The Entroporium

The Ramones: End Of The Century had a limited run in theatres last year and should be turning up on DVD any day now. It tells the band’s fascinating and sometimes harrowing journey from formation to its induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

While the film seeks to be a “warts and all” account of The Ramones’ brilliant career, the dirt is really secondary to the array of loving interviews given by friends and contemporaries like Deborah Harry, Joe Strummer and Clem Burke.

Archival footage of The Ramones’ early performances makes End Of The Century essential viewing for any band that aspires to rock as pure power performance. But the unchanging nature of the band’s performance clips over time also highlights one of the interesting undercurrents of both the film and of The Ramones’ career, indeed any band that makes ‘purity of form’ a part of its visual and sonic presentation. There’s a constant tension in the interviews between Johnny, the leader and the protector of the group’s image, and the rest of the band, who sometimes bristle artistically and personally at being pushed to constantly and continuously keep the songs the same, the same haircuts, the same clothes, the same everything. While artistically laudable, it’s easy to see that maintaining the image and the consistency was wearing at the band members as early as 1980 when Joey pressured the band to hook up with eccentric (and dangerous) superproducer Phil Spector.

It’s also interesting to study the underlying story of The Ramones as a business. By 1981, the group had determined that it would never “make it big” and instead concentrated on other business alternatives for turning its passion into a respectable living. In fact, End Of The Century could be required viewing for Business Schools: how to care for a brand, how to work with difficult co-workers, when & how to make the decision to be a niche player instead of a market leader. It’s never discussed, but the band obviously did quite well for itself in the end — not Jimmy Page rich, but rich enough. Johnny had the world’s largest collection of old-time glossy 8×10 baseball photos, while Joey was so into day trading that he wrote a song for his posthumous solo album about Maria Bartiromo, CNBC’s reporter from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

All in all, End Of The Century is a colorful portrait of a band that carries the DNA for pretty much every other rock band you love. Even if you know the story, it has enough impressive concert footage, interviews and subtextual hints about what was left out to make for riveting viewing. Check it out!

[Soundtrack]
Ramones – I Wanna Live.mp3

Punky baseball fans will want to check out this article in which Johnny & Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane interview each other