The End of the Century

I'm going to be fair and admit that I wasn't aware of who the Ramones were at all until I went to college. More specifically, I wasn't aware of them until I met a weirdo named Jared Hennegan who lived in my dorm a couple floors down from me. This guy was always wearing tight jeans, black tees and a leather jacket with sunglasses. I didn't know what his deal was, but the freak interested me for some reason. Meeting him led me into the world of the Ramones and the next 5 or 6 years all we listened to when we were hanging out were the fucking Ramones. Every friend I had was always within arm's length of Ramonesmania, which was like our bible. At the same time every "grunge" band coming down the pipeline was spewing about how the Ramones were a huge influence on them. Me, I wasn't all that interested in researching the history of the band, just merely enjoying their stuff in the present day. I kind of knew about CBGB's and the advent of punk and shit, but as far as band relations and all the melodrama involving the band, I was clueless.

Well, not any more. The DVD of End of the Century, a documentary about the history of the Ramones, is out and I plowed through it tonight. I was fascinated to learn shit like Joey losing his girlfriend to Johnny who is still married to her and the history of Dee Dee and his proclivity towards hustling for heroin in the early days. The music speaks for itself, and I'm still a huge fan of the Ramones simplicity and purity. The history of the band just kind of pieces it all together and it an interesting look at what is perhaps the most influential American band ever. Even if you are only a teeny-tiny fan of their music, you should watch this movie.