Letters
November 25, one of the best day of my life - Dream Street, Ocean Beach - Dee Dee, Barabara and I don't know who else on stage playing only Ramones stuff, ok, he also played "Born to Lose", I couldn't believe what I was seeing, finally I saw Dee Dee playing. Man, it was the best thing on earth... I just wished the other three were there too, I had the opportunity to show him the Logo that I have tattooed on my right ribs, fuck yeah!!! I felt like the young Brat that I was when I first heard 1-2-3-4 being shout on a It's Alive vinyl a loooong time ago. And know I can say: "it's REALLY Alive", and for a guy from Sao Paulo - Brasil, this is really something to be proud to say.
Thanx Dee Dee, Thanx Joey, Thanx Johnny, Thanx Marky, Thanx Tommy, Thanx Richie, Thanx Elvis, and Thanx CJ. You guys made my life not easier, but a lot funnier.
By the way, is there anyone who didn't read Lobotomy yet?
Just one thing - looser!!!!!!!!!!
See ya around someday, somewhere, and never forget: Hey! Ho! Let's Go!
Arena <arenaramone@hotmail.com>
San Diego, CA USA -
Well, I thought I’d take this opportunity to write a few lines to enclose with this order, to tell you about the (profound) impact that punk in general & the Ramones in particular made on me in my teens. It just occurred to me that you might find it interesting/entertaining to read about how it was like to be a punk in this then-commie country back in the 1980s. I entered Mature Youth years earlier this month (read: turned 30) & realized that I’ve been an ardent fan of the Ramones for over HALF of my life now. Which impressed me. I wonder if the guys have been at all aware of how many fans they must have had in the East Bloc. Probably not. I can’t say anything for certain about the other countries, but in Poland, in the ‘80s, they’d have gathered HUGE crowds, that is for sure.
As you may imagine, it was a whole lot different to be a punk behind the Iron Curtain than it was in the West, for a number of reasons – it definitely required a great deal of dogged determination, for instance - but still, the movement thrived here throughout the ‘80s. We had lots of our own punk bands then, they often did gigs here & there, usually in old factory halls or decrepit students’ clubs (at least in larger cities, like mine – we’re ca. 900,000 here, over 1.1 million with the suburbs), there were also some outdoor concerts organized at times & a few really good local & national festivals. The first Polish punk bands (Deadlock, Tilt, SS20 & others) appeared on the stage yet in the late ‘70s, but it was only after 1980 that the real punk boom started here. The whole thing was closely connected with the Jarocin Rock Festival, originally a punk festival, held annually since 1980. It was there that all those new bands could first gain public recognition. In the best years the festival lasted up to 4 days & was played on 3 different stages, in front of over 30,000 people. It was by far the biggest independent annual event of this kind in the whole of Communist Europe, & it’s a fact that there wouldn’t have been that Punk Revolution in Poland without it.
I’ve always had a feeling that for some western kids punk was just an empty pose, here it always was more like a mode of thinking, an escape from our sick, sur-real reality of the 1980s, a way of not going mental/loco. Politically, those times were very hot, with violent anti-regime demonstrations, street fighting with the police, Them beating Us & Us beating Them, water cannons, tear gas & stuff. Pretty exciting in a way. Economically, it was a complete disaster, a constant shortage of just about everything & empty shelves in the shops. Yet socially, the ‘80s were hopeless stagnation here, rampant narrow-mindedness & prejudice, conventional attitudes to the core & total hypocrisy. All in all we had every reason to feel frustrated & the ‘I don’t care’ attitude seemed the only sane one. Polish punk drew heavily upon all these aspects, attracting all those thinking & feeling outsiders who couldn’t fit in with the Mondo Bizarro we lived in. Funny thing, our Respectable Citizens also called punks cretins (‘kretyni’ in Polish), though I’m quite sure none of them had ever heard of the Ramones.
