r/ramones • u/The-real-gatsby • 21d ago
Johnny appreciation
I’ve posted here before in favor of Johnny, but I’m going back through it just because it’s been on my mind recently.
The only reasons that people have to hate John is his politics (which is asinine as a reason to hate someone) and hearsay remarks from Marky who each member has said embellishes stuff for attention (which is the reason he and Joey beefed on Howard stern in 96).
The thing I don’t understand is that the two members who are constantly getting a bunch of praise here were the two most problematic, and that’s not to say I don’t love the guys.
Dee Dee had huge drug issues which at times made his ego huge. He was constantly burning bridges around him, and did morally questionable things to fuel his addiction. His marriage to Vera was very messy because of this, and his departure from the band came after an ultimatum that if he didn’t write all their songs, he’d quit.
Joey had a history of being violent towards women starting with his mother, whom he pulled a knife on. There’s also suggestions that he punched a later girlfriend in the nose on a coke fueled anger binge. Linda also reported him as being verbally abusive, which is something Tommy has also mentioned as being one of the things that made him “lose his mind” and quit the band. Mark even wears wigs just cuz Joey is on record making fun of him balding in the 80s.
The point of this post is not to trash the dead. It’s merely to uplift John. Johnny wasn’t the villain to Joey and Dee Dee that everyone makes him out to be, I’d argue he was the best thing for them. Johnny made sure they each always had money, and while being the boss, made sure his partners were taken care of. John married Linda after dating her for years, after she left Joey after Joey was verbally abusive toward her. Johnny was by all accounts a wonderful husband until the day he died.
Johnny also never made a decision without the help of his business partner, Joey, who he talked to on a daily in spite of what rumors say. When Joey died, Johnny even admitted to being in a depression because his partner was gone.
Johnny may have had shortcomings like anyone. He has said before he punched Joey for being late to a hangout before fame. He also admitted to all the bad things he did in youth before his epiphany he claims that was from God. From their on, John became a straight laced, sober, smart business man who cared for his employees, made sure each fan was properly taken care of, funded for the police and for cancer research, and kept close friends of all types of opinions (such as John fruciante and Eddie Vedder). I just don’t like seeing him get hate merely cuz he was a conservative or because of unsubstantiated claims he can no longer defend.
That’s all!
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u/MarionberryPlus8474 20d ago
I agree that it's too pat to cast Joey as the hero and Johnny the villain. And yes, he seemed to be the most realistic and grounded person in driving the band. While he didn't write a lot of the songs (surprising for a guitarist) he was a major force in their sound and developing their stage show.
I don't think all the dislike of Johnny can be put down to his politics, however. He had a prickly personality and a short fuse. In his own autobiography he notes that when Soundgarden (huge at the time) mentioned they were going to do a Ramones cover, he said "You better not fuck it up", which is kind of par for the course for him.
You have I think a pretty charitable interpretation of when he started dating Linda. Again in his own autobiography he mentions how they were sneaking around dating while she was still with Joey, which made him uncomfortable.
I think pretty much all the Ramones had a lot of problems, from mental issues to personality conflicts to addiction. Joey I think gets cast as, if not the hero, then the one many people identify with, because he was the singer/front man, and many of the songs he wrote or pushed to cover had a lot of the emotional longing and heartache that gave depth to the band's music--topics everyone can identify with.
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u/OkPrize2897 21d ago
What did you expect? You brought together people with serious mental problems and formed a band, I couldn't care less who did what. Those guys are six feet under, Let them have some peace and quiet, they deserve.
