Actually, it was Dee Dee who I first noticed the downstroke thing with, not Johnny… but I think that was because I was in front of Dee Dee’s side of the stage the first time I saw them. At any rate, Dee Dee was my main inspiration for choosing bass as my instrument, and I was adamant about downstroke picking, at first. Later on I started ‘letting’ myself double-pick, and even finger-pick… but doing downstroke-only in the beginning was a great foundation. However I don’t recommend it for long periods of time, unless you actually want carpal tunnel syndrome.
@@RaymondGinn1978 ... first off, I love the Ramones. I've been playing bass for over 50 years and always with a felt pick. This type of pick which is a little softer than plastic or shell makes it very easy to play up and down strokes and do it very quickly when necessary too. The one time I saw the Ramones was at the old Studio 54 in NYC it was probably mid 1990s and it seems like every song they played took about 43 seconds - amazing speed.
Dee Dee may have verbally counted off all the songs (something he was pretty famous for), but it was Johnny who selected the tempos. It doesn’t say here exactly when this footage was taken, but judging by the hair and the light speed tempo my guess is some time around Subterranean Jungle (‘82-‘83). By then their gigs had sped up considerably, and that was all thanks to Johnny.
In order to play 4/4 that fast, you kind of have to remain perfectly still and not exert yourself too much. It’s all mainly in the wrists with that particular beat.
Amazing thing to me was i've heard many bands try to replicate their sound..Nobody could..i also remember when lots of musicians said this was simple chords, songs, progressions, etc..Yet none of them ever tried it..Nobody sounded like and never will sound like 'em..RIP to all of them..
It’s like I’ve always told naysayers: it’s all too easy to accuse the Ramones of being ‘simple’ until you try to cover one of their songs, and I mean *AUTHENTICALLY* cover it… exactly the same way they played it, downstrokes and all. There’s a lot of crazy time changes and unorthodox arrangements that most people don’t even notice when they’re just listening to the music, but then you sit down and actually learn to play the songs, and then you find out. Just because there’s no 10 minute guitar solos or jazz-prog time signatures doesn’t mean this stuff isn’t difficult to master.
Johnny was feeling it that night. Downstrokes were crazy (like always) and he played two short solos in "I Can't Make It On Time" and "Do You Remember Rock 'N' Roll Radio?"
I’m gonna guess the reason he was feeling it might’ve had something to do with the fact that this was during the period where Johnny was telling them to speed everything up. At that time (early 80’s) it was still a novel concept. Everything was speeding up back then. Hardcore was in full swing, thrash was developing out of hardcore, and the Ramones were being labeled as “godfathers of hardcore” in the music press. Johnny took that as a challenge, and responded by speeding everything up to hyperspace. Personally I thought it ruined their gigs. I mean yeah, they could cram a lot more songs into their sets, but it took so much away from the original spirit of it all. I liked it better when they were playing only a tiny bit faster live than the recordings. After the turn of the decade that dynamic was gone forever. “It’s the end, the end of the seventies… It’s the end, the end of the century”
Marky Ramone is just an utterly unbelievable drummer. To play that fast for one song is amazing, but to play an entire concert like that is just incredible
this was the tempo i heard when i saw them back in the day here in SF..Man, the word was NEVER be late for a Ramones show..it could and sometimes was over in 35 or 40 minutes..
I hated when they started playing these warp-speed tempos. It just zapped all the soul out of the songs and made them sound almost mechanical. I don’t blame Marky though. That was all Johnny’s idea. He wanted to cram as many songs into their set as possible.
That bass dee dee has is the one he gave away during a concert. He would put special moisture strips under the pick guard so sweat wouldn't fuck the electronics up.
No tan simple como parece. Están pasando muchas cosas debajo de la superficie con sus arreglos y cambios de hora. Es un simple ritmo de 4/4, y son principalmente arreglos de "verso, verso, estribillo", pero con un giro. En los años 80 estaba en una banda que tenía que aprender un conjunto completo de canciones de los Ramones para un homenaje (en los días antes de que tales cosas fueran comunes), y estábamos decididos a hacerlos exactamente de la misma manera que los Ramones los hicieron. No solo la selección de abajo, sino cada pequeño matiz. Fue una tarea mucho más difícil de lo que cualquiera de nosotros esperaba.
