End of the Century

In Auckland in the 70's we saw/heard much more from the Sex Pistols and Clash although everyone knew about NY Dolls and Ramones. The documentary was great in covering some of the gaps and in that the surviving members got to comment on their own memories or lack of them.

In an early tour to England the Ramones met the Clash and Pistols whom they helped through a back window. It was energising to think that many of the personal connections through a relatively small groups of bands reasonated so widely and so far. It was also of interest to realize that Ramones for all their fame never really cracked it and that is partly what makes them so interesting now.

It was great to relive some of the magic moments and also a bit sad to catch up on more recent events. I wasn't a huge fan but I do remember the day Joey died. I also enjoyed learning about the image making and the constructed views including those awful bowl haircuts. Johnnys role as brand director and developer was a revelation.

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.

"End of the Century" is a great rocumentary that's lots of fun to watch. Speaking of watches, I never looked at mine once during the entire 110 minute runtime. I regret now that I missed the Ramones on their many stops in L.A., I had always thought of them as cartoonish and eternal, some day I'd go and see them play (but they broke up before I had that chance). At least I can see them in this great rock documentary! This movie has it all, from footage in their early days to the very end, where the band is weary of the road and each other and just don't care anymore. It's fascinating to watch their story, how they start out as innovators, and end up as fossilized cartoon characters who always looked and dressed exactly the same as they did on their first album.

The Ramones' influence on rock 'n' roll and punk rock cannot be underestimated. A case could be made that Johnny Ramone is the most influential living guitar player (he is alive at the time I write this, though I know he has been battling cancer). The interviews with Johnny Ramone are great, I got the impression that the band would have fallen apart years before it did if he hadn't been in it to make it work. The movie also shows many insightful interviews with other band members and various managers and hangers-on. The impression I got was that The Ramones were a unplanned phenomenon that invented punk as we know it, even though they never achieved commercial success in the US (at least on the level they thought they deserved). This is one of the few documentaries that I've seen on the big screen that was big-screen worthy, especially the concert footage. A stunning movie about one of the greatest bands ever (think about that!).

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.

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.