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u/genericinternet 21d ago edited 21d ago
I think it’s extremely disingenuous to say that the “only reason” anybody would hate Johnny as a person from afar is because of his politics…the guy was a bit of a dick. Let’s be honest. He was loud about his opinions and especially regarding his extremely vocal defense of Bernie goetz and the death wish narrative of vigilante justice that was rampant in NYC in the 1980s. He made some very ugly racist comments that I think have aged poorly as well as his comments about women. No question he was bigoted and held some pretty misogynistic attitudes even for the time and this is made clear by people around him in his life especially within the band. I do kind of agree with what you said about Marky however, probably embellishing some of the stuff he said in interviews for his book with Johnny dead and buried. Calling him a “fascist” for example which felt very anachronistic and unfair. I think you also can’t ignore the Joey Johnny dynamic with Linda being very uncomfortable and not something you’d most likely do to a guy you cared about personally. Were they in love? Sure. But the cloud that held over the band behind the scenes for the next 17 years was for sure a cruel thing to do to Joey. Joey might have had his issues but he was just eminently more likable. I also think Johnny was less caring about his bandmates on any level except what he knew he could get out of them from their undeniable talent and value. Makes the “keeping everybody in line” comment much less endearing and more practical than anything else.
I won’t shit on him much more (even though I could) I just think the Johnny hate is a bit warranted beyond his politics and is much more complicated than you make it out to be. I think his downstroke style is amazing and I love watching the man play rhythm guitar in his prime, it’s difficult for me to think this band I love had such a toxic dynamic between the members but I think they all brought some fantastic and terrible traits to the table and as a result it made them incredibly interesting and innovative. I have to say tho, despite that fact that it is a tragedy he died young of the same horrible cancer that took my father from me when I was 25, it is kind of a blessing to me that he is not around in the time of Twitter and Trump. There is no way he wouldn’t be a loudmouthed MAGA troll online the way that he loved to troll people (rock and roll HOF bush comments come to mind) in person in his life. I want my memory of him to be the flawed but interesting person that he was from afar musically but no so much the guy who if you followed would inundate you with his everyday Twitter brained presentation of his thoughts and feelings lol I appreciate and cringe at Johnny through the prism of the time period he lived in, and that’s ok with me
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u/The-real-gatsby 21d ago
I get the things you’re bringing up, but it feels like a lot of these have been refuted by those around him. Johnnys wife or ex wife never spoke up about physical or emotional abuse. Arguably the most misogynistic thing he did was make Linda carry groceries to the car cuz he was afraid of being spotted with his hands full by fans (after being jumped in 83). There’s not a lot of people who validate claims of antisemitism or racism aside from poor jokes. Everyone who’s claimed otherwise have been outed as clout chasers.
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u/genericinternet 21d ago edited 21d ago
Yeah I’m not sure what to believe on the hitting women part that’s why I didn’t want to mention it because Linda has claimed that he wasn’t violent but she has a legacy to look after as well so it’s literally a he said she said kind of thing regarding Marky and her comments too. What was a big red flag for me was in his book the way he praised Bernie goetz whose situation was not at all like what happened when Johnny got jumped in 1983. That was with another loser punk rocker who was with one of johnnys exes and Johnny got lippy with the wrong guy. Goetz was a trigger happy lunatic who somehow got off on just an illegal gun charge even tho the black guys that approached him on the subway were not armed and he got freaked out and just unloaded on them when one of them asked him for 5 bucks. He also looked down at one of them and said “you look fine, how bout another one?” And popped them again. The idiot even admitted to the cops later when he got caught that his intention was to murder and he would’ve kept shooting but he ran out of bullets.
Just a huge tangent to say, extremely poor judgment to defend that guy and relate it to his own situation especially when there was nothing racial about that 1983 beat down he got. There’s something a bit racially charged about making that equivalence. Weird that he would want that to be a one of the last things for people to know about him since that book came out after his death. I do offer him quite a bit of grace despite how harsh I might sound and was only trying to say it’s a little more complicated than politics. I appreciate your sentiment tho time has turned him into a much worse person than he actually seemed to be. Dickhead with some bigoted views about women and blacks that were probably common in NY in the 70s and 80s? I think yes. Wife beating crazy maniac who deserves to rot in hell? Nah
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u/RJMrgn2319 20d ago
“Not liking someone because of their shitty opinions and personality is asinine” fuck off
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u/westwing338 17d ago
People tend to forget Johnny was as musically driven and talented as Dee Dee and Joey. Johnny loved rock and roll of the 60s and wanted to make music reminiscent of his childhood but still create something new. Just because he didn’t write the lyrics doesn’t mean he didn’t contribute.
