W.i.G.--for Women in General

HATE THE LIVING, LOVE THE DEAD
RIP Joey Ramone, 1951 - 2001
Compiled by Shawna Kenney and Rich Dolinger

I first saw the Ramones in January of 1977. What a breath of fresh air that was. Here I was a frustrated MC5 and Stooges fan, trapped in country-rock hell, which was Boulder, Colorado. The whole area was dominated by firefall and jazz fusion but mostly horrible country rock, so I gave up on radio and just started buying albums' whose covers looked interesting. One day in the dollar bin I got this promo-an album by the Ramones. I don't know if it'd even been released to the stores yet, but they looked like they might sound like the Stooges or the New York Dolls. I couldn't believe what I heard-here were these really short, crude songs, with no guitar solos and the lyrics were like "Beat on the Brat With a Baseball Bat, oh yeah" and that's the whole damn song! Even the subject matter was so outrageous at the time that I would almost call that a political act in itself…but I take the album around to various kooky friends of mine, and instead of doing bong hits and spacing out to weird progressive rock bands, we'd smoke a bunch of pot and listen to the Ramones and laugh. But we couldn't forget it-the Ramones were sinking in. Then they came to the record company club in Denver called Emmet's Field, opening for a major label flavor-of-the-month called Nite City, with Ray Manzarek and Nigel Harrison, pre-Blondie among the members but musically pretty forgettable, but opening was the Ramones. Us and a few other people who knew who they were lined the front row-the others being Jim Nash and Danny Flescher (who later co-founded Wax Trax in Chicago) and members of a local punk band called the Ravers who later moved to New York and became The Nails (who later had that hit "88 Lines About 44 Women"), Joseph Pope, Al Jorgensen of Ministry says he was there, too (he was living in Colorado at the time but none of us knew him). Anyway, the rest of the club was packed with the usual country-rock hanging plant glitterati-all these self-absorbed guys with their feathered hair and neatly-trimmed Kenny Loggins beards, corduroy jackets with patches on the elbows and their dates with the freshly neo-twenties Joni Mitchell do with a flower in it and stuff-all ready for a nice pleasant evening of nice commercial music. Then these four grubby guys with torn jeans and leather jackets come out on stage, and when Johnny hit his first chord on the guitar, I jumped outta my chair-I just realized it was gonna be a heck of a lot louder than I thought! For the next 20-40 minutes, the Ramones just mowed down everybody in the room. It totally blew me away, in part because I kept turning around and seeing the looks of shock and horror on peoples' faces in the rest if the crowd, them going "No, no! Make them stop!" and I'm going "Yes, yes! More, More!"

I don't think they even introduced themselves. They not only were the most powerful band I'd ever seen but they made it look so simple that even a dork like ME could do it. This was a major turning point in my life-maybe I shouldn't listen to Black Sabbath and be a teenage suicide casualty afterall…now there was something in life to look forward to. Even I could do this, I should do this! On top of that, Joseph Pope went back to the dressing room and came out saying "I was just in there talking to the Ramones!" And I'm like "what? Talking to a real rockstar?" That just wasn't done. So we all went back there and the Ramones were very down-to-earth and friendly and Joey in particular took a lot of time to just hang out and shoot the shit with an anonymous teenager like me. It meant the world to me. I still have pictures of that, actually, but I don't know where they are.

So the next night the Ramones got an extra night at Emmet's Field and the Ravers opened for them, and me and my friend wound up becoming the road crew. "How cool! One day later we're real roadies!" So I went out and bought Leave Home in the meantime, so then I got him to sign both of my albums. I'd never asked anyone to sign an album before, and again it meant the world to me. Nowadays some people think it's beneath them, or Maximum Rock-n-Roll has said it's a plot by evil rockstars to manipulate the poor innocent audience (signing albums for people), but within reason I do it anyway because of how much it meant to me when the Ramones signed my album in '77.

Of course Joey was a big Alternative Tentacles supporter later. We did the Sibling Rivalry EP with him and his brother Mickey-the only record they did together. The CD is still in print. The title is "In a Family Way" and it pictures Joey with an AT bat-logo shirt on and Mickey and their mothers growling behind them ready to swat 'em with a frying pan.
--Jello Biafra, Dead Kennedys/Lard/Alternative Tentacles owner

I met Joey Ramone once. We were on tour, in Ohio. We see this other band get out of their van at the same time as us, and we're like "oh shit, it's the Ramones!" I don't know if you've ever been to a Cracker Barrel before, but they're these like, country kitchen-type restaurants with a little store that has crap you can buy. Those guys are walking out and looking at us and I kinda ran into Joey and I'm like "Oh, you guys eat at Cracker Barrel too. That's really cool." And he's like [muffled, mumbling voice] "Yeah, I really like Cracker Barrel 'cause they got good gravy here. And I also like that place Bob Evans-they got really good gravy, too."
--Dale Crover, the Melvins

