Can this be so? According to Rolling Stone, at the Ramones' induction into the R&RHoF: "After running off a short list of thank-yous, Johnny Ramone offered a straight-faced, "God bless President Bush, and God bless America.'" Not that there's anything wrong w/ the latter half, but still ... Phil @ TNT
RE: old punks....Johnny Ramone has ALWAYS been a right-wing stooge. The anecdote about friction over "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" is precisely the way I remember it from contemporary interviews. Johnny was responsible for all of the paramilitary aspects of the group, including the Marine Corps and Nazi fetishes. No wonder the band was so damned volatile -- it's amazing they actually accomplished as much as they did. Regarding the use of "Blitzkrieg Bop" in a phone commercial, however, I seriously doubt anyone thought further than the undeniably catchy "Hey, ho, let's go!" The execs probably figured the rest of the lyric was too garbled to parse in a quick TV commercial. Skip, here's a question for you: When I was in St. Petersburg, Florida last weekend I saw that X was coming around on tour again. Is it the original line-up? And if so, do we include this in our tally of old punks who never say die? True, X outlived most of the bands in their generation, but not without their own share of turmoil. Still, they were incredible when I saw them at a muddy Guiness festival five or six years ago. (At this point, however, it wouldn't surprise me if YOU were the guitarist in the band...) ;-) Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com
on 6/10/03 11:16 AM, Steve Smith at ssmith36@sprynet.com wrote:
Skip, here's a question for you: When I was in St. Petersburg, Florida last weekend I saw that X was coming around on tour again. Is it the original line-up? And if so, do we include this in our tally of old punks who never say die? True, X outlived most of the bands in their generation, but not without their own share of turmoil. Still, they were incredible when I saw them at a muddy Guiness festival five or six years ago. (At this point, however, it wouldn't surprise me if YOU were the guitarist in the band...)
It's the original line-up, and it's less "never say die" than the fact that nobody in the band can make nearly so much money with any of their other projects. X didn't really outlive anything. They went away and came back a few more times than most, but I wouldn't give them credit for that, and it's one of the few things for which I won't give them credit. BTW -- DJ Bonebrake did in fact suggest me to fill in for Billy Zoom at some benefit, but Exene's manager apparently wanted the guitarist from L7, on the grounds that "musicianship isn't important. Showing Exene as an influence on today's women in rock IS." Apparently, tho, the L7 person played adequately. sh
participants (3)
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Oppenheim, Phil -
skip Heller -
Steve Smith