Musical image

I find it interesting when two completely unrelated parts of my life converge like this. As most of you know, I tend towards music that would generally fall into the "indie rock" variety, though my roots lie heavily in the punk world, and most of my musical expression comes in the form of surf music. So, despite my general listening trends, the other two parts of my world have collided in an interesting way: I logged onto my surf-guitar-nerd web forum this evening to discover a mildly heated discussion regarding bands' appearance on stage. It just so happens that I read this discussion the very evening that the guys and I watched "Rock 'n Roll High School". For those of you who aren't in the know, "Rock 'n Roll High School" is a movie which prominently showcased The Ramones.

Taking these two events into consideration, I have come to the following conclusion:

Despite the fact that they weren't particularly talented musicians, or even remotely good looking guys, The Ramones were quite possibly one of the most perfect bands ever to grace the world.

Yes, it's a bold claim, but here's why I think this...

1) They had an image, and the SOLD it. Everyone knew that the guys with the bowl cuts, sleeveless tees, leather jackets, jeans, and Chucks were Ramones people. Yeah, they each had their own styles, but they still had the uniform.

2) They were phenomenal performers. Best of all, they worked at it. The guy who directed Rock 'n Roll High School said the following of The Ramones: "They worked hard all the time. Even in the dressing room right before a show, they'd still be working, not drinking." It was all that hard work that allowed them to get onstage and blow the roof off every place they played. Johnny had one rule: everything you did onstage in The Ramones, you did it towards the audience. That makes for one hell of a stage presence.

3) Everyone had a role. Even Tommy, the original drummer, stepped down for the good of the band, yet wound up producing almost all their albums. They had a friggin' artistic director before they'd even recorded. It was like a big collective of people who all banded together with the sole purpose of making those guys HUGE.

4) Their songs were ridiculously catchy. Like it or not, "Blitzkrieg Bop" is one of the most played songs all over the place. Even losers who claim not to have a slightest idea that there's even a band called The Ramones have chanted "Hey Ho Let's Go" at a sport's game or some similar event. If they weren't a punk band, The Ramones would run the risk of being one of the catchiest pop bands of all time.

5) Their selection of covers was genius. From "California Sun" to "Do You Wanna Dance", they picked cover songs that best suited their style, and that they could put their own spin on. I take a teeeeeeny exception to "Surfin' Bird", but it's still pretty bad ass.

6) They all sacrificed their individuality for the band. Joey was a mildly disformed weirdo. Johnny was a staunch republican. Dee Dee was a junkie who may or may not whored himself out, and left the band to pursue an ill-fated rap career. Despite all their interesting individual stories, even the first name didn't matter as much as the stage name "Ramone". For instance, no one knows who the hell Douglas Colvin is, but I'll bet that more than half of the people who deny knowledge of that name DO know who Dee Dee Ramone is.

There are a number of other reasons I could list, but I don't want to ramble. So I'll leave you all with this little-known factoid:
If it were up to Roger Corman, producer of Rock 'n Roll High School, the movie would have been called "Disco High". Thank heavens Allan Arkush stepped in and made him realize that it takes rock music to blow up a school, not disco. Oh, and, yes -- those ARE special edition "Ramones" Chuck Taylors pictured above.