1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:21,959 Speaker 1: the Ramones are insane. They sniffed, glue bombed, unsuspecting Queen's 3 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: residence with heavy television sets, attempted to brain the Beatles 4 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: with rocks. One Ramone was locked up in a psych 5 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,280 Speaker 1: word another forced to turn tricks for heroin. And despite 6 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:35,159 Speaker 1: it all, as a band, the Ramones managed to survive 7 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: and inspire an entire new generation of rock and rollers 8 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:41,959 Speaker 1: at a time when the genre seemed near dead. And 9 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: man o man, did the Ramones make great music, some 10 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: of the greatest music ever made. Unlike that music I 11 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: played for you at the top of the show. That 12 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: wasn't great music. That was a preset loop for my 13 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: melotron called Fluorescent Function Hall MK two. I played you 14 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: that loop because I can afford the rights to Love 15 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 1: Is Alive by Gary Wright. Why would I play you 16 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: that specific slice of dream Weaver Cheese? Could I afford it? 17 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on 18 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: July fourth, nineteen seventy six, And that was the day 19 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: the Ramones first played in London, an act that marked 20 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,479 Speaker 1: the band's first major step towards saving rock and roll. 21 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: On this episode Sniffing Glue, TV bombs, psych Wards Heroin 22 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:31,680 Speaker 1: and saving rock and Roll with the Ramones. I'm Jake Brennan, 23 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: and this this Disgraceland nineteen sixty seven Summer of Love 24 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: helter skelter in. The coming nihilism of the seventies was 25 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: impossible to imagine. Yet there it was, just around the Bend. 26 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: Rock and roll was the most culturally relevant it would 27 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: ever be. Few knew it, but rock and roll was 28 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 1: also taking its first steps toward death, toward corporate rock, 29 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 1: toward disco rock. Music wasn't dead, but it would be soon, 30 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: and so too would some unlucky hitchhikers out on Interstate 31 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:26,959 Speaker 1: sixty nine between Flint, Michigan and South Bend, Indiana. The 32 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: van was an old shipbox with a big V eight 33 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: and dark cargo area in the back. Killing the recent 34 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: hitchhiker they picked up was never the plan. They needed 35 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: one more, a force to help them dispose of the body. 36 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: So he was a recruit, not a victim. Plus they 37 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 1: liked him straight away. He had that dumb charm about him. 38 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: His name even sounded dumb. Doug Douglas Colvin of Queens, 39 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: New York. The next hitchhiker they encountered, though wouldn't be 40 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: so lucky. He or she would be decapitated, garreted with 41 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: a thin wire and two hoops. Fuck them, whoever they were. 42 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: They deserved it, Society deserved it, and so its children 43 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:10,519 Speaker 1: would not be spared. But first, some smokes were needed. 44 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:13,919 Speaker 1: Doug Colvin breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't going 45 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: in for all this crazy murder talk. He just needed 46 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: a ride out west, away from his mom and queen's 47 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: who had caught the fifteen year old using heroin freaked 48 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,640 Speaker 1: out and provoked this teenage runaway act. The van rolled 49 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:29,840 Speaker 1: into an abandoned roadside gas station parking lot. The plan 50 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: was armed robbery. It went nowhere. The would be killers 51 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:35,960 Speaker 1: were stoned bumbling marauders who were rounded up by local 52 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: cops almost as soon as they made off from the 53 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: gas station with the stolen goods. Doug was thrown into 54 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: jail with his accomplices for armed robbery. Instinctively, the cops 55 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: knew he was not like the others and showed mercy. 56 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: They gave him as many as ten phone calls to 57 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: try and contact an adult or guardian to arrange his release. 58 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: They weren't even going to try him. They just didn't 59 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: want to release him back into the wild on his own, 60 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: which was exactly what they ended up doing after his father, 61 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: when reached by phone, told Doug, fuck you rot there 62 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: you deserve it. He was on his own and that 63 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: was clear. The small town cops weren't about to get 64 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: into the headache of caring for this clearly too done 65 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: to do any harm juvenile delinquent, so they just let 66 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: him go. After three weeks, Doug hitched back to Queen's 67 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: and there he quickly took up with another local cast off, 68 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: John Cummings. He too was fascinated by murder Charlie Starkweather, 69 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: the nineteen year old James Dean looking psychopath who went 70 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:34,719 Speaker 1: on a one week Midwestern murder spree with his fourteen 71 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,479 Speaker 1: year old girlfriend at his side, killing ten people in 72 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,720 Speaker 1: the process, including her family, for no other reason than 73 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: the fact that they didn't like him or his teenage attitude. 