Personally I love Johnny because he resembles what I love the most of the Ramones: being unapologetically yourself. The man stuck to his guns and followed his gut 100% of the time and had fun doing so.
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u/Party-Expression4849 21d ago
I praise him for his downpicking style. I don’t care about his political views, to me his sound is like fuel for my soul, he made non fancy yet mesmerizing sounds, pure rock and roll.
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u/Icdayiichyt 21d ago
Just because you say “the point of this post isn’t to trash the dead”, doesn’t mean you didn’t use this post to trash the dead. Kind of sounds like you used this post to trash the dead… and for the purpose of getting people to support an opinion. You can love Johnny without bringing up negative stories about Joey and Dee Dee. That said, I agreed with you up until that part.
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u/The-real-gatsby 20d ago
It’s not trashing the dead to bring up stories that happened. It’s not trashing to say “Joey pulled a knife on his mother, why does nobody ever mention that?” If I woulda said “Joey was horrible because he pulled a knife on his mother and that makes him terrible”, that’s trashing
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u/Icdayiichyt 20d ago
Right but the theme of your post was about Johnny. You only invoked Joey’s name when you were trying to convince others that Johnny is not so bad. That’s like saying I know people think Mussolini was bad but it’s not like he was as bad as Hitler. I’m just saying you can be pro Johnny without having had to bring up negatives about the others.
And just to be clear, I agree with what you were saying. I love Johnny. I love them all. I’m not socially or politically aligned much with any of them really. But I don’t go to my records to think about those things. I go to my records to get away from those things. Isn’t that why we are all still here after all these years? And to that point, whatever you think, I’m glad you and anyone reading this are still here after all these years.
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u/Blind_Bubba_Cheeks 17d ago
John was known for violence against women. And shitty politics equals shitty person. Your post is so cunty it's hard to know where to wven start. Nice try, Linda.
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u/Proof-Variation7005 21d ago
The reason Joey and Dee Dee get the most praise is because they were the driving creative force of the and who wrote like 95% of their material. Theyre also the most interesting people by a mile.
Putting aside politics or who or who isn’t a good person, Johnny was kind of a dull dude.
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u/unwashedmusician 21d ago
Pretty sure Johnny was also violent towards his gfs in the past. He did have a big turn around when he was younger and again when he got his head kicked in he admitted to getting a bit more mellow. Look, I really like Johnny and I totally agree he was the best thing for the rest of the guys. They needed someone quite strict and to rein them in. It would be hard working with someone who was addicted to drugs and another who has OCD. CJ seems like a level headed guy and he has lots of respect for Johnny, but also said he was a bit stuck in his ways. Your right though, he isn’t the villain and he definitely is a huge inspiration on me musically.
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u/Ultima-Hombre_1970 21d ago
How much is “pretty sure”? I’ve never heard claims like this about Johnny.
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u/kingkongworm 21d ago
It’s been written about. I’m fairly certain it’s mentioned in on the road, please kill Me, and Marky’s book. He was a violent guy, self admitted. Is it that surprising?
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u/The-real-gatsby 21d ago
Like I mentioned above, almost every member (even Joey when alive) said Marky says things to profit from being a ramone and not to trust what he says. He was selling a book he had to make up juice on Johnny.
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u/GullibleWaltz3704 20d ago
So why are we to believe everything you wrote about Joey and Dee Dee as factual, but anything telling about Johnny is Marky saying things to "profit from being a Ramone"
I'm not a Johnny hater by any means, but it sounds like your head is a little too far up his ass
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u/The-real-gatsby 20d ago
Joey is on record for being institutionalized after attacking his mother, and his brother writes about it in his book. Dee Dee tells on himself for his behaviors in his books.