I always thought this was a cover from a 60s surf band, found out today that dee dee wrote it in the style of the beach boys Just think its cool that a song writer can encapsulate a genre so well
I remember the very first time my mom listened to the Ramones when I played the Rocket To Russia album, and her exact words were “They’re just a much louder version of The Beach Boys”. That was 44 years ago, but I remember it like it was just 5 minutes ago. What a lot of people don’t know is that in their early days, or at least right around the time of the first album, they were trying like hell to be the next Bay City Rollers. Blitzkrieg Bop was their response to S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y… Night! I’ve heard this said by both Dee Dee and Tommy.
This is the end of the 'head-down Marky era'. He sort of still plays with his head down the whole time. Later years, he advanced his posture and played 'head up' like a normal drummer.
One, two, three, four Chewing out a rhythm on my bubble gum The sun is out and I want some It's not hard, not far to reach We can hitch a ride to rockaway beach Up on the roof, out on the street Down in the playground the hot concrete Bus ride is too slow They blast out the disco on the radio Rock, rock, rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach We can hitch a ride to rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach We can hitch a ride to rockaway beach It's not hard, not far to reach We can hitch a ride to rockaway beach It's not hard, not far to reach We can hitch a ride to rockaway beach Chewing out a rhythm on my bubble gum The sun is out and I want some It's not hard, not far to reach We can hitch a ride to rockaway beach Up on the roof, out on the street Down in the playground the hot concrete Bus ride is too slow They blast out the disco on the radio Rock, rock, rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach We can hitch a ride to rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach We can hitch a ride to rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach Rock, rock, rockaway beach We can hitch a ride to rockaway beach
Crazy - we have august 2023 and i read about a shark attack on a woman at "Rockaway Beach" in a german newspaper (YES-printed! Not Online!). Being a strong follower of the RAMONES since the early 1980s I immediately had to go here to listen to this song with VOLUME UP! Greater than great. It's been a long time since i heard this iconic riffs for the last time. Where have all the years gone by? Greetings from germany.
...and they hated the beach except DiDi. Rockaway beach was a dump next to Kennedy Airport, still love the song, the Ramones and home town NY. Used to see them in the Cat Club in NY, especially towering-goofy-skinny-grumpy Joey. Saw them live in Amsterdam at the Paradiso were I just walked into the dressingroom when DeDe was expressing his anger at his manger for forgetting the Oreos, or was Chips Ahoy?
+Gothita3 they had originally put Rock Way beach instead of Rockaway ...it has been corrected since then ...and ummm yeah I live close to Rockaway Beach in Queens so yeah I know it's a real place .
Rockaway' IS a great song but this reminds me of seeing them live in the 80s & knowing something wasn't right but not realising how disillusioned the band were & just getting the gigs 'done & out of the way' before the next one ,nearly every song they played live after the lack of success of 'End of the Century' was too fast - at heart & on their records Ramones were a pop group or the last great rock n roll band ,with a groove & pacing .A mosh pit at a Ramones gig ? - 'The Horror...'
Sure I'm an 'old man' (50s now) but I wasn't in the 70s/80s- if you honestly enjoy Ramones later live performances then good( they certainly didn't)- Joey clearly didn't didn't have the vocal register for songs at that speed . I'll stick with the earlier lps & 'Its Alive' ta. I have to concur with Danny Baker on 'The end of the Century' DVD commentary saying they (later on) sound like a washing machine on spin cycle...
@@andchat6241 I see where you're coming from. Lots of early Ramones fans have the same opinion. I just happen to listen to mostly skate punk and other sub-genres of that sort, which plays really fast. That's why I take liking to their later style. It's very punk of them😅
Well they still kept the audience happy - I'm certainly not adverse to a bit of hardcore- I really liked bad brains, discharge ,MDC,Husker & Dead kennedys in 1980 was one of my favourite gigs....
Marky has always gotten a lot of flak for the tempos speeding up and what have you, and yes Tommy was great and he invented the classic Ramones style of drumming with the doubled-up hi-hat, but it really wasn’t Marky’s fault that everything went warp speed. That was all Johnny. He wanted to cram in as many songs as he possibly could into their set, without extending the length of the gigs. I think everyone knows now that the Ramones were a dictatorship, and Johnny was the one calling all the shots. All I know is that I’ve always felt a bit bad for Marky, since he always took a lot of the blame for the tempo thing. Richie too.