Joey Ramone and the Ramones were one of our biggest influences and when I say our influences I mean Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, as well as many other bands who are out there that wouldn't be doing what they're doing today if weren't for the Ramones. My experience seeing the Ramones the two or three times that I saw them, I was awestruck. They were probably one of the greatest bands of all time. It's just really sad that we've lost a great character like Joey. The guy was just fantastic. He will be dearly missed.
--Keith Morris, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Midget Handjob

A few years ago when I was playing with 22 Jacks, I had the pleasure of recording a song with Joey Ramone for an ill-fated Cheap Trick tribute record. I remember feeling like a complete jackass because I suggested we play the song with an "Iggy Pop feel." As soon as the words left my mouth I realized that that was basically akin to asking Mick Jagger to play something with a Paul McCartney feel. It didn't matter. I got to record with fucking Joey Ramone! The record never even came out, but, who cares? I got to record with Joey Ramone.
--Chris S., Me First & The Gimme Gimmes & The Foo Fighters

Jeffrey Hyman is dead, but Joey Ramone will live forever. --Mitch Hyman, Joey's brother

In 1978 I was living in NY with Kid Congo and we were totally broke, and somehow we got this job roadie-ing for the Ramones and The Fast at a place called Mr. Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut. I do remember that we rode all the way from Manhattan to New Haven in the back of a Ryder truck with all these amps, and we had a tape of that disco song, "Push Push, In the Bush" and played it like 5 million times. And we were drinking Ripple. And Kid had these pills that he thought were speed. When we got to the gig and they rolled up the door to the truck, we came out in the sunlight and were blinded and tired, so we thought we should take the speed. I didn't know how you even plugged a guitar cord into an amp, let alone set up drums, and he didn't know anything either, so the Ramones had to put all their own shit together. I'm like "what do roadies do? Oh! They put water on the stage," so I put pitchers of water on the stage. Then those pills turned out to NOT be speed, I don't know what they were-some kid of downer-so I was passing out on the side of the stage, and all of the Ramones' drums started falling apart, and I wound up going into their dressing room and just passing out. And Joey Ramone and the lead singer of The Fast and Kid all had to carry me to the car after the gig was over, and I think we still wound up getting paid and everything.

I always remember Joey Ramone as being the first person to show people that nerds could be not just chic, but sexy. I know a bunch of girls that were completely obsessed with him because he was so nerdy and such a fucking lunatic.
--Pleasant Gehman, author, Escape From Houdini Mountain and The Underground Guide to Los Angeles

Joey Ramone is dead, whose style do I steal now?
--Blag, The DWARVES

I was saddened to hear about Joey Ramones death, I knew him and always thought he was a great guy. I always find it hard to believe when famous people die, it just doesn't seem real. The one thing I can say about the Ramones is they gave New York a sound…the first punk band ever and they came from NEW YORK!
--Charlie Benante, ANTHRAX/S.O.D.

I didn't even know he was sick.... Another "original" has passed....but thank God he left his music before he left.
--Frankie Bello, ANTHRAX

The Ramones played at the local college when I went to high school in Connecticut and me and my two punk friends showed up. The show was packed with lots of college kids and a lot of people who didn't even listen to the Ramones. We felt it was our duty to show them how to mosh, slam, and stage dive. After disrupting, slamming, and jumping on the happy bopping crowd, three big bouncers grabbed us around our necks and dragged us toward the door. Joey said something like "punks will be punks let them go,"and the bouncers let go and they broke into "Sheena is a Punk Rocker." A fond memory.
--Ray Cappo, Shelter/Youth of Today/Better Than a Thousand

I played Drew Carey's girlfriend on several episodes of the Drew Carey show. It was when Drew wanted to be a rockstar and I played his rock girlfriend. In the show, they pretended to have all these guitar players come and audition for their garage band. This list was inclusive of Rick Neilsen, Dusty Hill, Dave Mustaine, Johnny Lang, Joe Walsh, and of course Joey Ramone. The scene has Joey playing in Drew's yard then walking off, (I think he smashed his guitar or something, I'm trying to find it!) He was amazing and FUNNY!