74 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:48,479 Speaker 1: John Cummings felt that Doug Colvin did too. Doug thought 75 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 1: it hysterical when the Beatles played at Shay Stadium in Queen's. 76 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: John Cummings went and instead of losing his mind to 77 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: the highly contagious Beatlemania running rampant, focused intently on the 78 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: four lads on stage and tried to knock any one 79 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:03,359 Speaker 1: of them unconscious that he could with the rocks he 80 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: was beaming at them for the stands, the most celebrated 81 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:08,840 Speaker 1: band on the planet and the history of the world 82 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 1: in person, the band who would inspire the name of 83 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: his own band less than a decade later, and he 84 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,360 Speaker 1: was throwing stones at them. There was no real reason, 85 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 1: just anger. Jeff Hyman, another teenage cast off from Queens, 86 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: felt something else. It wasn't anger so much as it 87 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 1: was alienation and heartache. Whatever it was, it drove him 88 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,920 Speaker 1: to the Margins Forest Hills, Queens. Back in the sixties, anyway, 89 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:34,240 Speaker 1: it was conservative, working the middle class. Young boys went 90 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:36,359 Speaker 1: to school, kept their hair short, went to college, or 91 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,280 Speaker 1: got a job, found a girl, eventually started families and 92 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 1: kept their mouths shut. All the shouting about the war, 93 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: about inequality, about peace and about love. That was for 94 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: the city. That was the subway ride in a world away. 95 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: Queens was for working, for raising your family. Jeff didn't 96 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:53,720 Speaker 1: want a family. Even if he did, he wouldn't know 97 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,760 Speaker 1: how to start one. Talking to girls wasn't easy unless 98 00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: they were the girls he met in the mental hospital 99 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: Saint Vincent and S where he'd been sent as a 100 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: teenager when his obsessive compulsive ticks, like repeatedly getting in 101 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: and out of bed before going to sleep, escalated into 102 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:12,240 Speaker 1: an undiagnosed case of paranoid schizophrenia, a mild case quote 103 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 1: unquote minimal brain damage, as the doctor said, small comfort 104 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: to Jeff's mother, who Jeff had pulled a knife on 105 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: during one of his episodes. Once he was old enough, 106 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:23,280 Speaker 1: she kicked him out of the house and he began 107 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 1: living in her art gallery, sleeping on the floor alone. 108 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: For Jeff, normal life wasn't even an option. So when 109 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: he brought a girl around to his new friends and 110 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:34,360 Speaker 1: told him that he met her in the bin as 111 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: in the looney bin, no one was that surprised. Psychotherapy 112 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 1: had its perks, went with thinking, but the looney bin 113 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: was no joke. Jeff knew this teenage of the botomies 114 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:47,560 Speaker 1: foisted upon teenagers for what they perceived as just being misunderstood, 115 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:51,320 Speaker 1: though that was fucking messed up. None of it made 116 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: any sense, not to Jeff, but not to his new 117 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: friends John and Doug. They rebelled and bonded over music. 118 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: John was into Sabbath the Stones, Hendrick music that was 119 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: as tough and as hard as the construction jobs he worked. 120 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: But none of this music had seemed was going anywhere. 121 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 1: It all felt like part of the same thing, the 122 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 1: same hippie to be doomed to fail experiment. Increasingly, it 123 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 1: was clear rock and roll's energy was fading. Their new 124 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:21,000 Speaker 1: friend Tommy agreed he would know he was at least 125 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: in the music business sort of. He engineered some records, 126 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: even worked on Jimmy Hendrick's band of Gypsy sessions at 127 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: the Record Plan in Manhattan, which for a kid from 128 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: Forest Hills was saying something. As far as Doug, John 129 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: and jeffnew, their new friend Tommy might as well have 130 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:41,480 Speaker 1: been Phil Spector, and they loved Phil Spector's records. The 131 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:44,080 Speaker 1: girl groups, though they were right now, all four of 132 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,760 Speaker 1: them half assing an a cappella version of The Crystals 133 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: The Do Run Run while they struggled up the stairway 134 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:51,640 Speaker 1: of the fifth floor walk up with the twenty five 135 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:55,640 Speaker 1: inch Filco television set wasn't a console TV set, but 136 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: it was still heavy as fuck. The picture tubes inside 137 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: these old TV were big, and then the filkos problematic, 138 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: not like the reliable RCAs, but Filchos went bust and 139 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: confounded even the best of Forrest Hill's television repair men. 140 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: So many of the lemons ended up on the bubblegum 141 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 1: freckled sidewalks of Queens, waiting for some unlucky trash men 142 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 1: to haul them away. But not if Doug, John, Jeff, 143 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: and Tommy had anything to do with it. The TVs 144 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: were great to link with fodder, so up the stairwells 145 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: to the roofs they went. After finally squeezing the set 146 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 1: up the stairs, they hauled the TV out onto the room. 147 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: They all knew what they were there to do, this ritual, 148 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:36,840 Speaker 1: They'd done it before so many times. It was old hat. 149 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: They discussed music, nonchalant rock is dead, Tommy said to 150 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: no one well. Jeff continued to mumble out the chorus 151 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:47,320 Speaker 1: to the Do Run Run, Yeah, Doug paradit. He didn't 152 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:50,840 Speaker 1: seem too convinced, more agreeable, more wanting than the others 153 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: to just be a part of whatever was in the air, 154 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,680 Speaker 1: part of the game. The opposite of John, who was 155 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 1: seen didn't care who liked him or what people thought. 156 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 1: Of him, not even his new friends. They pulled the 157 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,440 Speaker 1: TV over to the edge of the roof. John spoke 158 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: up in transit. It was this new band downtown supposed 159 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: to be good. Oh yeah, as good as del Shannon, 160 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:12,679 Speaker 1: Jeff spat up, as good as the Stooges from Detroit. 