Gabba Gabba Hey

"And then there was one."

About a half hour ago, I was stuck in traffic when I got a call from a good friend on my cell phone. "What?" I asked. "Somebody died," he answered. "Another Ramone?" I said. And I was right.

Why I said that, I don't know. Just popped into my head. The Ramones are one of those bands that people will be listening to forever, and they aren't even very talented. There is just something about them.

The Ramones are now considered classic rock, at least according to my boss who also happens to run a music licensing department. (This means if you ever hear a Ramones song in a commercial, I will know who to yell at about it.) That a man a couple decades my senior can sing "Blitzkrieg Bop" properly and then lump the Ramones into the same category as Cream and Led Zeppelin is a little freaky to me, because I listened to this band in high school. That's the way things go, I guess.

I loved that the Ramones couldn't really play, just couldn't really play well at all. But their hearts were in the right place, and there was a sweetness to their "onetwothreefour" approach. It made sense that they loved garage rock and girly 50's music, and it made sense when Phil Spector (now accused of murder cuz he's a NUTJOB) produced an album for them. They took pop music and ran it through a blender, and it was fun.

I can't believe there are more Rolling Stones alive at this point than Ramones. I guess the Ramones should have sniffed less glue and done more acid.

R.I.P. Johnny. Thanks for all the head boppin' and slam dancin'.