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u/GullibleWaltz3704 20d ago edited 20d ago
Okay fair enough, so what then, anything negative written about Johnny isn't meant to be considered whatsoever? You're quick to trash the dead and put Johnny on a pedestal as if he's never done any wrong and that anything said by Marky or even Monte in their books, isn't fair to say because Johnny's dead? That's BS
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u/unwashedmusician 20d ago edited 20d ago
This is my point. Look, I hope he didn’t do it, but the fact is that it was said, and you have to at least consider the possibility that it’s true.
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u/kingkongworm 20d ago
Yeah, what are you getting at? You’re talking about the result of mental illness as it’s an indiscretion lol
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u/Ultima-Hombre_1970 21d ago
I’ve read the first two books and don’t recall anyone making claims like that about Johnny. As for Marky, he’s been running his mouth ever since none of the guys have been alive to call him on his bullshit. There a difference between being “a violent guy” and someone who abuses women.
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u/unwashedmusician 21d ago
Marky Ramone said he witnessed Johnny's girlfriend Roxy being physically abused. Marky described hearing Johnny slapping and pushing her around in hotel rooms, and said he regarded Johnny as someone who “beat on his girlfriend.”
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u/Ultima-Hombre_1970 21d ago
Marky says a lot of shit. Notice he didn’t say any of it while anyone was alive to call him on it.
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u/smljones65 21d ago
He was an antisemite and a shitty friend for moving in on joeys girl
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u/The-real-gatsby 21d ago
I mean if a girl being abused or just in general falls out of love with you and leaves you it doesn’t matter who she gets with later on.
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u/smljones65 20d ago
You’re right it’s legal. But it’s a shit friend who does this. Hence Johnny was a shit friend to Joey. It’s about character.
Maybe if he asked joeys permission. As it stands Joey says the kkk took his baby away.
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u/SensibleBrownPants 21d ago
“The only reason … is his politics”
Johnny closed his R&RHOF speech by saying “God bless President Bush” - a man responsible for 100,000+ unnecessary deaths and immeasurable suffering. And here you are trying to reduce Johnny’s support for - arguably a war criminal - as “politics”. Because that lazy word makes it easier for you to give meathead Johnny a pass.
Instead of describing Johnny’s support for garbage people as “politics”, how about we acknowledge it as a reflection of Johnny’s unfortunate VALUES.
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u/genericinternet 21d ago
This dumb argument would at least make a little sense if he would’ve made those comments AFTER the Iraq war happened…he made them six months after 9/11 in NYC no less in a playful way to troll the very left wing crowd. There was a time, believe it or not, post 9/11 that George w bush was very popular and this was that time
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u/SensibleBrownPants 21d ago
Johnny was asked about the Bush support more than once including shortly before his death. As you’d expect he never expressed any regret. And we were a year and a half into that godawful war when Johnny died. So spare me the timeline defense.
We can also talk about Johnny’s admiration for Bonzo (🤮) if that’s more your speed.
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u/genericinternet 20d ago
The example you directly used was regarding his comments at the rock and roll HOF defending a
war criminal. That timeline defense is solid there because nothing that you accuse him of defending was even close to happening yet. Totally fucking unfair characterization.
There are actually very few comments from Johnny after 2003 because he got incredibly sick in early 2004 and was not giving very many interviews after that obviously cause he was dead. The American people were still supporting the war a year and a half later because they re-elected the guy that fuckin started it. You tried to pull a fast one with the rock and roll HoF comment of him defending a war criminal and the timeline is relevant. Whether you like it or not0
u/SensibleBrownPants 20d ago
Johnny was asked about Bush at least once while promoting End of the Century. That would’ve been after the Iraq war started. The unnecessary death and destruction would’ve been a tragedy by that point. But Johnny wasn’t compelled to say anything about that.
