much info about the Ramones.

Joey!

Man, when I think about that frail, tall, slightly off-kilter character, and how painful his life was, it almost breaks my heart. The only reason it doesn't is because Joey fronted the coolest punk band of all time, and he did so with such amazing style and panache. Way to overcome your limitations! Joey was a victim of pretty bad OCD, and had every reason to believe he would spend his life a loser. Well, Jeff, (his real name,) you were a winner, even if cancer took you way too young.

I heard my first Ramones album in the late seventies. It was the newly released Rocket to Russia, and at the time I had been listening to stadium rock like Kiss and Rush and the junk on the radio with this kid named Steve Hiltner at Ridgemount Jr. High School. Luckily for us, Steve had an older brother who played guitar, and he influenced us to listen to this grinding guitar based insanity that was the Ramones. MAN! When I heard "Teenage Lobotomy" coming out over my stereo speakers, it probably changed me forever.

There was never a punk band as good as the Ramones, and this film does a great job of showing their tragic, and yet strangely inspiring story. These guys WERE SERIOUS! They really were. That's what made them so good. They wrote really great songs with really great hooks and melodies and lyrics, and yet they did it with three or four chords and snappy 4/4 drumming that varied little from song to song. The old "idiot savant" label could easily apply to their lack of musical sophistication coupled with such excellent natural artistry. Everyone needs to see this movie. Everyone needs to understand the true REAL nature of rock and roll, and how it's not about being a big rock star, and a guitar god, and that corporate BS that's been shoveled down our throats for the longest time.

Sure, I love to hear Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and the "big names" of big rock, but we must never forget the Stooges and the NY Dolls and Lou Reed, and those who HAD to play rock and roll, because their lives were just too bizarre not to.

Long live the Ramones!

I really really loved these guys. I can't believe three of them are dead.