161 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: Doug ass. He didn't really know how good the Stooges were. 162 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:18,439 Speaker 1: They were just something he'd heard some kids downtown talk about. 163 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 1: If you were being honest, he'd have asked if they 164 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:22,960 Speaker 1: were as good as the Bay City Rollers. He knew 165 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: about the rollers. He loved the rollers, but he wasn't 166 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: sure if John didn't matter. John ignored him anyway. They 167 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,720 Speaker 1: called the dolls the New York Dolls. The four of 168 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:34,360 Speaker 1: them then reached the edge of the roof with the 169 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: TV and they peered over down to the sidewalk. It 170 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 1: was a long way down. We should go see them play. 171 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, what if these girls there, Jeff wanted to know, 172 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: as if that would be unimaginable. They all bent down 173 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:49,760 Speaker 1: and Unison gripped the pilco from the bottom, bent with 174 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,880 Speaker 1: their knees like only young workingmen know how, and heaved 175 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: the heavy television set up into the edge of the roof. 176 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: They steadied it and waited for the perfect target on 177 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 1: the sidewalk below. Little old ladies were the best. They 178 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: scared easy, dropped their groceries, sometimes fell over, most times 179 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:09,320 Speaker 1: just stood back, clutching their chests, catching their breaths and 180 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 1: looking bewildered. It was hysterical. But new moms were even better. 181 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:17,080 Speaker 1: They were so uptight with their little brats running them ragged. 182 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:21,120 Speaker 1: Here came one now, and they waited. The shows is 183 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:23,559 Speaker 1: supposed to be wild. John said, I mean, we should 184 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: really go see this band. We should start our own band, 185 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:29,560 Speaker 1: Tommy said. They all looked at each other, and then 186 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: they looked down at the bitchy mom and her brady 187 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:35,560 Speaker 1: little kid. Tommy's suggestion was a good one, and John 188 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: scowled in agreement. Doug's eyes went wide, and Jeff nodded. 189 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 1: All of them looked down to the sidewalk just as 190 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: the mom and the brat walked directly below them, and 191 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: then they pushed the television set over the side of 192 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: the roof. It exploded onto the sidewalk and just over 193 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:54,040 Speaker 1: a second's time, landing about two feet behind the mom. 194 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: She screamed, and so did the brat, Doug, John, Jeff 195 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:21,680 Speaker 1: and Tommy beat it. Jeff was fidgeting with the cheap 196 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:24,719 Speaker 1: turntable and the loft he was staying at. His new 197 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:28,679 Speaker 1: friend Artur was letting him crash indefinitely, and Jeff, who 198 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: was now calling himself Joey, who was trying to get 199 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 1: the turntable to play. A new prize possession, Charles Manson's 200 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:38,160 Speaker 1: album Live the Love and Terror call Look At Your 201 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:41,120 Speaker 1: Game Girl ceased to exist. Heavy shit by one of 202 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 1: the heaviest and shittiest dudes to ever hit the scene. 203 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 1: Music that seemed dangerous as rock and roll was supposed 204 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:51,679 Speaker 1: to sound, but increasingly in the early seventies sounded watered 205 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:54,960 Speaker 1: down and safe. Manson was locked up now, but his 206 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: music was out in the wild, hard to find, but 207 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: Joey managed to snag a copy for his which he 208 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:05,480 Speaker 1: kept meticulously in his ocd Way. Manson understood girls on 209 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,719 Speaker 1: a whole other level, a level Joey would never understand. 210 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: Girls were a mystery, but glue was not, and Joey's 211 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:18,199 Speaker 1: friend Doug wanted to sniff some more of it, more 212 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:20,280 Speaker 1: and more and more. For Doug when he wasn't getting 213 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:23,719 Speaker 1: high sniffing glue he was doing heroin. Joey heard from 214 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:25,680 Speaker 1: a friend that Doug was seen out of fifty third 215 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:27,960 Speaker 1: and third over in the West Village, standing on the 216 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,719 Speaker 1: corner trying to turn a trick for dope. It was 217 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,800 Speaker 1: a well known pickup spot for old money dudes, cruising 218 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 1: for young men who would trade sex for quick cash. 219 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: Doug did it because he had to, because he needed 220 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: to hit the fountain in Central Park to score dope, 221 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 1: with the East Village to score blow. Joey didn't judge, 222 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:47,520 Speaker 1: neither did their other friends. It was New York in 223 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:49,959 Speaker 1: the seventies, hard as nails, and you had to do 224 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:52,280 Speaker 1: what you had to do to get by. Doug was 225 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:54,840 Speaker 1: seen in a way as a badass for being able 226 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 1: to go through with it. Before settling in Forest Hills, 227 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:01,000 Speaker 1: Doug was raised a military breath in post World War 228 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 1: two Germany by two drunk, disinterested parents. Doug had toughness 229 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:09,199 Speaker 1: bred into him. He learned about drugs from the older gis, 230 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:11,839 Speaker 1: and he learned about rock and roll from Radio Luxembourg. 231 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 1: It's where he first heard the Beatles. He was obsessed. 232 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 1: His obsession uncovered a little nugget about Paul McCartney Paul 233 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: used the alias Paul Ramone to check into hotels and conspicuously. 