The Ramones

[Herr Tubthumper]

I heard this on Radio 6 the other day. It's not one of their obvious hits but it's one of my favourite songs they did. It combines power pop, punk and protest beautifully.

I was lucky enough to see this band a number of times...gabba gabba hey.

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[Gordon the Gopher]

Saw them at the Top Rank in 1986 but wish I'd seen them more. Their new year's Eve gig at the Rainbow (1977 I think) for me is the best live show I have ever come across on You Tube. Saw a tribute band called Havana a go go a couple of times down the Komedia. They rocked!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Saw them at the Top Rank in 1986 but wish I'd seen them more. Their new year's Eve gig at the Rainbow (1977 I think) for me is the best live show I have ever come across on You Tube. Saw a tribute band called Havana a go go a couple of times down the Komedia. They rocked!

I was at the '86 Top Rank gig as well. First time I saw them.

 

[cheshunt seagull]

I was at the '86 Top Rank gig as well. First time I saw them.

First and pnly time I saw them was Portsmouth Guildhall in 1980. 'Hey ho let's go' and then a relentless stream of classics delvered at breakneck speed.

 

[33057 Seagull]

Saw them twice both at the Top Rank in 1977/78 and again in 1986. I still have the ticket stub from Wednesday January 16th but since that was the week following The Clash, I guess this was from the 1978 gig?

 

[Don Quixote]

In the film school of rock that song is.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

One of the things I liked about them was the 'Whetherspoons' quality they had about their live performances. No matter where you saw them, or when you saw them, they always looked and sounded the same.

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[Uncle Spielberg]

1,2,3,4 !.

 

[happypig]

I saw them a couple of times and I was at the Top Rank gig in 1986. ISTR it was around the time the yanks bombed Libya, Gadaffi threatened reprisals and loads of bands cancelled tours. They cam on and Joey shouted out "We're the Ramones and we ain't afraid of no Libyans. 1,2,3,4 !"

 

[Peteinblack]

'Bonzo Goes to Bitburg' written as a kind of protest following an apparently controverisial Ronald Reagan visit to Germany in the 1980s.

Odd, considering guitarist Johnny Ramone was a hard-line Republican (as in American Conservative, not UK anti-Monarchist).

 

[Juan Albion]

I have the 12" single of "Bitburg" and it had another great song on the other side, but I can't remember which. Does anyone know to save me searching it out?

 

[Johnny Fever]

Saw them at the Top Rank in 1986 but wish I'd seen them more. Their new year's Eve gig at the Rainbow (1977 I think) for me is the best live show I have ever come across on You Tube. Saw a tribute band called Havana a go go a couple of times down the Komedia. They rocked!

Nice one Gordon. I was at that gig in '77 as well !! ha ha. I remember that I was near the front, just to the left of the stage and within full blasting distance of the speakers. I had a ringing sound in my ears for the next few days after and remember getting a bit worried at one point. Happy days.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Saw The Ramones live in the Old Grey Whistle Test studio '77 or maybe '78. Remember thinking how they were genuine cartoon characters made flesh. Jane Suck, best writer Sounds ever had, was wandering around offering blow jobs to anybody connected with the band. Wrote like a dream but jeez was she rough.

Then saw them live a couple of weeks or maybe months later at Canterbury Odeon where they played about thirty songs in forty minutes

 

[33057 Seagull]

'Bonzo Goes to Bitburg' written as a kind of protest following an apparently controverisial Ronald Reagan visit to Germany in the 1980s.

Odd, considering guitarist Johnny Ramone was a hard-line Republican (as in American Conservative, not UK anti-Monarchist).

'My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)' was written primarily by Joey who unlike Johnny was a left wing Jew; they rarely spoke particularly after Johnny stole Joey's girlfrined prompting Joey to write "The KKK took my Baby Away".

Bonzo was supposedly Ronald Regan and the song a protest after Regan visited a war cemetary in Germany which contained the graves of SS officers!

 

[Gordon the Gopher]

Saw The Ramones live in the Old Grey Whistle Test studio '77 or maybe '78. Remember thinking how they were genuine cartoon characters made flesh. Jane Suck, best writer Sounds ever had, was wandering around offering blow jobs to anybody connected with the band. Wrote like a dream but jeez was she rough.

