If we have learned anything about punk music so far because of this series it is that most punk bands play loud and they play fast and they play with a purpose. While some punk bands sang and thrashed about the stage calling for anarchy, The Ramones were different. This pioneering punk band sang about being social outcasts and going to the beach and reading comic books. Make no mistake, The Ramones were a punk band like every other band but they were also a punk band like no other. They pioneered the two-minute thrash-athon song that was powered by downstrokes and drums. They wore the uniform of greasers, the hair of the moptop era Beatles and played songs that owed a debt of gratitude to The Beach Boys and Ronnie Spector. And yet, The Ramones were completely unique at the time in New York City in the late 1970s. Their intense, energy-filled shows at the legendary CBGBs club helped put that club on the musical map. Their song “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” helped coin the term Punk in the first place. However, one of the things that we, as consumers of music, tend to do with our heroes is to place them in a neverending time capsule. Once in this time capsule, the members of the band never age, they always play the songs we like and they are always available to us whenever our need arises. But by doing so, what we tend to forget is that life goes on for all bands including the ones we love. The members of our favourite bands age, they get married, start families and sometimes they become bored or tired of being with each other, too. Not all bands have a shelf life like The Rolling Stones who are still releasing new music in their sixth decade of being a band. Most bands, even the great ones, usually play together for a while and then it all falls apart. This is what happened to one of the greatest punk bands of all time, The Ramones. When some bands break up for the final time, they do so with fisticuffs and acrimony. Some others simply fade away unnoticed and are not missed by anyone. When the end came for The Ramones, it came in a form befitting such an original band. The end of The Ramones was announced in a Christmas song, of all things. That song was entitled “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)”.
The Ramones formed in the mid-1970s. The name for the band came from the alias that Paul McCartney used to use when checking into hotels…Paul Ramon. The original members of the band decided to adopt stage names and all go by Ramone. The lead singer was Joey Ramone, the guitarists were Johnny and Dee Dee Ramone and the drummer was Tommy Ramone. None of the Ramones were related. It was all an act aimed at projecting a unified image. They were four outsiders who had come together to speak for all of the other misfits and social rejects of the world. Like many new bands, The Ramones initially had a clear idea of what kind of music they wanted to play. Their early years are filled with memorable punk songs such as “Blitzkrieg Bop”, “I Wanna Be Sedated”, “Rockaway Beach” and so on. They played hard. They played fast. They played short, simple songs that became punk rock anthems. Their careers took off. They toured relentlessly. They inspired legions of others to form their own bands after hearing songs such as “Pinhead”. It is this period of their career as a band that the rest of us tend to preserve in our musical time capsules. The energy! The passion! The freshness and vitality! It was an amazing time to be a fan of something so new and different and important. But as much as the members of The Ramones were musical innovators, they were also human beings. This is where the trouble began.
In the history of the careers of most artists or bands there comes a time, usually after album number two or three has been released, where a decision has to be made regarding future creative directions. The question asked is whether to carry on with the same successful formula that has worked so well in the past or to stretch the limits of your creativity and go in a new direction entirely. Bands such as The Beatles, Radiohead and The Rolling Stones all opted to follow their muse and attempted to introduce innovation into their music. This resulted in landmark albums such as “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, “Kid A” and “Exile on Main Street”. Other artists and bands may opt to stay with what has worked by going to Vegas as the saying goes and simply rehashing their hits. For those artists and bands, the time capsule is one they willingly climb into for their fans. Being a nostalgia act brings with it a steady income and a fan base who know what they are getting when they come to a show. However, those decisions that involve whether to toe the line or else to move in a different direction have been known to tear bands apart as well. This is part of the reason why The Ramones lost their way as the 1980s rolled along. Joey and Johnny Ramone were two rockers who came together because of a shared vision that helped launch the band. However, after a while, Joey Ramone wanted to work with different producers such as Phil Spector and to incorporate some other musical influences into their sound. Johnny Ramone wanted to stay the course and keep pumping out the two-minute hits. Unity is crucial if a band is to stand the test of time. When The Ramones began to fall victim to internal discord with regard to what type of music they wanted to play going forward, it spelled the beginning of the end for the band.
