Ramones: Raw / Ramones: End of the Century

[den68]

I got these 2 DVD's for my birthday yesterday. I watched RAW last night thoiugh I've still got a TON of DVD extras to watch. RAW is mostly concert footage with a few videos and clips from TV appearances. MIxed between is home video the band took while on a few tours. Pretty funny stuff.

Some of the TV appearances are from Space Ghost Coast to Coast, some weird ass show called the Uncle Floyd Show and USA Network's Up All Night whee they did a comedy sketch with Gilbert Gottfried as the 5th Ramone, Gil Ramone.

I didn't know the Ramones got their name from the Beatles. There was an interview clip where Johnny was saying that Paul McCartney's stage name in the early days of the Beatles was Paul Ramone. That's where they got the band name from. They took to using Ramone in their own names after constantly introducing themselves as "Joey from the Ramones or Dee Dee from the Ramones.

They all had nicknames too. Johnny was "the Sloth" and Marky was "Monte".

There is als some funny stuff of Dee Dee's solo work as the rapper Dee Dee King. he was an awful rapper.

I haven't watched End of the Century yet. that one is a documentary.

[Arrrhalomynn]

Yeah, this is definately a great documentary. The amateuristic homevideo way of presenting it gives a much better image of them than any interview or music video ever could.

It's pretty scary to see all those fans behaving like that. I really don't understand how they could handle it.

[den68]

there was a lot of scenes of fans running after their bus or car. those guys seemed like they'd sign anything stuck in their faces though.

[den68]

I watched End of the Century last night and it was quite good. It's pretty amazing that guys that were so dramatically different managed to stay together so long. The only common ground they all shared was they were from Queens and liked the same music.

Joey and Johnny hated each other for most of their career. Joey never let go of the grudge he had when Johnny stole and eventually married his girlfriend. In fact the song "the KKK took my Baby Away" is about Johnny and Joey's ex-girlfriend.

I knew there were several Ramones over the years but learned the whole story. The original band was Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy. Tommy (drums) left to be the bands producer and that's when Marky joined.

Marky was eventually tossed out for being a drunk and Richie Ramone became the new drummer. He left after 5 years because he was pissed about not getting a cut of the t-shirt money. Marky came back.

The last change was when Dee Dee left to become a rapper. CJ Ramone was the new bassist and actually sang lead vocals on a number of tunes. Strength to Endure and Main Man on the Mondo Bizarro album to name a couple.

Bruce Springsteen wrote "Hungry Heart" for the Ramones. When his producer heard it he told him to keep it. It became Bruce's first hit.

the song "53rd and 3rd" was about male prostitutes. Dee Dee used to turn tricks to get money for heroin.

Joey besides a number of physical ailments was diagnosed with OCD.

anyway it was a very cool documentary. worth watching even if you're not a Ramones fan.