Too Tough to Die: A Tribute to Johnny Ramone

Too Tough to Die: A Tribute to Johnny Ramone Review

Is there any Ramone that is as ripped on by the majority of Ramones based retrospectives as Johnny Ramone? I've heard the terms quiet and abusive used to describe him, and his falling in love with Joey's girlfriend made a rift in the band that didn't even end with the band's split. Whether it's the End of the Century documentary or Vera Ramone's memoir, Johnny comes off as a dick. The descriptions and stories of Johnny are so consistent that it's surprising to see something like Too Tough to Die where the man is getting a tribute. It appears that this was originally thought out as a documentary on the Ramones 30th Anniversary Tribute and Benefit Concert, but Johnny Ramone was too weak to appear and passed away two days later, therefore the project became a tribute to Johnny as well. (I think that's how it happened)

At 76 minutes, you're not getting much here outside of a couple of songs and some interviews. Unfortunately, this documentary mixes the music and the interviews, therefore you'll be watching the Red Hot Chili Peppers play a Ramones song, and the middle of song gets interrupted by someone who's either in the band or a random celebrity fan. There's few uninterrupted tracks, and the quality of the performances is all over the place (X was horrible, RHCP were passable, and the Dickies were shoddy), but the set done by CJ, Marky, and Daniel Ray with rotating guest singers was as close as you'd get to a modern day Ramones set. The set was helped with some great performances by Henry Rollins, Eddie Vedder, and Dicky Barrett, making it the centerpiece of the documentary.

In the interview front, there's no mentions of anything critical or negative. Everyone is in praise mode and even the Joey/Johnny problem is passed off as a band issue that barely affected the band's work. The three dead Ramones are only seen through archival photos and film footage, and Johnny's only heard through an old interview. I wonder why he wasn't even shown planning the concert nor was there any footage of him listening or seeing the concert (as there's ways to do that). All you get is a scene during the concert where Rob Zombie calls him up so everyone can cheer for him. As mentioned earlier, Johnny was weak by this point so I won't go any further with that. You also see the footage of recorded announcements about Johnny's death and some key moments of the unveiling of his cenotaph during his memorial service.

Something that bothers me about this documentary is the continuation of making Richie Ramone an Unperson. The only time Richie was mentioned was by Tommy Ramone in his speech about the band. No archival footage or even an interview was done with him, but Clem Burke, WHO WAS WITH BAND FOR TWO SHOWS ONLY!!!!!, was interviewed and appeared in more than one spot. You can say that it's because he was in Blondie, one of the Ramones' peers at CBGBs, but Chris Stein and Debbie Harry were both interviewed and they're far more important than Clem. It's such a sore spot for me as only a hardcore fan would know that Clem was even a Ramone, but RICHIE WAS IN THE BAND FOR THREE FULL ALBUMS!! At least he got one of those lifetime Grammy awards they gave to the group last year, and they allowed him to talk for a bit. (Fuck, how come he always gets pushed away from Ramones products?) Maybe a notice of "Hey, we couldn't contact him on time" would have been better than the lack of mentions.

There isn't much to this unless you're a fan of the band. I rented this documentary a while ago, and the DVD is bare bones with a promo piece and a lackluster commentary track (still listenable for one part where the punk rocker asks Linda, Johnny's widow,  a question about one of Joey's songs that gets close to the Joey/Johnny problem). If you can rent it, find it for a cheap price, or watch it when it's on a Starz-affiliated channel (it's also On Demand sometimes) then watch it, but don't go out of your way to view it.

New Site!

First, there's more work to be done in this blog. I still have a long way to go in terms of books and documentaries and that's all coming in slowly.

In the meantime, I've started a new blog: Walk Among Us Music Reviews. It's more of an exercise than major work, but any comments and suggestions are accepted!

Poisoned Heart: I Married Dee Dee Ramone

This is the first post in the new Books category for the blog. Ramones books aren't rare, but most are from family, friends, or biographers/scholars. Aside from Monte Melnick's On the Road with the Ramones, and the upcoming book Johnny was writing prior to his death, you know what you'll be getting isn't directly from any of the members of the group.