The second thing that finished them off had something to do with a violation of what I like to call the bro code. As a man in this world I can tell you for a fact that there is an unwritten set of rules of governance that tend to be respected and adhered to by most men with regard to how we interact with each other and away from each other. One of the biggest unwritten rules of being a man is that you never….and I mean never….hit on your best friend’s girl. Never! To do so is to plunge a knife into the heart of your relationship with your buddy. It is just something you don’t do. Ever. Yet, that is what Johnny Ramone did to Joey. For a while Joey Ramone dated a girl named Linda. Eventually Linda left Joey and started dating Johnny. The pair got married a short while later. Joey never recovered from the fact that Johnny took up with his girl and did so very openly in front of his face. This is a bro code violation of the highest order. For any group to come together and be successful, there has to exist a form of mutual respect between its members. When Johnny and Joey started arguing about musical direction and about personal conduct, the joy of being in a pioneering punk band began to wane for everyone involved. Instead of it all being a ripping adventure, being together became something that everyone began to dread. Just being in each other’s company became more of an obligation than anything that anyone desired on a personal or professional level. When the love is gone and all that remains is heartbreak then it is time to put an end to things. For The Ramones, this happened in the form of a song called “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)”.
As some of you may know, not everyone enjoys being with family and friends during the holidays. Social tensions and personal addictions can ruin what should be a warm and loving time with those closest to you. For people like that, the holidays can be a time of sadness and great stress. It was this feeling that Joey Ramone felt best described what it was like to be in The Ramones as the 1980s were drawing to a close. It was not fun anymore for anyone. The constant fighting, bickering and backstabbing had drained the pleasure away for all involved. “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)” is a song that describes a family during the Christmas holidays and how the child just wants to know about Santa but wonders why he ends up always dealing with people who are angry. A band may be a collection of musicians but successful bands act as a form of family, too. Joey Ramone’s musical family couldn’t stop fighting, even at Christmas time and his heart had grown tired from it all. “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)” is a punk song with a deeper emotional feeling than many punk songs. It is sad in its own way for a song that isn’t a ballad. For The Ramones and their fans, it signaled that the band was done. It was over. There wouldn’t be any two-minute perfect punk nuggets anymore. Sometimes when the end comes it is met with a feeling of relief. Sometimes there is sadness at the loss of something that we used to hold dear. For many, however, they have their time capsules and inside those is a vital, energetic band that changed the musical landscape in America. For those people, their time capsule is enough.
The link to the video for the song “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)” by The Ramones can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to the official website for The Ramones can be found here.
The title for this series is taken from a lyric to the song “Boxcar” by the band Jawbreaker. Please show this band some gratitude for allowing me to use their lyrics by visiting their website here and maybe, just maybe, buying some merch from them. Jawbreaker is still a touring band so any help that you can supply would, no doubt, be gratefully appreciated by the band. Thanks.
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared without the express written consent of the author. ©2023 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
One of my top five Xmas songs!
Knowing you as much as I do through your own blog, this reaction doesn’t surprise me. Now, if you filled out the rest of your top five with the likes of Wham and Ms. Carey then I would definitely have had to use the shocked emoji. Thanks for commenting. All the best for the holidays and in 2024. 👍😀
Hahaha! I don’t hate them, now that I no longer work retail! All the best to you too!
For the longest time, I didn’t care about The Ramones, mostly because I didn’t know their music. Since I finally started paying attention several years ago, I’ve since come to dig them. They had a great sense for memorable melodies, which I find makes their music pretty accessible. Anyway, I like this Christmas song since it’s kind of typical Ramones, plus it’s not a song you keep hearing over and over again each holiday season.
It’s a Ramones song and it isn’t something you usually here on the radio that much….that about sums it up, doesn’t it? 👍😀 Take care, Christian.