Until the very late ‘80s, Polish punk bands had very slim chances of being professionally recorded. Obviously, all the record companies were state-owned at that time & those in charge of them were everything but fans of punk. There was just one label, Tonpress, that released a few Polish punk singles & one LP compilation in the mid-‘80s, & that was it. And whenever it did come to official recording, the almighty censorshit would reject the majority of the material anyway, on political or moral grounds. That’s why most of those groups existed on amateur demo recordings only, distributed among the fans on home-copied audio cassettes you could buy at concerts & festivals, where you could also get first-rate underground fanzines & other related merchandise. In fact, some of the bands (like Brygada Kryzys or Dezerter) had had their debut LPs first released in the West before they were allowed to do it at home, years later. So Polish punk recordings were not at all easy to come by here in those times - to say the least.
It sure was no better concerning foreign punk stuff. Naturally, the original western records were not available here, so when you wanted to get your own copy of a certain album, you had three possibilities to choose from. First of all, you could give money to somebody who was about to travel to the West & ask them to fetch it for you. In contrast to the citizens of most other commie countries, who were kept locked in their countries by their authorities, we were allowed (though unwillingly) to travel abroad & many Poles did go to the West in the ‘70s & ‘80s, usually to work there illegally – despite all the hassle you had to go through to obtain first, your passport, & then, a visa, which altogether was invariably a matter of months. Anyway, you could always find someone who’d buy you your records this way. Quite another problem was the money – in the ‘80s, MONTHLY earnings in Poland rarely exceeded a mere $20, so count it up for yourself how many records we could afford to buy yearly having to pay standard western prices. But then, you had another chance: same as you could buy home-copied cassettes with Polish punk bands, you could also buy cassettes with pirated versions of foreign punk records. I still keep my illegal copy of ‘Too Tough To Die’, bought at some festival, as an artifact of those – happily – long gone times. A complete copyright infringement, TRUE (sorry guys...) but, come on, could you REALLY blame us under the circumstances? And finally, the third source of getting Polish & foreign punk stuff, free of charge: the Radio!
It was there that I first heard the Ramones, in the mid-‘80s (aged ca. 14). At that time almost everything was state-controlled in this country & so was the radio. Therefore, you could listen to the Polish Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 (sounds like Dee Dee’s – or C.J.’s - count), period. No independent stations. PR1 (AM) was just mainstream pop crap, Polish & western, plus official commie bullshit. PR2 (FM), with classical music & jazz, was considered more ‘artistic’. PR3 (FM) had a younger image & presented a mixture of pop & rock, plus occasionally some wacky absurd comedy & mock horror shows at night, hilariously funny. And PR4 (originally AM & transferred to FM only towards the end of the ‘80s) – technically very badly broadcast in those days, & only for a few hours daily, but it was right there that I first heard the Ramones. And was kind of dumbstruck. PR4 was mainly a talking radio (with radio plays, documentaries, in-depth analyses of current events, talk shows with Interesting People & suchlike) & only marginally dealt with music. Their music sector appeared under the weird name of the Scouts’ Broadcasting Station (‘Rozg_o_nia Harcerska’ in Polish), all the weirder as the name itself seemed to be the only apparent connection with the Scouts at large – just one of the many paradoxes of those times. They were on the air for only an hour daily & in the early afternoon, when most kids were still at school, so I sometimes had to skip the last class to listen to them. But man, what excellent music they played! Punk, indie, lots of various great stuff, up-to-date & older. They also had the guts to promote those Polish bands that wouldn’t get broadcast anywhere else in the official media. In fact, the first prize in that Jarocin Rock Festival was a recording session for the Scouts’ BS, a really sought-after opportunity for all those aspiring bands. And on Wednesdays the Scouts’ BS had their Top 20 Charts. Since you couldn’t legally buy nearly any of the charts’ entries, it was based on a voting system – you could vote (phoning in or by mail) for any 3 songs, Polish or foreign, you heard in any of their programs. And the Ramones often occupied high positions in those charts. As you weren’t restricted to voting for recent stuff only, it wasn’t uncommon that there would be 2 different songs of theirs in the Top 20 at the same time, from 2 different albums. And hardly anyone would even realize that they’d been recorded a few years apart! Who cared about it then, anyway.