234 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:26,200 Speaker 1: Doug thought it was so cool, so when he started 235 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: calling himself Didi, he changed his last name from Colvin 236 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:34,160 Speaker 1: to Ramone, and also, like Paul, Doug started playing bass too. 237 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: They had a band to put together, after all, so 238 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:40,800 Speaker 1: Joey once Jeff Hyman started calling himself Joey Ramone, and 239 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: so too did their other bandmates, John and Tommy. But 240 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: John Ramone stacked up next to Tommy, Joey and DEDI 241 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,880 Speaker 1: didn't sound right, So Johnny Ramone it was. It will 242 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 1: be one of the last compromises Johnny Ramone would ever make. 243 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 1: He assumed the role of band leader. Immediately he commandeered 244 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:00,400 Speaker 1: what would be the Ramone sound in image a war 245 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:02,800 Speaker 1: going on. After all, rock and roll was about to 246 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: be overrun by bloated corporate hacks and disco attacks, and 247 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: their band would have to be different. If it was 248 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:09,960 Speaker 1: going to save rock and roll, they'd have to strip 249 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:12,240 Speaker 1: out all of the frills, cut any and all the fat. 250 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:16,079 Speaker 1: Their sound would match their physicality, lean rock star skinny, 251 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: no guitar solos, no drum solos, no blues influence, no ballads, 252 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: no metaphors, no sexual double entendres, no dynamics. They would 253 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:27,920 Speaker 1: strip it all away and break rock and roll down 254 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: to its basic essence, power, speed, energy and volume and 255 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 1: blast it back at the audience. When at war, you 256 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:39,080 Speaker 1: pick a side, join up, and in order to distinguish 257 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,840 Speaker 1: yourself from your enemy, you wear a uniform. Johnny commanded 258 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:45,440 Speaker 1: his troops D D, Joey, and Tommy to do the same, 259 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:48,680 Speaker 1: to dress like him, all of them in black leather 260 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 1: biker jackets, skin type jeans, skin tight T shirts, and 261 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: cheap tennis shoes. Cats not Chuck Taylor's. They would rely 262 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:58,880 Speaker 1: on simplicity for their attack, hitting their audience head on 263 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:01,480 Speaker 1: with a weapon they knew me Glovers would fall victim too, 264 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:04,400 Speaker 1: something they weren't even aware they were missing. Pure rock 265 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 1: and roll sixties girl group in del Shannon melodies, spirited 266 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 1: beach boys, teenage fund in a directness, and the lyrics 267 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,160 Speaker 1: not deployed as effectively since Dede's beatles burst on the 268 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:17,280 Speaker 1: scene with I Want to Hold Your Hand DeeDee, Johnny 269 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:20,160 Speaker 1: and Company would counter eleven years later at their band's 270 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:22,680 Speaker 1: first show with songs entitled I Don't want to Walk 271 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: around with you, I don't want to go down to 272 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,240 Speaker 1: the basement, and of course now I want to sniff 273 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: some glue. They called themselves the Ramones, of course they did, 274 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 1: and their theater of war was a little dive on 275 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,760 Speaker 1: the Bowery called CBGB's. It was tiny, completely ramshackle, smelled 276 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 1: of piss, cheap to get into and cheaper to drink in. 277 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: Other like minded musicians had dug into the club as well, television, 278 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 1: the Patti Smith group in Blondie among them, claiming it 279 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,440 Speaker 1: as their own, separate and apart from whatever was happening 280 00:15:56,480 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: elsewhere in Manhattan's fast declining live music scene. The ramones 281 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: first cb SEID on August sixteenth, nineteen seventy four, was 282 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 1: welcomed by all in attendance. They were, as Blondie's lead 283 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:12,240 Speaker 1: singer Debbie Harry would later remark, hysterical, but Johnny didn't 284 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 1: see what was so funny. He was dead serious, and 285 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 1: so were his bandmates, despite the fact that they struggled 286 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:21,160 Speaker 1: through their set, which took all of twelve minutes, blasting 287 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:24,000 Speaker 1: through their songs with manic one, two, three, four, count 288 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: oss by Dedee and failing equipment in the band, yelling 289 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 1: at one another on stage, they looked and sounded unlike 290 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:33,520 Speaker 1: anything anyone had ever seen, and were immediately welcomed onto 291 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:38,920 Speaker 1: the scene. They were clearly onto something. They set up 292 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: shop at their friend arturo vegas loft, around the corner 293 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:45,200 Speaker 1: from CBGB's on East Second Street, in addition to letting 294 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 1: Joey and Guide squad at his place in Sniff, Glue 295 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 1: and Listen to Weird Charles Manson Records. Arturo designed the 296 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: band's now iconic logo, a send up of the presidential 297 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 1: seal which in August of nineteen seventy four, the month 298 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:03,239 Speaker 1: of President Richard Nixon's resignation. Was not exactly an aspirational association. 299 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:06,879 Speaker 1: Dede if he was grateful for the logo, didn't show it. 300 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 1: He had other things on his mind, like how to 301 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:11,760 Speaker 1: get enough money to cop dope and stave off as 302 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:16,359 Speaker 1: Heroin Jones, Our Tour's loft was on the first floor. 303 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 1: The action from the street just outside his windows was 304 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 1: constant sirens, violent shouting, and the more than occasional brick 305 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 1: thrown through the window from dealers pissed off at d 306 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:29,679 Speaker 1: D or his notorious street walking force of nature girlfriend, 307 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:35,040 Speaker 1: the highly destructive Connie E. Second was loud. It was 308 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: going to be one of those nights when the street 309 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:39,640 Speaker 1: never goes to see. Dede knew it. He was preparing 310 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 1: for a long evening. He had no money, no dope, 311 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:45,119 Speaker 1: no protection, and no one to help. Connie was gone, 312 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:48,280 Speaker 1: Joey was useless. E Second was alive and in his head, 313 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: coming for him, and there was nothing he could do 314 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:53,359 Speaker 1: about it. Couldn't hit the street. The heroin withdrawals were 315 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:56,959 Speaker 1: on their way, and they were debilitating awful, severe experiences. 