ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 12, 1995 TAG: 9512120026
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
It's sad, but true. The Ramones - the band that started punk rock, that nobody thought would last long enough for the members to outgrow their leather jackets - are calling it quits.
And, after more than two decades together, the masters of the two-minute song will be in Salem for one of their last live gigs. They'll open for White Zombie tonight at the Salem Civic Center.
Don't call this retirement, though.
Or a breakup.
``We're stopping,'' corrected guitarist Johnny Ramone in a telephone interview from the band's home base, New York. ``It's just time to get on with the rest of our lives.''
Of course, there are those who might have said it was time for the four Ramones to get on with their lives back when the band formed in 1974.
Then, the group's lineup included Johnny (real name John Cummings) on guitar, Joey (Jeffrey Hyman) on vocals, Dee Dee (Douglas Colvin) on bass and Tommy (Thomas Erdelyl) on drums. The Ramones' name came via Paul McCartney, who briefly called himself Paul Ramone when The Beatles were known as the Silver Beatles.
Their persona was - as it still is - that of stoned, leather-jacketed teen-age hoodlums who played fast, three-chord anthems like ``Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,'' ``Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment,'' ``Teenage Lobotomy,'' ``I Wanna Be Sedated'' and ``Rock 'n' Roll High School.''
Their signature rallying cry became ``Gabba Gabba Hey!'', taken from a 1932 cult film titled ``Freaks.''
Critics, although they appreciated the humor initially, ultimately concluded that one slim joke repeated over and over was not enough to carry the band beyond cult status. And commercially, the Ramones never really broke through.
Others, however, saw in the Ramones something more: a sloppy, raw, stripped-to-basics alternative to most of the bland, overproduced music of the era. This alternative music would become known as punk rock.
Johnny Ramone, now 46, said they didn't set out at first to create a new musical genre, or even to rail against the musical trends of the times. More than anything, they just weren't very good musicians.
``We weren't really rebelling,'' he said. ``We were just trying to do our best.''
But when the group began seeing a punk movement evolving, he said, it consciously tried to take a lead role in its development.
It's interesting to note that when the Ramones first played in London in 1976, in the audience were future members of two seminal British punk bands: the Sex Pistols and the Clash.
``Besides us,'' Ramone said, ``I think those are the two best bands of the last 20 years.'' (The Beatles, he said, rank as the best of all time.)
It's interesting to note, too, that the Ramones' influence continues. Johnny Ramone said that White Zombie guitarist Jay Yuenger told him he first learned guitar by playing along with Ramones albums. And it's no coincidence that Billy Joe Armstrong and Tre Cool of the neo-punk group Green Day named their kids Joey and Ramona.
Yet Johnny Ramone always has been reticent to credit the Ramones or any other group with inventing punk rock.
``Punk music has been going on since the beginning of rock,'' he said. ``Rock 'n' roll was always meant for punks.''
He said the Ramones have known for several years that the end was coming. But they decided to record one more album of original songs, last summer's appropriately titled ``Adios Amigos,'' plus they wanted to break the 20-year mark and top 2,000 shows for their career.
Incidentally, Johnny and Joey are the only original Ramones still in the band. Marky (drums) has been with the group on-and-off since 1978. C.J. (bass) joined up in 1989.
Opening arena shows for a group like White Zombie has been a first for the Ramones, who traditionally have headlined their own club dates or smaller venues.
``For the first few days, it was weird. I was sort of bummed about it because of getting used to not playing for 100-percent Ramones fans,'' Johnny Ramone said. ``We're used to being the big fish in the little fish bowl.''
But he said the upside is that for a change they are playing to larger audiences and they don't have to work as hard. ``You play shorter, which is easier.''
As an opener, the band plays about a 20-song, 45-minute set.
When the group wraps up its final concert dates early next year, he said, playing live is what he will miss most. He also will miss some of the rock royalty treatment that comes with the job, he said.
``In the back of your mind, you wonder if everybody's going to keep talking to you.''
But he said he knows it's time. His future plan is to do nothing.
``I'll see how it feels,'' he said. And he won't look back.
``I don't want to be just hanging on.''
White Zombie: Tonight at 7, Salem Civic Center. With The Ramones and Into another. Tickets, $18.50, plus service charge, at box office (375-3004), Ticketmaster or charge-by-phone (343-8100).
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Fathers of punk: The Ramones open for White Zombieby CNBtonight at the Salem Civic
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