Johnny Ramone Joey Ramone Dee Dee Ramone
Tommy Ramone
Kris Needs, writing in
Zig Zag, June 1977 (reproduced with permission of Kris Needs)
"I
first caught the tour at Friars Aylesbury, one of the few dates on the
tour not to sell out. That's 'cos the so-aware locals were probably dozing
off to Steve Hillage. Still, a thousand mostly-out-of-towners who came
went bonkers and brought them back for nine or more encores.It was a great
set, with probably the wildest reaction Friars has ever seen...a raging
sea of pogoers falling around with lunatic abandon in front of the stage.
Anyone who stands still when The Ramones are on must have lead-filled
buttocks. Everyone sang along, danced, stomped and had great fun (except
for a poor Eagles' fan getting his first taste of raw power, who stood
with his hands over his ears for the twenty minutes he could stand!). The
set went like greased lightening, the momentum being broken only when
Johnny got in the way of a particularly large chunk of the gob raining on
the stage. "I want him thrown out", he snapped to a roadie, pointing to
the pogoing culprit. ("Nasty habit", Johnny said afterwards. "I don't know
who started that, but you know, you play better if they don't do it")
After I'd recovered from the set, I thought I'd go and see what the band
had been getting up to since their last visit. Blimey I was pissed! Good
job I had the old tape recorder handy, 'cos I can't remember saying half
the things on it!"
Despite tremendous personal rancour in the
band, they managed to stay together until 1996. They made one last
appearance together in 1999 where despite Johnny's attempts at peace with
Joey, they were dismissed. Joey Ramone died in 2001 of lymphona reportedly
listening to U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind album. Dee Dee Ramone
died of a drugs overdose in 2002. Johnny Ramone died in 2004 of cancer.
As for Talking Heads, they headlined Friars
in 1978 and never looked back.