316 00:17:57,320 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 1: In ded all one hundred and thirty pounds of him, 317 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,240 Speaker 1: was equipped to deal with the pain, the nause of, 318 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 1: the sweating, the aching, the vomiting. He was helpless. Nothing 319 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: he could do about wait it out, make like his 320 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:12,919 Speaker 1: bandmate Johnny in power through That gave Dede an idea. 321 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:16,640 Speaker 1: If he couldn't protect himself against the withdrawals, he could 322 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: protect himself against the threat of violence outside his window 323 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:23,600 Speaker 1: on each second, at least for a little while. He 324 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 1: needed a weapon, his own bricks to fire back out 325 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: onto the street if things got heavy. While he sweat 326 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:32,159 Speaker 1: out his jones, Dede dragged himself to his feet and 327 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:35,400 Speaker 1: headed out behind Oar Toro's building, and there were loose 328 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,199 Speaker 1: bricks in the backyard. The city had recently done some 329 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:42,239 Speaker 1: excavating for whatever reason. Dede didn't know. He heard there 330 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:45,480 Speaker 1: was an old graveyard back there, a long forgotten city 331 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: cemetery that had been developed over with tenement and loft buildings. 332 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:53,119 Speaker 1: Years of Manhattan development had disrupted the buried bodies in 333 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: the city. In order to save space, was forced to 334 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: erect a brick wall above the ground in our Toro's 335 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: backyard and rearrange the corpses from their horizontal, subterranean resting 336 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:06,920 Speaker 1: place into upright, space saving positions inside the brick wall. 337 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:09,920 Speaker 1: Dede didn't know about all that, or if he did, 338 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:12,600 Speaker 1: he didn't care. What he knew about was that he 339 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,679 Speaker 1: needed a few bricks. There were none scattered about, but 340 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,199 Speaker 1: the brick wall looked a bit worse for wear. Like 341 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,960 Speaker 1: the rest of the neighborhood. Dede was starting to feel it. 342 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,639 Speaker 1: The nausea was coming on, and so too was a 343 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: tinge of paranoia. East Second was shouting out to him 344 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:29,800 Speaker 1: like it was coming for him, to chew him up, 345 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 1: to spit him out, one more violent vein of this unforgiven, 346 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,040 Speaker 1: god forsaken city than in the seventies of these seemed 347 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:41,040 Speaker 1: hell bent on cannibalizing its own. The street sounds were intensifying, 348 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 1: swirling around Dede. He was starting to sweat to shake. 349 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:48,080 Speaker 1: The second screened and DD he noticed a loose brick 350 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 1: in the wall. He started to pull it, shook it 351 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,879 Speaker 1: a bit, wiggled it looser, looser, pulling it all the 352 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: way out of the wall. Or When the brick finally 353 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 1: shook loose from the wall, so too did the skeletal 354 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:02,960 Speaker 1: hand of very old corpse from within the wall. The 355 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 1: sight of the dead hand set Dede reeling backward under 356 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: his ass. He started to shake again, but the shakes 357 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:11,679 Speaker 1: were more from fear than from his heroin Jones. Indeed, 358 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:13,359 Speaker 1: he was about to spring to his feet and sprint 359 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:15,200 Speaker 1: back into the law where we noticed on the dead 360 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:19,160 Speaker 1: hand hanging out of the wall something shiny, two rings, 361 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:24,520 Speaker 1: one gold and one diamond. New York City, a city 362 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:27,600 Speaker 1: that never sleeps, was also the unofficial capital of the 363 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: Land of Opportunity. An opportunity for d d Ramone just 364 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,400 Speaker 1: came knocking out of a brick wall. He quickly pulled 365 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: the rings of the dead Manhattanit's fingers and headed out 366 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:39,959 Speaker 1: onto e second to pawn them off, score some dope 367 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:46,440 Speaker 1: and take care of his jones. But it was clear 368 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:48,440 Speaker 1: to d d just as it was to Joey and 369 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,640 Speaker 1: Johnny and Tommy. Then, in order for the Ramones to survive, 370 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:54,119 Speaker 1: in order for the Ramones to make sure rock and 371 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 1: roll survived, they'd need to survive the squalor of their city. 372 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 1: And for now that meant were tread getting the fuck 373 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: out of Dodge, so to speak, and to bring their 374 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: war to another shore. London was calling. We'll be right 375 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:16,920 Speaker 1: back after this word were were? The Ramones were nervous. 376 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,040 Speaker 1: Playing outside of New York City was no easy task. 377 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 1: The sting of being booed off stage in Waterbury, Connecticut, 378 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,399 Speaker 1: on their first venture out of town, opening for Johnny Winter, 379 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:30,440 Speaker 1: of all people, it never left. This was supposed to 380 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 1: be different, though. The Ramones weren't opening for some tired, 381 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: bloated rock and roll dinosaur. They were opening for the 382 00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:39,800 Speaker 1: Flaming Groovies, a West Coast American rock band with jumped 383 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:44,919 Speaker 1: up teenage energy in style. Plus the Flaming Groovies were somebody's. 384 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: The Ramones, to their estimation anyway, were nobody's. Their self 385 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:52,200 Speaker 1: titled debut album had been released that Spring in April 386 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,879 Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy six on Sire Records. Their friends liked it, 387 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: as well as a few critics, but out of the gate, 388 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,200 Speaker 1: despite being a shotgun black of pure rock and roll 389 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,199 Speaker 1: for a new era and harnessing a newfound energy and 390 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,359 