Five Years Ago Today

So today while on imdb.com, I noticed Dee Dee Ramone was listed as having died on todays date. After going to his imdb profile, I learned that there is a movie called "Bikini Bandits" that stars Dee Dee, Jello Biafra, Gary the Retard and Hank The Angry Drunken Dwarf (from Howard Stern fame), and Corey Feldman. This, other than making me want to desperately see this movie, influenced me to write the following article as a tribute to Dee Dee. Enjoy.

Five years ago on this day Dee Dee Ramone passed away at the age of 49, after overdosing on heroin. Dee Dee always seemed to take a back seat to Joey and Johnny, in terms of recognition given. Even his death sandiwched between both of theres seemed to get the least attention. Not taking anything away from Joey and Johnny, who were both great, and the other guys who went in and out of the band, Dee Dee in my opinion was the most talented member. Looking at songwriter credits alone, During his tenure in the Ramones Dee Dee wrote most of the bands best songs, including "53rd and 3rd", "Chinese Rock", "Too Tough To Die", "Howling At The Moon" and "Pet Sematary" just to name a few. Even after he left he proved his loyalty be still writing songs for the band, including writing half of their final album. On the post Dee Dee albums all of his songs still stood out from the rest as being the better songs on the album.

With the band he pulled them back to their punk roots, after Joey had taken the band in a poppier direction, by writing the majority of the album Too Tough To Die, and singing the main vocals on "Wart Hog" and "Endless Vacation". His singing style while much rawer and more typical "Punk rock" than Joey's proved just as good.

I'll leave you with the words that Dee Dee said when he was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame:

"I would like to thank myself, and congratulate myself, and if I could, I would pat myself on the back. Thank you Dee Dee"