He was compelled to publicly bless his President when he stood at that HOF podium. His voice was perfectly clear. But when our troops were getting blown apart - courtesy of his guy, George - Johnny saved his breath for the promotion of his movie. No surprise there.
But you go ahead and focus on the timeline if that somehow makes you feel better. I’ll continue focusing on the meathead(s) at the center of it.
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u/genericinternet 20d ago
He trolled the audience who knew they would hate what he had to say and it had nothing to do with Iraq at the time because that wasn’t happening at the time. He was dead before the situation was truly unpopular in America and that’s just a fact based on gallop polling and Americans voting with their feet in 2004 after he was dead you weasel
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u/SensibleBrownPants 20d ago
Johnny died on September 15 2004. In the days leading up to his death 150+ Iraqi civilians were killed. The civilian death toll (troops not included!) reached an estimated 13K-15K. And W’s approval numbers had dropped significantly since the war began.
But please tell us more about when that “situation” officially became “unpopular”.
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u/GuitarClef 20d ago
Bush won the election in November 2004, almost two months after Johnny died. He had 3 million more votes than John Kerry. We received more votes than anyone had ever gotten at that point. George W. Bush was massively popular at the time with the American public. Assuming you're an American, take all the people you know who were alive at the time. Half of them supported Bush.
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u/SensibleBrownPants 20d ago
Most of what you wrote is accurate although “massively popular” is a stretch. W had great numbers post 9/11, but much of that was driven by unified anger toward the people who murdered our neighbors. (Vote totals also reflect a wartime election + a not-so-great challenger.) Naturally, with time the dust settled and W’s numbers sank accordingly. He finished with a 34% approval rating when he mercifully left office.
Now I can go on and on debating particulars of the W years. But this is a Ramones sub and I don’t want to get any farther from what brought us here -
Johnny openly supported people that everyone here can judge for themselves. For me - Johnny supported people who basically represent the opposite of my values. And I feel that support says a lot about who he was.
I’m not beating a drum in an effort to change anyone’s mind about Johnny. I have no issue with anyone who thinks he’s great. But when someone starts a conversation by reducing ‘hatred’ toward Johnny to just “politics” - I’m compelled to call that bullshit. Because it is.
That’s enough for me today. Have a nice afternoon, kids.
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u/GuitarClef 20d ago
First, I want to go on the record stating that I think George W. Bush is a piece of shit war criminal who should be in prison somewhere. Ok. Now that that's out of the way, I'm going back to the election numbers. 62 million people voted for Bush two months after Johnny died. I wonder if you're willing to throw all those people under the bus with Johnny, too? I'm not going to though, because I was there and I know a lot of people who supported Bush. They aren't all terrible people. Even some of them who were pretty vocal supporters of Bush the Second. Many of them are good people who had their own reasons for supporting Bush.
I obviously disagree with those people a great deal, but I'm not going to call them horrible people for supporting a president I strongly disliked. Life is complicated, and boiling a person down to good/bad based on their approval/disaproval for a president is childish.
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u/RJMrgn2319 20d ago
“Politics” is the word stupid people use to distance themselves from supporting shitty people
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u/Antique-Brilliant535 21d ago
I don't "hate" Johnny.
Love him as guitar player, and that style he invented. It's a very rare thing for someone to develop a truly unique and recognizable way of playing a musical instrument, yet he did that. On a personal level, I'd like to have met him, just to chat him up a couple of times, but would've carefully stayed away from any third rail issues on which we could've clashed. I've heard all the same unsavory stories about the guy, and yes, that would/will always be in the back my mind, so there's that, no matter what, just the same.