I fell for the Ramones instantly ‘cause they had absolutely EVERYTHING, the complete package: powerful, relentless energy, freshness & vitality, genuine passion & a great sense of fun, plus scores of incredibly catchy, concise & precise, irresistible tunes, coupled with Joey’s coolest rock ‘n’ roll voice ever (harsh & snappy to velvety & rich, with the whole spectrum in between) & delightfully outrageous/amusing lyrics (as much as I could understand them then, ha! ha!). On top of that, they had THE look. Now, what else could you ask for in a band?!
So I first heard them through the Scouts’ BS on PR4, around ‘84/‘85, but I got to know them really well through a program on PR3 named – no, you wouldn’t guess that! – Rock ‘N’ Roll Radio. Actually, to keep the Polish word order, the name was Radio Rock ‘N’ Roll. Anyway, at midnight sharp, it always opened with ‘Do You Remember Rock ‘N’ Roll Radio?’ (and what else?!), since the program as such had been originally inspired by this very song. Therefore the Ramones got their so wanted airwaves here to the point of inspiring whole programs! Well, just that one. It was co-hosted by 2 fun guys who played there records from their private, extensive collections. The Ramones featured prominently in the program, alongside tons of other top-notch stuff. I’m pretty sure that Joey would have enjoyed it. It was a Saturday Night show, always on the 3rd Saturday of a month if I well remember. One downright yucky thing about it was the rate at which it was broadcast: o n c e a m o n t h. To compensate for that pathetic rate, the show was long – lasted 6 hours, from midnight till 6 a.m. That was extraordinary – a few years after Joey first sang it reminiscing about his own teens, there I was myself, listening to Rock ‘N’ Roll Radio, lying in bed (though usually without my covers pulled up over my head), my feet tapping on the bed to the rhythm. Actually, I also had to do it secretly, with the light switched off & listening through the headphones plugged into my stereo, as I was at (hardly rock ‘n’ roll, individuality persecuting) high school then & still lived with my (rather conservative) folks who’d have surely objected to it had they woken up & caught me in the act. Or, at best, they’d have finally felt fully convinced that their once-good only girl must have gone completely out of her mind to spend all night listening to ‘that stupefying noise’. As those shows were so few & far between, I used to cram large chunks of each of them onto tapes, so that I could listen to all that stuff till the next show the following month, & I still keep odd bits & pieces of them on my old tapes no longer good enough to be listened to.
Except this one, there were also certain other programs on PR3 where you could come across some punk & other good stuff, but all of them were rather ephemeral. I mean, it was pointless to try & follow them regularly as the omnipresent & omnipotent censorshit could take them off the air anytime, without previous warning. And the TV (just TWO channels then, TVP1 & TVP2!) was a Serious Matter in those times & they wouldn’t degrade themselves by showing all those useless, degenerate cretins, pinheads, freaks & other lobotomy cases, so the TV remained a clear blank chapter for punk here throughout the whole ‘80s.