Speaker 1: directness and image sorely missing in rock and roll at 391 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 1: the time, despite saying rock and roll is here to 392 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:12,720 Speaker 1: stay with songs that barely made it past the two 393 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,400 Speaker 1: minutes and thirty second mark and said everything they needed 394 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 1: to say in that time. Despite all of that, an 395 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,080 Speaker 1: album that listed fourteen tracks and clocked in at just 396 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:25,199 Speaker 1: twenty nine minutes and four seconds. Despite that, despite the 397 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 1: no frills, the no fat, the no fucking around, no 398 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:34,840 Speaker 1: one cared, or so the Ramones thought. When they arrived 399 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 1: in London at the Roundhouse where they were performing that night, 400 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:39,800 Speaker 1: they headed to the back of the venue to enter 401 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:42,439 Speaker 1: through the backstage door, and they're waiting for them at 402 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:45,280 Speaker 1: the end of the darkened alley where four menacing looking 403 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: figures blocking their entrance, standing their ground, and they were 404 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:53,120 Speaker 1: in leather, looking or trying at least to look every 405 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:55,320 Speaker 1: bit as tough as the New York street gangs that 406 00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: they believe spawned the Ramones, who they were there to confront. Hey, 407 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: one of them yelled. Before the Ramones got too close, Tommy, 408 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,919 Speaker 1: Ramones started to shake you popped into their value. DeeDee 409 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,400 Speaker 1: was amused. These guys kind of looked like they did. 410 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:13,600 Speaker 1: Joey seemed nonplussed. Johnny was ready to pummel them and 411 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:15,520 Speaker 1: any other dumb brit Fox who've got in the way 412 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:18,479 Speaker 1: of him doing his job that night. Before we could, 413 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,960 Speaker 1: one of them spoke up again, or a clash Man, 414 00:23:22,119 --> 00:23:24,639 Speaker 1: and We're gonna be bigger than anybody. It was a 415 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:26,919 Speaker 1: weird comment, a weird way to start a fight, and 416 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: also a weird way to introduce yourself. The Ramones ignored 417 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,480 Speaker 1: it once they realized there was no real threat and 418 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 1: skirted around them and into the club. The Clash were 419 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: clearly confused. All that leather the iconic presidential looking Ramon's 420 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:42,920 Speaker 1: logo the Ramones must have been a gang. No, and 421 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: the Ramones didn't know or really care what the Clash 422 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:48,959 Speaker 1: were thinking. They had a show to do. Once safely 423 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:51,840 Speaker 1: ensconced in their dressing room, words started traveling back to 424 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:54,199 Speaker 1: the band from their crew milling about the venue in 425 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: the back alley, loading in gear and getting set up 426 00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:59,119 Speaker 1: for the gig. People were saying that all these local 427 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,919 Speaker 1: kids cools clearly seensters. They were showing up early and 428 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,120 Speaker 1: wanted to get backstage to meet the band, to meet 429 00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 1: the Ramones. One of them, John Lydon, asked ar Toro 430 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:10,680 Speaker 1: Vega if he could get back to meet the Ramones. 431 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: Arta said sure. John wanted to know if the Ramones 432 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 1: were going to beat him up when he went back there. 433 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,680 Speaker 1: What the fuck was going on? The Ramones' reputation, or 434 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:25,399 Speaker 1: rather their image and their sound preceded them tough, street, hard, fast, violin, 435 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,919 Speaker 1: even no fucking around. They brought all that onto the 436 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:31,240 Speaker 1: stage room that night in front of two thousand people 437 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: and crushed The crowd loved them. The band encourd three 438 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,200 Speaker 1: times and they weren't even the headliner. It was July fourth, 439 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:42,360 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, America's two hundredth birthday, and the Ramones 440 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,960 Speaker 1: had made sure that American rock and roll had been conquered. 441 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:47,600 Speaker 1: London would never be the same, hell, the world would 442 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,919 Speaker 1: never be the same. In the audience that night, in 443 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,200 Speaker 1: addition to the clash and John Lydon, who would go 444 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:55,720 Speaker 1: on to front the Sex Pistols as Johnny Rotten and 445 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,040 Speaker 1: his bandmate Said Vicious. There were also members of The Damn, 446 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:06,880 Speaker 1: The Pretenders, the Adverts of Generation X. Later, during their 447 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,359 Speaker 1: stint in London, as members of the Clash and the 448 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,960 Speaker 1: sex Pistols cozied up to their new American rock and 449 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:15,320 Speaker 1: roll saviors and the Ramones. Johnny Ramone played the role 450 00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,520 Speaker 1: of mentor Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash 451 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,159 Speaker 1: told Johnny that now that we've seen you, we're going 452 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:23,920 Speaker 1: to be a band, and Joe Strummer worried aloud to 453 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,680 Speaker 1: Johnny that the Clash were lousy and that they couldn't play. 454 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,800 Speaker 1: Johnny told him that if you wait until you can play, 455 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,040 Speaker 1: you'll be too old to get up there. The Clash 456 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 1: took Johnny Ramone's advice and became one of the most 457 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,199 Speaker 1: consequential rock and roll bands of all time and the 458 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,880 Speaker 1: only band that mattered, and the sex Pistols took note two. 459 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:46,200 Speaker 1: Bassist Sid Vicious followed Dede around everywhere in London. He 460 00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,320 Speaker 1: was obsessed with Dede's look, his playing, his attitude, his 461 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:52,720 Speaker 1: entire vibe, and Sid was eager to impress to show 462 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 1: Dedi that he was as rock and roll as he 463 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 1: was at a party. Sid was set on shooting some 464 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 1: speed with Dede. They hit the bathroom. It was disgusting. 