"Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life As a Ramone" by Marky Ramone with Rich Herschlag (Touchstone, 403 pages, $28)
The Ramones were one of the most influential punk rock bands in America. They wrote songs that were really short and they played them very fast. The four original members, Joey, Johnny, Tommy and Dee Dee, were from Forest Hills, N.Y. Each one adopted the last name Ramone.
The band toured relentlessly. Tommy Ramone, their drummer, decided he had had enough of life on the road. The band contacted Marc Bell, and asked him to take Tommy’s place. Bell became known as Marky Ramone. In his memoir, “Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life As a Ramone,” Bell recounts what it was like to be part of this dynamic quartet.
The Ramones were on their way to becoming music legends when Marky joined. They had released several records. Marky was experienced. Before joining the Ramones he had been in other bands. His punk credentials were burnished by an association with Richard Hell. Marky refers to Hell as “a punk Bob Dylan.”
Marky was a keen observer. He was very much a participant, but there’s a “fly on the wall” kind of aspect to this memoir. Marky watched and maintained a steady beat as the Ramones made musical history. The band was frugal. They eschewed luxuries. Johnny, the guitarist, was a taskmaster. They rode for hours in their van to get to gigs. Johnny made sure they stayed in their assigned seats.
Joey was the singer and a quirky fellow. He suffered from OCD, which created strange situations the Ramones had to surmount. Dee Dee played bass and wrote great songs. Dee Dee was also the band’s leading drug abuser: He eventually died as the result of an overdose.
Johnny and Joey didn’t get along. Johnny was conservative politically. Joey was a liberal. Johnny stole Joey’s girlfriend. Johnny was an important part of the band, but he doesn’t come off as a very endearing fellow in this book. For long periods Johnny and Joey didn’t speak to each other.
But when the boys stepped on to that stage all their differences would be forgotten. The band would tear it up on songs such as “I Wanna Be Sedated.” Marky’s account of their European tour reveals some hazards of life on the road. In Amsterdam the audience kept spraying beer at the band. This was dangerous: “all it took was enough ale to create a ground between a hot wire and a Ramone and there would be no fifth album.”
The legendary record producer Phil Spector was hired to work with the band on their album “End of the Century.” You might recall that Spector was involved in a spectacular Hollywood murder trial some years later. Johnny claimed that during the recording sessions Spector pointed a gun at him.
I interviewed Marky recently, and I asked about this. He told me that Spector did have guns, but he never pointed them at Johnny.
The Ramones are enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy are all gone now. But their music lives on. In 1983 Marky was kicked out of the band. This was actually a good thing because it made him acknowledge his drinking problem. Four years later he was asked to return to the band. He was with them until the end. Marky has been sober now for 30 years. And he’s the last man standing.
You can hear my interview with Marky Ramone this Sunday morning at 10:30 on WYSO (91.3-FM).
About the Author