And then, the long awaited fall of communism here in June’89 marked the dawn of a New Era & everything has changed since then, nothing is now as it used to be. Unquestionably the VAST majority of the changes went in the right direction, straightening out a bit the twisted, grotesque reality we’d lived in, but it all came at a dear price as we’ve lost something in the process. Some of the ‘80s punks got corrupted & are eagerly laying the foundations of a New (money-based) Society now, with the gap between the rich & the poor widening at an alarming rate – yesterday’s radicals, today’s blatant opportunists & bloody conformists, isn’t it a bitter irony? And most of present-day superficial, consumerist, spoiled brats, into techno or hip hop or just mainstream crap, are either totally brainless or too lazy to bother thinking. The legendary Jarocin Rock Festival got commercialized & consequently gradually waned in stature, to be eventually ‘suspended’ – disgrace. And I’ve nearly given up listening to the radio. We’ve got myriads of radio stations now, but I couldn’t care less about them ‘cause lately it all sounds the same to me – the same sickening pap everywhere. With the benefit of hindsight I now think that back in the ‘80s we should have treated ‘Do You Remember...’ as a prophetic warning of what was bound to happen also here in due course. The state-subsidized radio stations like PR3 & PR4 still exist, but, since they have to compete for the audience with the commercial giants all the time, they’re not much different from them these days. The Scouts’ BS has long been just history now & some traces of that Saturday Night Radio Rock ‘N’ Roll show exist on my run-down tapes only (but I do still fuckin’ remember it, ha! ha!). At any rate, the international show biz has clearly noticed some financial potential here as the MTV bosses considered this nation large enough even to launch MTV Poland! With loads of predictable crummy stuff most of the time, Polish or foreign.
But something has indeed changed for better: we’ve got all the major western record companies here now, so I can go to a music store & buy (almost) any record I like, something undreamed-of in the ‘80s. And these days I could afford to buy even a complete set of all the Ramones’ CDs at once without going flat broke! Provided that it was possible to find all their CDs in one store here – a rather un-likely situation, I’m afraid. Only the most reliable music stores do stock them here, or the ones dealing in ‘alternative’ stuff. But then, you never know - I spotted a ‘Ramones’ CD in a small GROCERY store just around the corner not long ago, among the stuff of the likes of Britney S & Enrique I. Couldn’t help laughing! Then counted as many as 12 different (studio, live & best-of) titles in one music store the other day & was impressed. Just about the limit for a single store here, I believe. I wonder how many of those pirated cassettes of the Ramones’ LPs have been still preserved up till now. Well, if it hadn’t been for the radio & those cassettes, hardly anyone would have heard of them here in those days. As it was, they did influence a number of local bands, you can recognize even some direct tiny borrowings from them in various songs. We also had here a pretty good band called Blitzkrieg. I know nothing about the origin of their name, but judging by the kind of music they played, I might have a guess!
Oops, I did intend to write just a FEW lines, but once I’d started babbling, I somehow got carried away. I guess, it must have been that depressing age factor (sigh!) that brought all this nostalgia on me, as I found hitting my 30s quite daunting indeed. Gee, I don’t feel THAT old! Though, I suppose, I should be rather happy with what I’ve gotten from life thus far: a supportive family (no matter how much we differ & often clash on various issues) & a steady relationship I feel comfortable in, some real good friends both in this country & other parts of the globe, & ‘careerwise’ (ha! ha!), an M.A. in the most esoteric, purely academic & highly impractical discipline of Comparative Generative Phonology (the thesis was real fun to write though & involved studying abroad on a generous EU grant; actually embarked on a Ph.D. afterwards but quit, enough was enough!) & a sort of freelance job outside the 9 to 5 world (with wonderful 3 months of unrestricted freedom every summer, my – seemingly – endless vacation everybody envies me!), which I still find stimulating & financially rewarding enough to meet (most of) my needs. And, above all, I’ve managed to keep my mind F-R-E-E & still capable of running wild. I’m basically the same person I used to be back in the ‘80s, only slightly more disillusioned, less idealistic perhaps.
