The Ramones, an institution. For some it was witnessing the Pistols that proved to be a seismic event that changed lives. For others though it was the first hearing of 1976's Ramones album. It still saddens me that a band who brought some much pleasure to music fans the world over were so troubled, dysfunctional and divided in their relationships both within the band and without. If you have't seen it I thoroughly recommend 'End of the Century', it does not make for easy viewing but it tells the tale of the Ramones as it was, warts an' all.
By 1986 much water had flowed under the Ramones bridge, like many of the original punk bands that had survived for 10 years they had evolved into something of a conventional touring rock band, although I really liked the late Dee Dee albums, 'Animal Boy' from 1987 and 'Halfway to Sanity' from the following year.
Throughout their career, The Ramones rarely strayed into political territory with their songwriting, but one exception from this period stands out. 'My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)' appeared on the 'Animal Boy' album and it was an open criticism of the then US President Ronald Reagan, who on a visit to a cemetery in Bitburg laid a commemorative wreath before delivering a speech at a nearby airbase that paid tribute to the victims of nazism. The problem was that among the 2,000 graves of Wehrmacht soldiers 49 members of the Waffen-SS were interred.... the very people responsible for the atrocities to which Reagan referred in his subsequent speech. The gaff prone President further fanned the flames of condemnation when he said en route to Germany that those buried in Bitburg 'were victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps.' Penned by Joey and Dee Dee, the song infuriated the staunchly Republican Johnny Ramone. They did play the song in the following years (although rarely) but surprisingly it doesn't appear in this contemporaneous set...... perhaps Johnny was still too angry!
01. Eat That Rat
02. Teenage Lobotomy
03. Psycho Therapy
04. Blitzkrieg Bop
05. Do You Remember Rock'N'Roll Radio?
06. Freak Of Nature
07. Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment
08. Rock 'N' Roll High School
09. I Wanna Be Sedated
10. The KKK Took My Baby Away
11. Crummy Stuff
12. Loudmouth
13. Love Kills
14. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
15. Glad To See You Go
16. I Just Wanna Have Something To Do
17. Too Tough To Die
18. Mama's Boy
19. Animal Boy
20. Wart Hog
21. Surfin' Bird
22. Cretin Hop
23. I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You
24. Today Your Love Tomorrow The World
25. Pinhead
26. Chinese Rock
27. Somebody Put Something In My Drink
28. Rockaway Beach
29. Do You Wanna Dance?
30. California Sun
31. We're A Happy Family
32. Go Mental
33. Judy Is A Punk
I was at this gig...not the best place for a Ramones concert [ALL seated]. You're right about the Bonzo song, they hardly played it...here's 3 bootlegs that they did play it though..Sheffield Octagon 15/10/87 & Provinssi Rock Festival 4/6/88 & New York The Ritz 15/12/89
ReplyDeleteAdrian, I've got these on MP3, would you like them
I was always nervous before a Ramones gig : you'd expect a massive moshpit from the word go (or 1-2-3-4). And it never dissapointed!
ReplyDeleteNot in this case though (seated) :-)
Nice to hear some other songs. Thanks.
Krisinblack