Hey Ho Let`s Go

uda baca biography-nya ramones kita bahas yuuks!!!

- Judul Buku: "Hey Ho Let`s Go" The Story

Of Ramones

- Pengarang : Everett True

- Publisher : Omnibus Press; 1 edition

(Oct 20 2002)

- Tebal Hal. : 304 Halaman

- Bahasa : Inggris (Ada sih translate-nya)

Review token from : amazon.com

"All I ever wanted was to see smiles on the kids' faces" - Marky Ramone

In 2004, life without the Ramones and, in particular, Joey and Dee Dee, remains a novel concept. After the playing the last of some 2,200 (very) odd gigs in 1996, the band hung up their leather jackets, t-shirts, torn jeans and tennis shoes and rode off into the sunset to the strains of Ennio Morricone's "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" theme. Anyone with a pulse is cognizant of "da bruddahs" rightful coronation as rawk royalty, although most of the accolades didn't start arriving until they went away.
Everett True postulates they functioned as much like a gang as they did a band, but a more accurate analogy might be La Cosa Nostra, with Johnny as capo di tutti capi and the rest as misfit goombahs. Until the end, it appeared the Ramones' creed was "in for life" and to this day, there appears to be some sort of omerta regarding Richie, who came up to the bigs for a cup of coffee when Marky was too drunk to sit upright on his drum stool.
True, himself a huge fan, paints a picture, warts and all, of four maladjusted kids from Forest Hills who had a musical vision that was rammed home with all the subtlety of a trouser cough on a crowded elevator (thanks, Andrew!), succeeding as purveyors of pure white noise in spite of themselves. Embittered somewhere along the way about the brass ring that seemed to elude them in the form of hit records and credit for if not creating punk rock, then at least kickstarting it, the Ramones turned to infighting, drugs, booze and tinkering with their sonic fabric.
The rift between Johnny and Joey is as much attributed to a struggle for control of their musical direction as it is to Johnny's stealing Joey's girlfriend and then marrying her. Is it any wonder long-suffering tour manager Monte Melnick's job is likened to that of a special-ed teacher chaperoning four retards on a 20-year field trip? Surprisingly, for all of the legend surrounding Dee Dee's heroin addiction and the lengths he allegedly went to to cop, it's given short shrift by True, although he doesn't sugarcoat Marky's liquor-soaked tours of duty. As I read True's account of Joey's passing while laying in a hospital bed surrounded by family and friends, I cried like a baby while riding a bus home from work surrounded by total strangers.
As punk marches into the 21st century, the Ramones have been rightfully iconized as the ultimate anti-heroes and the most influential band this side of The Beatles - no, make that the most influential band ever - architects of a unique universe of bad taste, volume, melody, and momentum. Despite that dubious achievement, there is a noticeable dearth in print about them, but True's book takes to places none of the others do, whether you like it or not.