Happy Birthday Joey Ramone
The world is worse off without the presence of Joey Ramone. Eight years ago (8!) last month, Joey lost his battle with lymphoma – he didn’t even see his 50’s, and that’s a tragic shame. I think often about how strange it is to live in a world without Joey Ramone and Joe Strummer. It just doesn’t seem right, does it?
May 19th is Joey’s birthday, and like a lot of people around the world, I’m marking the occasion by blasting the Ramones. Much like we hold artists like Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven in such high esteem today, our descendants 100-200 years down the road will study and enjoy the works of one Jeff Hyman and his band of “brothers”: the Ramones – inventors of Punk. What a legacy. What a body of work to unleash upon the world. And the world needed it.
Here are a few from my favorite Ramones album, Pleasant Dreams, a 1981 record produced by 10cc’s Graham Gouldman. Johnny Ramone wasn’t crazy about the production, calling it “too slick”. But as I’ve mentioned before around these parts, I love every song. It may be polished compared to early Ramones, but the melodies & hooks are great, and it’ll always be a favorite.
The KKK Took My Baby Way (mp3)
7-11 (mp3)
This Business is Killing Me (mp3)
All from:
Visit: Joey Ramone.com – and if you’re in NYC, head down to the Joey Ramone Birthday Bash Tuesday noght at the Filmore @ Irving Plaza (see web site for details).
Chop Suey with Joey and the Girls
There’s an eighties movie called ‘Get Crazy’. It starred Malcolm McDowell, who freaked everybody out as Alex in ‘A Clockwork Orange’. I haven’t seen ‘Get Crazy’. But on the soundtrack is a Ramones contribution called “Chop Suey”. It was an outtake from my favorite Ramones album, ‘Pleasant Dreams’. It’s a more pop-oriented album than their earlier releases, but as a little kid, I loved singing along to “She’s a Sensation’, ‘Don’t Go’, and ‘The KKK Took My Baby Away’ (still do, actually).
An alternate version to “Chop Suey” can be found on the remastered release of ‘Pleasant Dreams’. It’s a pretty infectious tune, a little new wavy, a synth solo, and backing vocals by Deborah Harry, and Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson of the B-52’s. ]
