Shot In The Dark: Hey, Ho

September 17, 2004

Hey, Ho

Johnny Ramone, guitarist for the Ramones, is dead at 55.

The best musicians - especially in the world of garage rock - are the ones where you can tell by watching and listening that they're not showing you everything they have; that there's a reserve of...something that you haven't seen yet. Johnny Ramone left you that sense both on the guitar and, back in the eighties, in his personal life:

Mr. Ramone was often at odds with the members of his band, over dress, politics and relationships. A staunch Republican, Mr. Ramone clashed with Joey over that singer's liberal causes, and when the band was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Mr. Ramone said, "God bless President Bush, and God bless America."

Three Ramones down, and I feel just a little lonelier today.

Posted by Mitch at September 17, 2004 07:36 AM | TrackBack

Comments

Oh, I so feel your pain. Totally. I felt strangely lonely - and old when I heard the news. A connection to my past gone.

Posted by: red at September 17, 2004 02:02 PM

Yeah. It's like two competing sources of sadness: the people who made the soundtrack of my teenage years are dropping off, for starters. Then, and maybe worse, it's *how* they're dropping off; fewer "young guy" deaths like overdoses and car crashes and pistol accidents; more cancer and "old guys" diseases like prostate cancer and lymphoma and the like.

Posted by: mitch at September 17, 2004 02:16 PM

Look at the thug's shirt. Does the emblem above and to the right of the "A" look like the CBS eye? Just asking.

Posted by: milo at September 17, 2004 02:33 PM

Sorry. I posted that in the wrong comment thread.

Posted by: milo at September 17, 2004 02:34 PM

Love the guy for the inovative music and having the balls not to sellout what he thought was right when it is not often "cool" in music to be a republican.

Posted by: bags75 at September 17, 2004 07:40 PM