He was on set with us the whole time. I certainly did not keep my distance. We hung out and talked about everything.If you've never had a solid hang with him, or better yet, a hug from him, it's impossible to explain just what a beautifully sincere guy he is. The greatest thing was that he came armed with all this stuff from a new band he liked, "The Independents." He had brought a bunch of, like, homemade tapes to give to people on set. I'm on TV and in a rock-n-roll band. TV people simply DO NOT get it, and here's Joey Ramone, giving out these little tapes on set to TV execs. He was like, "the independents, the independents..." It's all he talked about. It was so cool. He's so incredibly real and amazing and sweet, you kind of want to tap him on the shoulder and say, "Hey, in case you've forgotten, you're JOEY FUCKING RAMONE!"
--Pauley P., actress and lead singer of Lo-Ball

I really never care much when famous people die. Sinatra, Elvis whatever. But I played with the Ramones a bunch of times and saw them a million and the idea of never being able to hear Sheena is A Punk Rocker live again really really bums me out.
--Dito Montiel, singer of Gutterboy and author of A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

Rock-n-roll had their Elvis and we had our Joey Ramone.
--Toby Morse, H2O

The Ramones were the first concert I ever went to. (I was 10 or 11). Until I heard the Ramones first record I didn't even like music. Radio was horrible in the '70's and I didn't have older brothers and sisters to turn me on to anything, so "music" to me was just that crap that I heard in between the weather reports that my parents listened to in the morning. When an older kid from across the street played the Ramones album my whole life changed. That was the first time I had ever really even heard music, and it opened my eyes to the fact that there was a whole world out there that wasn't on the radio or television. That first concert was a religious experience. I remember I was allowed to go because I was supposedly going with a couple of older friends whose father was escorting us. Total bullshit but it worked. Also, my parents had no idea about anything other than they heard us talking about Joey Ramone, and Johnny Ramone, and Dee Dee Ramone and I think they thought it was some nice band with brothers in it for real..like the Jackson 5 or something. Well the next morning the newspaper was delivered to our front door with the headline "Riot At Punk Rock Concert," which was not really true at all, but it changed the way my parents thought about me from that day forward.

I would say that up until then there may have been the question - "Which is the greatest rock band of all time, the Beatles or the Stones?" After that there was no question. The Ramones were the greatest rock band of all time. Absolutely the most pure form of rock and roll ever. Before or since.
--Coyote Shivers, DJ/musician

I remember that when I saw them on Lollapalooza Joey wasn't feeling well and he would stand in front and not move. Every now and then he would point at the crowd and that was it. I was like what the hell but then I asked Marky why that's all he did. He explained that when he was pointing at the crowd if his thumb was up or down that meant to turn the monitors up or down without saying anything. I thought that that was about the coolest way to dial in monitors I had ever seen and still tell the story like 7 years later...
--Beau Beau, AVAIL

Last Halloween me and my buddies played a show as "The Ramones." It started as just a joke, but became quite a serious undertaking. We ended up practicing ruthlessly trying to get the stuff to sound "just so" (Ramones, i.e. perfect). I remember being there on Halloween night playing, and thinking, "this is the coolest I've ever felt." Just pretending to be in the Ramones I felt cooler than I ever have in Black Flag, Descendents, or All. Joey has always been friendly to me, and he loved our song "Van" and would always ask me about it. It meant a lot.
--Bill Stevenson, Descendents/ALL

The first punk rock song I ever heard was "Beat on the Brat." I was 12 and at summer camp. Someone played that song at the dance and it stuck in my head all summer after hearing it only once. I didn't know who the band was so when I got back home I went to Rhino records and asked the guy at the counter if he ever heard a song about beating up a brat with a baseball bat. He laughed and told me it was the Ramones. I bought my first punk rock album. 16 or so years later NOFX played with the Ramones in Norway. I met Joey and I'm confident he was the strangest looking man I have ever seen. He didn't die; he went back to the mothership.
--Fat Mike, NOFX

There are only a few bands I can listen to over and over and never get sick of, and the Ramones are definitely one of them. They are the architects who built the house. The rest of us are just going off their blueprints.
--Jim Lindberg, Pennywise

Off stage - just hanging out, he was the funniest kind of wisecracking guy, very sharp, with a strictly dry sense of humor. It was all kind of hidden behind his shyness but then it would suddenly pop out. Still the news doesn't seem real. How can this be true? It's time here in my kitchen to play the entire canon as loud as possible, start with the first track and play to the last track. This is a sad night in the life. This music not only stands the test of time - it totally obliterates everything before it and after it! Long live the Ramones. Peace and love to Joey, his family & the Ramones.
--Joe Strummer, The Clash, Joe Strummer and The Mescalleros

Through lots of research and phone calls, this tribute was brought to you by Rich Dolinger & Shawna Kenney, with the help of James Ilario, Robert Killin, and Vanessa Burt at Fat Wreck Chords.