Grabba Grabba Hey
This entry was posted on 9/27/2006 11:15 PM and is filed under uncategorized.
9/28/06: RightWingTrashMan: Johnny Ramone“Yes,” yawns the readership, “we’ve heard it before. Johnny Ramone. Republican. Big deal.” But we are not here to praise Johnny Ramone and his proud conservative views. We’re not even here to praise Johnny Ramone as a legendary punk musician. That really wouldn’t make sense. The guy barely appeared on a
Ramones album after 1980’s
End of the Century.
In fact, this would be a good time to salute Daniel Rey as the proper studio guitarist for the band. Johnny didn’t write many songs, either. It was left to the departed Dee Dee to keep the Ramones going with fine and underheard tunes. (Rey also contributed some great moments as a songwriter.)
But if the (
sadly late) Johnny didn’t play on the albums or write the songs, how did he get to be the only Ramone who retired in luxury?
Merchandising.
Johnny Ramone didn’t just make the occasional conservative comment. He thrived on his capitalist ways. There was even (reportedly) a long stint where Johnny owned 100 percent of the Ramones merchandising rights. The story behind that is best left to
Joey Ramone’s brother, currently working as the band’s official biographer. For now, let’s say that Johnny knew how to turn a broken melon into melon-ade.
Johnny had earned the right to cash in big on the Ramones image. His admiration for the military inspired the band uniform of leather jackets and torn jeans. Johnny also had his eye on the business end. The underage RightWingTrash saw The Ramones in a bar back in ’79, and you could tell that he was counting the audience while hammering out the hits. Johnny knew how much cash was coming in at the door.
We can’t get too crazy about Johnny Ramone. He was certainly friendly, but the guy had some personal problems. The whole band was prone to rock-star behavior. (Our favorite Ramones story is about
Dick Miller setting them straight on the set of
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.) We’re still happy to remind folks that Johnny lived by—and profited from—his beliefs.
His legacy pays a price. There’s a crappy band called Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and the members recently refused to pose for a picture by Johnny’s grave. They proclaimed that they didn’t like Johnny’s politics. Listen to a BRMC album, and you’ll understand why Johnny would be proud.
Make him your own: Like we said, it’s about the
merchandising.