465 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:06,160 Speaker 1: There was feces and pew everywhere, never mind the piss, 466 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,960 Speaker 1: The toilets were completely overflowing with all three the sinks 467 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:12,679 Speaker 1: were broken and Sid needed liquid to mix the speed 468 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 1: to shoot it from the syringe into their arms. He 469 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: looked around, thought about it and said fuck it. Dip 470 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 1: the syringe into the shit and puke filled toilet, vacuumed 471 00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:23,720 Speaker 1: up whatever liquid he could into the syringe, shook it 472 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:26,480 Speaker 1: to mix the speed, pointed the syringe into the crease 473 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:31,400 Speaker 1: of his arm and injected its contents. Deedie Ramone, who 474 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:35,720 Speaker 1: wasn't shocked easily, was speechless. The Ramones, with their high 475 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 1: octane rock and roll, their old school rock and roll attitude. 476 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 1: They're completely over the top and outrageously straight ahead rock 477 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:45,640 Speaker 1: and roll intensity had inspired something beyond their wildest dreams. 478 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:49,480 Speaker 1: In London, at least rock and roll, it seemed, was 479 00:26:49,680 --> 00:27:17,920 Speaker 1: very much alive. Traveling from show to show in a van, 480 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:21,000 Speaker 1: four guys, maybe a road manager and or a roadie, 481 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:24,520 Speaker 1: plus a random group your girlfriend. It may sound glamorous, 482 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 1: but it gets old quick, especially because you and your bandmates, 483 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:33,119 Speaker 1: despite your best intentions, are getting old quick. There is 484 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:36,119 Speaker 1: no way to stave off father time. But success helps, 485 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: and for rock band success usually means a graduation from 486 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:42,000 Speaker 1: the van to a bus or maybe even a jet, 487 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,040 Speaker 1: But not for the Romans. Back in the States, Johnny 488 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:48,280 Speaker 1: sat in the passenger seat. It was so he could 489 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:52,040 Speaker 1: control the radio, among other things. Whenever possible, they listened 490 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:56,320 Speaker 1: to the baseball game, Johnny's beloved Yankees, aside from his bandmates. 491 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,600 Speaker 1: By his estimation, Johnny didn't truck with No Forest Hills, 492 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:03,800 Speaker 1: loser like the Mets, and that's just what the Ramones were, losers. 493 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:08,240 Speaker 1: They had saved rock and roll inspired millions, including it seemed, 494 00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:11,800 Speaker 1: all of London, motivating scores of young talented musicians to 495 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:14,080 Speaker 1: pick up arms in the fight to bring rock back 496 00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:17,720 Speaker 1: from the brink the Clash Sex Pistols Generation X, and 497 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:19,679 Speaker 1: they did the same back home in the States with 498 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:23,440 Speaker 1: the Runaways among others. They were beyond the Tri State 499 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,040 Speaker 1: area now, and the Yankee game had long since faded. 500 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,399 Speaker 1: Johnny Futz with the radio dial. He stopped when he 501 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,560 Speaker 1: came upon the Clash as Rock the Caspo. He let 502 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:34,880 Speaker 1: the song play, even though it annoyed the hell out 503 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,119 Speaker 1: of them. The fact that the Clash, a band he 504 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,920 Speaker 1: himself encouraged to get up on stage, was being played 505 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,680 Speaker 1: on mainstream radio even more insulting on MTV, while the 506 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:46,200 Speaker 1: Ramones were forced to tool around New England in a 507 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:51,480 Speaker 1: dirty van, effectively singing for their supper, drove him nuts. Nonetheless, 508 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: he let the song play out. The next tune to 509 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:56,480 Speaker 1: break through the speakers was Eyes Without a Face by 510 00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:00,160 Speaker 1: Billy Idol, formerly of Generation X, another UK punk mus 511 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: as she who owed his career to the Ramones. By 512 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:06,600 Speaker 1: Johnny's thinking anyway, his blood boiled. He went to change 513 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:09,360 Speaker 1: the channel. Indeed, he protested. Johnny told him to go 514 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:12,600 Speaker 1: fuck herself and changed it anyway. Up the dial he went. 515 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: Soon the Caveman beat for Jon Jets, I Love rock 516 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:18,680 Speaker 1: and roll blasted back at them. It was too much 517 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 1: another one. Johnny shut the radio off. In the back seat, Linda, 518 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: Johnny's new girlfriend, looked out the window triumphantly. Johnny didn't notice. 519 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:32,720 Speaker 1: Joey did. He noticed most everything Linda did. It wasn't 520 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:35,680 Speaker 1: too long ago they were together, but then Johnny swept 521 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,440 Speaker 1: in and stole her away. It broke Joey's heart. Even 522 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: Deede thought that one was fucked up. Joey still didn't 523 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:46,480 Speaker 1: understand women, and with his chronic obsessive, compulsive ticks, he 524 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:50,760 Speaker 1: feared no woman would ever really understand him. Tommy was gone, 525 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:54,640 Speaker 1: he quit long ago. His replacement, Marky, was oblivious, drunk 526 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,000 Speaker 1: most of the time, happy to be part of the ride. 527 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:00,920 Speaker 1: For now, deed he wasn't. It wasn't fun anymore. He 528 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,880 Speaker 1: wanted out. There was no joy in playing in the Ramones, 529 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:06,440 Speaker 1: so in the beginning of nineteen eighty nine he quit. 530 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 1: One of the greatest, most influential bands on the planet 531 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:14,040 Speaker 1: that everyone fellow musicians and critics all seemed to acknowledge. Everyone, 532 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,760 Speaker 1: that is, except for the record buying public on mass 533 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,080 Speaker 1: The Ramones weren't obscure by any measure, but they weren't 534 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:24,479 Speaker 1: a household name like Joan Jed or Billie Idel. They 535 00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:27,520 Speaker 1: were a club band, a damn good one too, one 536 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:31,480 Speaker 1: of the best. But despite countless efforts different producers, including 537 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 1: the famed and psychotic Phil Specter, despite appearing in the 538 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: film Rock and Roll High School, despite writing and recording 539 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 1: the title track to Stephen King's pat cemetery film of 540 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,160 Speaker 1: the same name, and despite covering past hits by their 541 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:46,320 Speaker 1: rock and roll heroes and courage songwriting gold like Tom 542 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:48,680 Speaker 1: Waits as I Don't Want to Grow Up, none of 543 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:51,960 Speaker 1: it helped the Ramones break through to a mainstream audience 544 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:55,640 Speaker 1: and to enjoy the level of success they deserved. The 545 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 1: psychology of it all was enough to drive you insane. 