Joey Ramone's Bangs

I grew up in the late '70s and early '80s, so the music that surrounded me was the long-winded type of stuff perpetuated by groups like Pink Floyd, Yes, Rush, and Styx. It was great, and I loved it, but then punk came along. My older brother got into it before I did. While I was still listening to stuff like 2112 and The Dark Side of The Moon he was telling me it sucked, that the Sex Pistols and The Clash were the coolest bands ever. I stood my ground and told him to take a hike. I stayed loyal to my old rock dinosaurs. Then new wave began to creep in, with groups like The Police, The Pretenders, The Cars, Cheap Trick ... and my perspective began to change. Suddenly the glorious long locks of my heroes looked lame compared to the brush cuts, mohawks and black leather jackets of these new guys.

One of the groups who ushered me into this new realm was The Ramones. The absolute best concert I have ever seen in my life was by these guys. I actually ended up going as an afterthought. A couple of high school friends of mine had scored tickets to a show they were doing at the Danforth Music Hall. Then one of them got grounded by her parents because they found out she'd skipped school and raided their liquor cabinet (I was one of the ones who assisted her in this endeavour). So, her ticket became mine, and me and my other friend proceeded to this concert.

It was general admission and as soon as the doors opened, everyone just ran in and went for what they could get. It was the first concert I had ever been to where the seats were not pre-sold, and I thought this was the coolest thing. Me and my friend ended up in the balcony, but it was just fine because the place was pretty small, an old movie theatre. The whole atmosphere was party party party. I remember seeing a girl dive headfirst into a seat and her fishnet stockinged legs were sticking straight up. The opening act blared away, but of course everyone was just waiting for THEM. Then they came on and they fucking ROCKED. I was officially a total convert. I was now convinced that punk rock was the greatest music that had ever been spawned by any musicians ever.

These memories came flooding back to me as I went on my nightly stroll yesterday. I had my Walkman on, listening to a bunch of music from my formative years. The Ramones came on, doing "Chinese Rock". All of a sudden I was sixteen again, totally stoned from the huge joint I had just smoked single-handedly, my ears ringing from guitar feedback. Then I realized: I had never actually seen Joey Ramone's eyes, EVER. He always had those long black bangs covering them, and he always wore shades anyway. I will always think of him with that long black hair in his eyes. And remember that concert as one of the greatest moments of my youth.