And the Ramones still work miracles for me whenever I’m in low spirits, they never fail to cheer me up & invigorate when I put them on at full blast (down with the neighbors!). I do wish I had seen/heard them live, but never got that chance, a real pity. Live albums, however good they are (& ‘We’re Outta Here!’ is EXCELLENT, full of understandable drama & emotions running high – enthralling), never quite recreate the atmosphere of a live concert, but well, they’re what I’m left with, I can only imagine what it must have been like in reality, all this electrifying intensity, spontaneity & wild fun. What I’ve always greatly admired them for is that they stayed true to themselves & kept their self-respect & dignity intact all the way through, in spite of everything. Some moronic sods criticize them for never really changing the style of what they played (which is a gross oversimplification anyway), for ‘not keeping up with the times’, but what they consider a vice, I think was a virtue – after all, what’s the point in changing something perfect?! WHY they never reached that very top, that Ultimate Stardom they dreamed about, with all the unparalleled potential they had, will remain an unsolved mystery to me. Not that I care a damn about it. Their music speaks for itself & to me they’ll always be THE best rock ‘n’ roll band of all time. MY band, the one & only. Their disbanding truly was an irreparable loss to the world of music, & really hard to accept, but things don’t last forever & so I had no alternative but to respect Johnny’s justification for that decision. Anyway, I hope they’re each doing fine at present &, thanking them for all those great years they were around, I do wish each of them the best of luck with whatever they’re now pursuing.
¡Vivan Los Ramones!
Happy New Year 2001 to you, Arty, the other Ramones,
& all the declared pinheads all over the world
GABBA GABBA HEY
Monika
Arty: Hey! I want to tell my Ramones story to someone who cares, I'll try to keep it short.
It was 1991 and the Ramones were being inducted into a hall of fame (doing the hands in cement thing) at the Metro Music Cafe in Royal Oak, MI. I was a jr in high school and a bunch of my friends and I went to see it. I brought along my 1960's Mosrite Venture's Model with hopes of getting it signed. And did. Although I never got to meet the band, a kind roady took it to where they were slurping down pizza w/a contest winner and had it sign for me. He wouldn't let me go w/him and my guitar, but assured me a spot up front when they came down for the ceromony. He returned with my guitar signed by everyone in the band. When Johnny saw me, he made his way over to me and gave me his guitar pick!!! And also signed autographs for my friends. I'm tone deaf, with no sense of rhythm, so I don't play the guitar. But it is proudly displayed in my living room. I guess, if there's chance you could relay to Johnny and the guys how much that day meant to me, I'd be greatful. Than!
k you
slrocknroller <richandjuliesuccarde@msn.com>
rochester hls, MI USA -
No questions, just a comment - The Ramones were better than ANYTHING else. Except The Who. Slade were close, but the Ramones win.
What else? Oh yes, my shitty band has split up, but you can find our version of Rockaway Beach at http://www.philatkin.com (and Cummings, dont sue me, we only ever played for free...)
But when my new band goes out we will be charging - currently rehearsing I dont wanna walk around witchoo Beat on the Brat, trying to perfect Rockaway Beach, we do a cracking Rock and Roll High School. Plus the odd Who song.
Why did I bother typing in all this bollocks - well, its midnight 40 in England, nothiing but shit on TV, only a quarter of a bottle of wine left, and what else are you going to do? Play the first album - just did that, twice (!), may have a quick Rocket to Russia before bed.
p.s saw the boys in a club in Doncaster (North of England, f***ing cold night) in early 1977, Sheena just out on single, and it was one of the two best gigs I have ever seen. Any og you out there too youg to have seen it, the line up with Tommy was incredible, utterly incredible.
Thanks for keeping the memory alive, good website. And anyone who needs another dose of Ramonic thunder, wait for my band to start gigging, there will be much pogoing and gobbing and 'gabba gabba hey'ing for encores. But it wont be the real thing. The real thing was the best rock band ever.
Apart from The Who.
Phil Atkin <philatkin@philatkin.com>
Bristol, UK -
I happened to be watching that Summer of 77 special on VH1 the other night and Johnny Rotten, who ought to get off his high horse, said that Sid Viscious was heavily into the Ramones and he couldn't play, I guess there is a connection. When I heard that that it made me want to take my Nevermind the Bollocks album and mold it into a nice ashtray. I wouldn't care but they couldn't play for real and they only came up with a dozen songs or so. All that discography they have is all the same songs just rearranged, talk about swindlers! They made more money repackaging the same old shit over and over. He's never gotten over that Johnny told him they stunk and that the Ramones all pissed in his beer. It seems that Rotten has to bad mouth the Ramones whenever he gets a chance to. Poor bastard, I wonder how that TV show he hosts is? Hey Arty, I don't eat nachos cause the cheese gives me bad gas!
