On America’s 200th birthday, most of the population was celebrating with hot dogs and burgers on the grill with a nice cold Budweiser in hand while watching firework displays. The Ramones, on the other hand, were not like most of the population. They decided on the bicentennial celebration of their country to go back to the place from which their independence was gained. They were invited to go to London and play two of the most inspirational gigs of all time, and they weren’t even top of the bill. This week, The Beat Marches On to 4th July 1976, when the Ramones play their first international concert.
A change was about to happen in music by the mid-1970s. The early part of the decade’s rock music at least was dominated by Prog Rock concept albums by the likes of Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis. Their extravagancies were getting out of hand. Concept albums that even band members didn’t have a clue about, individual tour buses per member and closing down whole street blocks just for a P.R. stunt were losing the attention of the new generation. Politicians were letting down the youth, or so the youth felt. They wanted something new. Something simple. Something Fast.
The Ramones were formed in 1974. Getting their name from an alias ex-Beatle Paul McCartney used to check into hotels, the band adopted the surname Ramone and set sights on conquering the world. The band, which consisted of Joey singing, Johnny on guitar, Dee Dee on bass and chief songwriter and Tommy on drums, established a cult following in their hometown of New York, becoming residents at the legendary early punk club CBGB.
Heavily inspired by the pop groups of the early 1960s, the foursome all wore the same outfit on stage: a white tee, leather jacket and ripped denim jeans. The song titles were inspired by this time too, such as ‘I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend’ and ‘Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue’
By April 1976, the Ramones released their first album. Gone were the seven-minute multiple-part epics and the twenty-minute drum solos that the Led Zeppelin’s and Emerson Lake, and Palmer’s were famous for. It was stripped back to the basics. Guitar. Bass. Drums. Three chords and short songs. Anything over two minutes was considered too long. 14 tracks in 28 minutes were all the band needed.
They may not have lit up their home country straight away as, other than New York, the band were playing to mostly small clubs and to just a handful of people, but in the UK, people were starting to talk about the Ramones’ debut effort. It started to influence the new generation as they hadn’t heard these quick two-minute songs before. All they had heard were the long technical songs of the era. They didn’t want the Stairway to Heaven’s and Shine on You Crazy Diamond’s that were eight minutes and 25 minutes in length, respectively. The youth had heard the future, and now they want to do it themselves.
Upon hearing the Ramones’ album, dozens of bands started to form, doing the same thing. Playing quick two-minute songs as loud as they can. The buzz was so good for the Ramones that they were invited to perform over in London.
The Ramones had rarely played outside of New York, let alone the USA when they got the news. They had an offer to play in London to support the Flaming Groovies, and they grabbed it with both hands. They would play two nights, the fourth and fifth of July.
The punk movement in the UK at this time hadn’t taken off yet. The bands that led the cause were only just beginning to play their first concerts. In fact, the Sex Pistols and the Clash missed the first gig as they were playing in Leeds. The Clash performing on stage as a group for the first time.
There were plenty from the Punk echelon at the first gig to make up for arguably the two biggest bands in the genre. There were members of The Damned, the Slits, a pre-Pistol Sid Vicious who was already famous in the punk community for inventing the pogo dance, future goth punk Siouxsie Sioux, and future Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde. The Ramones were the hottest ticket in town.
The Ramones were giving out miniature baseball bats to promote their latest single, Blitzkrieg Bop. The song’s beginning chant of Hey Ho Lets, Go was inspired by the Bay City Rollers song Saturday Night. It was designed to help the crowd interact with the band when on stage; however they performed their sets so fast that the crowd struggled to keep up.
The Ramones only played 20 minutes that night. They managed to squeeze in 14 songs playing so fast that most patrons couldn’t tell one song from another; they only realised when Dee Dee counted in the next song. There were no frills, no fireworks, no crowd interaction. Just four men playing stripped down rock and roll.
The first night went as well as a punk show can be as expected. The band met with their fans at the bar, and they were starstruck by how down-to-earth their heroes were. The second night, where this time they performed at Dingwalls, is where you would normally think how a punk show should go.
The anarchy started before the show started as The Clash snuck in through the window of the venue with help from Johnny Ramone. That wasn’t the only trouble The Clash caused as post-gig bass player Paul Simonon and JJ Burnel, bass player for opening act The Stranglers, got into an altercation. Burnel thinks it was jealousy due to his band being picked to open for the punk heroes. Simonon got more than he bargained for though, as the Strangler is a black belt in Karate.
The Ramones did the same set again, playing the 14 songs in 20 minutes, only this time coming back for three encores. The band followed their fans to an after-party to celebrate a successful couple of nights in London.
While at the after party, a shady rock club somewhere in London. The toilets were never cleaned, and the main hall wasn’t that much better. Exactly what you would expect from a punk rock club. After a while, Dee Dee wanted to get high. Specifically wanting some speed. Being one of the guests of honour, the request was granted.
He proceeded to go to the toilets and on route, he ran into Sid Vicious, who was looking to get high too, so he decided to share the wealth. Sid went first. He pulled out his needle, put a load of the contraband in the syringe (you are supposed to cook it first)
Dee Dee thought this was hardcore, this coming from one of the most hardcore drug takers of the New York scene, but the most hardcore thing was yet to come. To sterilise the needle, Vicious decided to dunk it in the toilet bowl. A toilet bowl that the Ramone described as ‘filled with puke and piss and shit’. After that stunt, the American didn’t want to get high anymore. It isn’t any wonder that Sid would end up with Hepatitis later in life.
What the band did that night for Punk rock was the same as the Grateful Dead did for psychedelic rock. It was the Beatles on Ed Sullivan moment for punk. It gave inspiration to so many within the genre that it wouldn’t be too outlandish to say that it was the big bang of punk.
The best bit of advice was given by Johnny Ramone at the after party, talking to a group of then wannabe musicians, he gave them inspiration by saying ‘You don’t have be good, just get up there and play’ which is great advice for anything you want to persue really. Get yourself out there and give it a try.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for eight years specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
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The websites used for research were:
Hey! Ho! Let’s Go! Ramones Debut At The Roundhouse, July 4, 1976
The night that punk went overground- July 4th 1976- an oral account
DEE DEE RAMONE – PORTRAIT OF A PUNK! INTERVIEW WITH LEGS MCNEIL
A documentary on The Ramones called End Of A Century was used and is available on YouTube.
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