Poisoned Heart: I Married Dee Dee Ramone oozes of the family and friends category to a fault. Vera Ramone, Dee Dee's first wife, writes about her long, troublesome relationship with the the band's most unstable member in a conflicting dichotomy throughout the whole book. In one side, her relationship with Dee Dee is full of lovely anecdotes of Dee Dee being goofy and an amicable husband, but the other side is pure horror. The horror is all based on his barely controlled drug use and his deteriorated mental condition, and how it leads to the brutal stories of domestic (physical and psychological) abuse that trumps some of the stuff that I've read in Pattie Boyd's Wonderful Tonight or John Lennon's biographies. The problem with the two opposing sides and the book in general is that, after writing about those impressionable moments, it all feels as it's swept under the rug with her unabashed love for the man. It's a battered wife story that unfortunately is common in life and in rock, and it never comes off well when it all sounds excused. It's great that this is not a hagiography of one of punk rock's infamous pioneers, but it's off-putting either way.

If you're looking for new bits of non-Dee Dee related Ramones dirt or stories, you won't find much here other than expanded information on older tales (The day when the band realized Johnny and Linda were together, some stuff on Joey's personal life). Her opinions on the band members and those around them coincides with what others have written about (Johnny Ramone is cold and distant, Joey was a romantic, etc..). If there's one story that unfortunately sticks to mind about the band in general, it's the 7-11 incident in Texas where Dee Dee savagely assaults Vera in front of the band, and no one but Monte gets involved.

I recommend the book to Dee Dee fans who want more information on his personal life and stories behind some of his later Ramones work, and I also recommend it to those that want to confirm stories and character portraits as Vera doesn't paint in broad strokes. However, her overall attitude about Dee Dee creeps me out, but...

Her book says enough to make my own opinion.

(On a side note- Is there anything outside of that Too Tough To Die Tribute DVD where Johnny Ramone doesn't come off as an asshole?)

Ramones: It's Alive 1974-1996 Review

After a plethora of album retrospectives, it's time to go into other forms of Ramones media!

Ramones: It's Alive 1974-1996 is a 2-DVD live show set that sets out to be the ultimate retrospective of the band's many live performances. This is a collection of fan recorded footage (primitive era recording!), actual film footage of the famous 1977 It's Alive concert (thus this collection's name), and other recorded concerts and international TV show appearances. As much as it wants to be the ultimate retrospective, this DVD collection feels like someone is dangling a bigger collection of concert footage above you, only to take it away when you try to reach for it. It's a good, albeit incomplete retrospective of the band's concert run.

The available footage is good as you do get a retrospective of the band's progress and evolution from playing "Blitzkrieg Bop" in CBGB to headlining at River Plate Stadium in Argentina. The early fan footage on Disk 1 is the hardest to watch and listen as it was recorded with early camcorders and the tape those shows were on had aged significantly. It's also unfortunate that only one piece of footage was included from their initial year, as everything else on the disk (1976-77) has been well documented and represented. Setbacks aside, it's fun to watch the fan footage and the TV clips of the guys.

The compilation's marketed pièce de résistance is the 1977 It's Alive concert that was only seen in 30-second clips on numerous documentaries and Ramones related programs. I've written about the qualms I've had with the live album that was recorded from this concert, and I can unfortunately also write the same sentiments about the film footage. Yes, you are seeing the band play on stage in front of a live audience in England but you are not listening to the actual music that was played that night, and at this point you probably wont listen to the actual recording of the show's audio unless you dig deep somewhere. Again, I have to reference the Mark Prindle interview with Marky Ramone and the discussion about It's Alive's re-recording. The footage is also far from complete, but some of the missing songs have appeared on Youtube, and the footage itself appears to have been sped-up in some points.

Disk 2 jumps between different band eras, from the start of Marky's run all the way to CJ replacing Dee Dee and the end of the band's incredible run. The footage is better as most of it was professionally recorded and none of it is damaged. It's always great to get some bits of the brief time Richie was with the group (more would have been gladly accepted), as it always feels as if he's an unperson when it comes to Ramones merchandise. The songs vary greatly compared to the last disc, but it's fine to see how "Blitzkrieg Bop" became an experiment in speed playing.

While the rest of the footage is good, there's two great bits of footage missing: The rest of the River Plate Stadium concert, and the We're Outta Here footage. Again, you can see this footage on Youtube so there probably was a rights issue or a timing constraint that prevented the rest of the footage to come out. It puts a bit of a damper on things as those two concerts were a big deal for the band and need to be seen.

This DVD looks to be out of print, but you can get it for as low as $8 online on a few sites. It's a bargain price for what you're getting and I gladly recommend it for fans and even newcomers. Casuals listeners may be annoyed by the thirteenth version of "Blitzkrieg Bop", but you're getting a ton of music and history for a cheap price.

NEXT: Probably a book...

For my review of the It's Alive live album and its comparison to NYC 1978, click here!