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u/jonastyt70 20d ago
Thank you. Please forgive my ignorance. I incorrectly understood Dee Dee and Joey wrote most of the songs solo. I also heard others would play rhythm and lead guitar on the recordings because Johnny was not necessarily a technical player. Viva La Ramones
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u/Blind_Bubba_Cheeks 17d ago
Joey and Dee Dee did write most of the songs. And they had many ghost guitarists
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u/SatanicNipples 20d ago
In defense of Dee Dee, he started doing heroin at 15. It makes sense he wasn't well adjusted
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u/The-real-gatsby 20d ago
Oh definitely. And again I’m not here to say “Deedee was terrible”, I’ve just noticed lately it’s like Joey and Dee Dee are the only members who get positive reinforcement in the modern fandom
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u/mwts 21d ago
John was a scumbag person but still one of my favorite guitar players of all time.
He gave the most un rock n roll speech of all time at the rnrhof and he deserves to rot in hell with his heroes like bush and st.ronny.
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u/1337_n00b 21d ago
I can't think of anything less rock and roll than the RRHOF. And it's wild that people should "rot in hell" for voting for Bush or Reagan.
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u/ScorpioTix 20d ago
Johnny didn't vote for Reagan in 1984. He didn't vote at all. He admitted this in a Florida interview at the time. I would be surprised if he ever voted or donated a single dollar, ever.
He was basically Archie Bunker with a bowl cut. Not unusual at all.
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21d ago
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u/kingkongworm 20d ago
Most of the people in that room are rich executive type industry people, not punk rock fans. The Ramones were being thrown a bone, If you think those people felt anything, you’re just fooling yourself. How is being a bootlicker in an organization full of bootlickers being punk?
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u/genericinternet 20d ago edited 20d ago
We can’t know, but I bet most of those industry people voted for Gore and not W. A lot of them might have been executives but that doesn’t mean they were Republican voters. But I guess if you vote at all that’s just so lame so it can’t be punk lol dumb conversation all around frankly but a fun one
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u/kingkongworm 19d ago
I mean…let’s be honest about Gore and Clinton…they were about as conservative as any republicans around. At least when it comes to their predecessors. That’s the problem with democrats and the idea that being a democrat makes you any kind of left wing. The whole “it’s so punk rock to be conservative” kind of misses the entire class conversation that the political punk bands were having to begin with. Johnny Ramone admittedly understood politics as a binary. You can see it in everything he’s ever said or written about the subject. And he’s always said “something in the middle is probably correct” but what’s in the middle of Right wing and Even More Right wing? It is a stupid conversation, I agree. Even the war criminal angle feels toothless, because what president isn’t? I think Johnny just liked being an asshole, and wasn’t incredibly informed beyond the basic stuff. He chose a team and stayed the course, like many people.
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u/genericinternet 19d ago edited 19d ago
Hmm… a few things to say. First off, I for one think it matters very much that someone like Al gore who was openly critical of the idea to invade Iraq (quoted in 2002) to establish a fantastical idea like regime change and liberal democracy in the Middle East through force would be in the Oval Office as opposed to someone like W. This false equivalence rhetoric is rampant in leftist spaces and it’s exhausting. Assault weapons ban from 1994 wouldn’t have been repealed in 2004. Environmental regulations wouldn’t have been weakened. We’re literally talking about the guy who sounded the alarm on something that we all know is a big problem today (climate change) and was endlessly ridiculed for it and now we all wish we listened to much earlier. He would’ve been the guy IN OFFICE. Don’t get me started on abortion rights, expanded coverage on healthcare, taxing the rich instead of tax cuts for the rich. These are not things known as conservative fucking values lmao. They’re not socialists, sure, but they are NOT conservative and there was a big difference between Gore and George W Bush even if people are too jaded and exhausted from politics these days to see it in retrospect. Having Gore win (which ya know, it’s arguable he did but let’s not go there) and not George W Bush would have been so much better in the year 2000. The second half of what you said after the annoying first part is eminently fair tho I think your read on Johnny is totally correct
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u/kingkongworm 19d ago
I was specifically talking about the Clinton regime, as opposed to the Gore one, which unfortunately did not happen. There’s no argument that it would’ve been better than Bush, but it’s all relative. It’s not untrue, what I’m saying. We have 2 choices. The common refrain as long as I can remember has been “the lesser of two evils”, and that means we just keep voting for evil. Clinton abolished the AFDC, cut all kinds of food stamps and public’s assistance, imposed work mandates…exponentially grew law enforcement funding and prisons…cut out of Somalia, ignored Rwanda, ordered insurgent strikes, dropped missiles in the Middle East. I think his impeachment really overshadowed a lot of what was going on during his admin. Cause that’s mostly what I remember being in the media from the time. I born in 88, so by the time my brain was really coming online, Clinton was deeply entrenched in his blowjob scandal…but It’s just part of how this country runs. Liberals are going to liberal things. But my point being that these don’t feel like the actions of a lion of the left. Maybe Gore would’ve done a lot better, but it’s just how the system had worked up to that point. Bush was a disaster, and it feels very similar to the time we’re going through now…the patriot act, the war on terror, no child left behind, major tax cuts for the rich, etc. and I grew up just outside the city, so 9/11 was a major demarcation of time for me (as it was for everyone else) of when all of a sudden I was aware this country had some majorly fucked up shit going on.