546 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:02,120 Speaker 1: You're regarded in your living icons as one of the 547 00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:05,560 Speaker 1: most important, original and influential bands of all time. You're 548 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,360 Speaker 1: out there slinging hundreds of shows a year, your name 549 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:12,440 Speaker 1: rings out worldwide, yet you're not actually successful. You saved 550 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 1: rock and roll, but it refused to save you. Breakup 551 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 1: was inevitable. In nineteen ninety six, after their album Audios 552 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: Amigos failed to sell, the band performed their last show 553 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:27,040 Speaker 1: at the Palladium in Hollywood, and they were joined on 554 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:29,920 Speaker 1: stage at different times by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, 555 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:34,360 Speaker 1: Chris Cornello Soundgarden, and Tim Armstrong of Rancid. Platinum selling 556 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: recording artists, all of whom were enjoying high positions on 557 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,880 Speaker 1: the Billboard charts and regular rotation on MTV. There to 558 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,560 Speaker 1: help celebrate the legacy of one of their favorite bands, 559 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 1: but whose success helped drive the Ramones off the road 560 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 1: to ruin and into an early grave. Five years later, 561 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,040 Speaker 1: in two thousand and one, Johnny, now living in La 562 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:57,480 Speaker 1: got the call Joey. It was dead. The lymphoma did 563 00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:00,560 Speaker 1: him in at the age of forty nine. If Johnny 564 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:04,120 Speaker 1: was hoping for Ramone's reunion, it wasn't happening. Neither was 565 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:06,200 Speaker 1: a cross country trip to New York City to his 566 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:10,200 Speaker 1: bandmate's funeral. Even before the band broke up, the two 567 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:14,480 Speaker 1: hadn't really spoken in years. Joey's dysfunction in his drinking 568 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:18,280 Speaker 1: was a constant annoyance to Johnny, and Joey, for his part, 569 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:21,720 Speaker 1: never get over Johnny stealing his girl. There was no 570 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:25,600 Speaker 1: love lost between the two. A few years after Joey's death, 571 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:28,600 Speaker 1: Johnny was asked by a journalist for Rolling Stone if 572 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:33,360 Speaker 1: he attended Joey's funeral. Johnny replied, I was in California. 573 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:35,480 Speaker 1: I wasn't going to travel all the way to New York. 574 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: But I wouldn't have gone anyway. I wouldn't want him 575 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:40,080 Speaker 1: coming to my funeral, and I wouldn't want to hear 576 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:42,240 Speaker 1: from him if I were dying, I'd only want to 577 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:47,800 Speaker 1: see my friends, let me die, leave me alone. Johnny 578 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:50,480 Speaker 1: wasn't alone. On the night of March nineteenth, two thousand 579 00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:53,600 Speaker 1: and two, he stood at the podium of the Waldorf 580 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: Astoria alongside bandmates DeeDee, Tommy and Marky Ramone and accepted 581 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:01,680 Speaker 1: his award for being in duck on the first ballot 582 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:05,240 Speaker 1: into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Finally the 583 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:08,960 Speaker 1: recognition the Ramones deserved. It was the least the power 584 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:11,640 Speaker 1: as it be in the music industry could do. The 585 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 1: Romans had, after all, brought rock and roll back from 586 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,560 Speaker 1: the brink, injected a new energy into the genre and 587 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 1: an era that desperately needed. It, retracted rock from disco's 588 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:23,640 Speaker 1: death clutch, and bridged the gap between rock and rolls 589 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:26,800 Speaker 1: golden and modern Eras it was only fitting that the 590 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:29,480 Speaker 1: band who saved rock and roll take their rightful place 591 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:33,600 Speaker 1: in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Johnny spoke first. 592 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:36,640 Speaker 1: As was expected, he leaned into the mic and in 593 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:40,480 Speaker 1: a head scratcher, thanked Republican President George W. Bush for 594 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:44,720 Speaker 1: his award. Ever the contrarian punk as fuck until the end. 595 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:48,800 Speaker 1: Tommy then spoke. He played on the emotion of the moment. 596 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:52,080 Speaker 1: Believe it or not, he said, we really loved each other, 597 00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:54,720 Speaker 1: even when we weren't acting civil to each other. We 598 00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:58,600 Speaker 1: were truly brothers. Dede took his turn at the podium 599 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 1: and in typical d D fashion, I'd like to congratulate 600 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:05,160 Speaker 1: myself and thank myself and give myself a big pat 601 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:08,319 Speaker 1: on the back. Thank you, Deedy, You're very wonderful. I 602 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:15,680 Speaker 1: love you. With that, they left the stage to genuine 603 00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:20,560 Speaker 1: applause and gratitude. Joey Roman's award, however, remained on the 604 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:28,360 Speaker 1: podium unclaimed. What a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan and this 605 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:48,000 Speaker 1: this Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is 606 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:51,640 Speaker 1: produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode 607 00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:54,480 Speaker 1: can be found on the show notes page at disgracelamdpod 608 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:58,400 Speaker 1: dot com. If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, 609 00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 1: thank you for supporting the show. 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Rock a Roller, He's a bad Mann.