Johnny, are the Yankees going to win it all again for a fourth straight year? Just think back when you heard that Buck Showalter was leaving and Joe Torre was replacing him. Is Cone gonna get booed to high hell when he shows up in Yankee Stadium wearing a Red Sox uniform? Gabba Gabba Hey!
Christopher J. Letcher <themightyletch@yahoo.com>
Somewhere, in USA -
My sweets Joey, Johnny, Tommy, Dee Dee, CJ and Marky (where's Richie?)...
You don't know what you've done to us (your fans). You don't know what you're doing ta me. You're playing with my heart. I'm only 15. I was too young to go to your shows! Now, I can see what I've lost. I can't turn back time. Why have you stopped? What happened? Is Punk dead? Please guys, give us, the young fans, a new chance. If you don't want to, don't have to play again. Doing anything against the will gets worst. But can't you join together again?
Dee Dee, why don't you come to South America on you tour? Don't you like here? Ah, guys... my heart's hurted... Sweets, Sweets, Little Ramones, Can't Get You Outta My Mind.
But I must have Strength to Endure. I'm just waiting for a new chance, a new opportunity. I know that's a light into the darkness. I'm just waiting for an answer. I Love You and I Believe In Miracles. Love you all. You're the most beautiful guys I've ever seen in my life. I love you! Babies, I love you!!! From the deep of my heart. You're always on my mind. Kisses
Sheena <grguardians@yahoo.com>
bRaSiL -
ah... I'd like to say that Joey is my kitty, Johnny is my candy, C.Jay is my baby, Marky is my teddy bear, Tommy is my fluffy and Dee Dee is my flower.
I'd like to know if they (the Ramones, of course)use to visit thios site and see what we write here. Do they see? Do they know how much we love them? What do they think about our madness for them? How's Joey's health? I'm so worried with my little Joey. Please! Give me news about my kitty!!! And what happened with Tommy (ah! And a late happy birthday for him, jan 29, I reminded)??? Thanx, Arty. Kisses for ya. Gabba Gabba Hey.
Lulu <minadojoey@bol.com.br>
adianta dizer? Vocês não conhecem mesmo., Muito menos Brasil, not RJ -
It was the spring of 1980 and I was an impressionable seventh grader who thought the drums were the only cool instrument around. One day my friend was blasting Teenage Lobotomy out on his cassette player. The opening drum solo, the blaring guitar and the screeching vocals. I was hooked instantly. I came home and talked to my sister who always was hip to music. I was high on the Ramones right from the first beat. I was like "Man I heard this group called the Ramones and this song called Lobotomy or something and it was great. The drum solo was so cool we listened to Lobotomy ten times straight." Then my sis is like "oh yeah, I have that album," and right then and there she pulled from her collection Rocket To Russia. I held it in my hand staring at the cover. "Yeah I wanted to buy Road To Ruin but they didn't have it so I got this one instead. You can borrow it if you want," she said. "Yeah?," I exclaimed. "Yeah, just don't get it scratched," she said. Man a whole album of th!
is group called Ramones and look they all have the same last names maybe they're all brothers I thought. Who's this guy with the bowl cut in front? What instrument does he play. I played that record for days on end and when I got the chance and enough money together I bought Ramones, Road to Ruin, End of the Century, It's Alive, I got Leave Home for my birthday, was that a hint, within that summer I had bought all the Ramones LP's the record store near me had. From that moment on life would never be the same. They may not be around but the music must live on. So to all who read these words I say Gabba Gabba Hey.
Christopher Letcher <themightyletch@yahoo.com>
USA -