Then saw them live a couple of weeks or maybe months later at Canterbury Odeon where they played about thirty songs in forty minutes

I saw quite a few bands at canterbury odeon including the Stranglers, the Buzzcocks and the Jam. my main highlight there was a crazy line up of The Rezillos supoported by Joy Division and the Undertones. ironically the support acts went on to be bigger than the main act.

Nice one Gordon. I was at that gig in '77 as well !! ha ha. I remember that I was near the front, just to the left of the stage and within full blasting distance of the speakers. I had a ringing sound in my ears for the next few days after and remember getting a bit worried at one point. Happy days.

Rainbow gig must have been amazing. Gabba gabba hey on one side of his sign and happy New year on the other! Great stuff!!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I saw quite a few bands at canterbury odeon including the Stranglers, the Buzzcocks and the Jam. my main highlight there was a crazy line up of The Rezillos supoported by Joy Division and the Undertones. ironically the support acts went on to be bigger than the main act.

Same. Used to go there all the time in the punk daze. Quite a bold and praiseworthy move by the cinema manager, obviously a man who didn't relish the quiet life

Personal fave gig there was Penetration, closely followed by Madness. Tho a Madness gig always had a not particularly pleasant edge to it thanks to the no-brainer skins that followed them around. Think Howard Devoto did one of his first Magazine gigs there after he left the Buzzcocks. Remember that one being really tedious, pretentious git that he was!

 

[Gordon the Gopher]

Same. Used to go there all the time in the punk daze. Quite a bold and praiseworthy move by the cinema manager, obviously a man who didn't relish the quiet life

Personal fave gig there was Penetration, closely followed by Madness. Tho a Madness gig always had a not particularly pleasant edge to it thanks to the no-brainer skins that followed them around. Think Howard Devoto did one of his first Magazine gigs there after he left the Buzzcocks. Remember that one being really tedious, pretentious git that he was!

Was at the Magazine one too. I quite liked them! Know what you mean about the skins at the time. Saw Sham 69 at the sunshine rooms in Margate and had to run the guantlet literally. Anyone else who saw those boys round abouut the same time will know what I'm talking about!
Was also mates with a skinhead band called Last Resort and saw them a couple of times in the east End. That was interesting. They had a mad singer known as Millwall Roi. He told me the reason he had a glass eye was due to a disagreement with some West Ham fans. Didn't want to argue!!

 

[brakespear]

I have the 12" single of "Bitburg" and it had another great song on the other side, but I can't remember which. Does anyone know to save me searching it out?

'Daytime Dilemma' or 'Go Home Ann'?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Was at the Magazine one too. I quite liked them! Know what you mean about the skins at the time. Saw Sham 69 at the sunshine rooms in Margate and had to run the guantlet literally. Anyone else who saw those boys round abouut the same time will know what I'm talking about!
Was also mates with a skinhead band called Last Resort and saw them a couple of times in the east End. That was interesting. They had a mad singer known as Millwall Roi. He told me the reason he had a glass eye was due to a disagreement with some West Ham fans. Didn't want to argue!!

There was one evil dickhead of a skin who was around at the time whose party piece was to turn up at gigs on crutches and when the skins started frothing at the mouth and attacking the punks he'd swing his crutch like an axe down on the heads of the nearest random non-skin. Saw him do it at Canterbury and again at the Adverts gig at the Greyhound in Croydon (the upstairs room with the spongey floor). Now THERE was one utter C UNT.

Oh, and though its all a bit blurred now, definitely saw the Clash SOMEWHERE in Canterbury, may well have been the Odeon. I remember being on the guest list for that one. Ditto Elvis Costello. Got punched in the head by his manager Jake Riviera/Andrew Jakeman at that gig for the heinous crime of asking for an interview with his specky scowling protege. And yes, His aim was true.

 

[Juan Albion]

'Daytime Dilemma' or 'Go Home Ann'?

Nope, don't think so. I'll have to dig it out and play it.

Edit: I take it back, just found it, it was both of those. But I don't remember now which one of those was my favourite.

But "Bitberg" was well played in my house. When the little Albions were 4 and 18 months I used to play it at bedtime, turned up loud. They were allowed to jump up and down like crazy on the spare bed. This not only gave them a good musical education but wore them out for bedtime.