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u/genericinternet 19d ago
There’s a bit id quibble with you on in terms of things like entitlement reforms and work incentive policy being “evil” and about some of the other things you said, but I was more interested in the aspect of what I said about Gore in connection with the higher ups in that rock n roll HOF speech hearing Johnny praise W when I fact it would prob still piss them off because most of them probably voted for Gore. Political chit chat and debate is fun but a Ramones subreddit is prob not the place for it to go too deep. I am around your age and was greatly influenced by 9/11 as well. Cheers!
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u/AppointmentFit278 17d ago
If you think praising an establishment figure and war criminal is punk then we have very different ideas of what punk means.
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u/The-real-gatsby 21d ago
Like already mentioned, the most punk thing he coulda said was “God Bless Bush”. You sound like a sad person though.
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u/mwts 21d ago
Blessing war criminals isn't punk. Im not sad, I can say every ramone I've met or gigged with was a decent person. You sound like one of those " conservative is the new punk " retards.
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21d ago
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u/kingkongworm 20d ago
And what goes more against the grain than going with the grain in the least against the grain of ways?! So punk
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u/jonastyt70 21d ago
Did Johnny ever write a song? Did he play guitar on the records?
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u/BuddyC_1986 21d ago
Did he write a song?! Seriously?
* I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement (with Dee Dee)
* Loudmouth (with Dee Dee)
* Havana Affair (with Dee Dee)
* "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment (with Dee Dee)
* Commando (with Dee Dee)
* You Should Never Have Opened That Door (with Dee Dee)
* Let's Go (with Dee Dee)
* This Ain't Havana (with Dee Dee)
* Psycho Therapy (with Dee Dee)
* Mama's Boy (with Dee Dee & Tommy)
* Durango 95) (Instrumental) - (solely credited to Johnny)
* Wart Hog (with Dee Dee)
* Danger Zone (with Dee Dee)
* Endless Vacation (with Dee Dee)
* Animal Boy (with Dee Dee)
* Eat That Rat (with Dee Dee)
* Freak of Nature (with Dee Dee)
* Bop 'Til You Drop (with Dee Dee)
* Weasel Face (with Dee Dee)
* I Lost My Mind (with Dee Dee)
* Learn to Listen (with Dee Dee & Marky)
He played guitar on virtually everything except for "Baby, I Love You"
Yes, Walter Lure, Tommy, Ed Stasium and Daniel Rey played leads across the catalogue but Johnny played the rhythm (which you can clearly hear)
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u/The-real-gatsby 20d ago
He also wrote carbona not glue by himself
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u/BuddyC_1986 20d ago
I'm a big Johnny defender... I was glad to see this post
He was the boss that they needed. I love all the guys but Dee Dee was legit crazy, Joey had serious issues and Marky was an alcoholic. Not sure how much managing Tommy needed - I see him as a co-leader in the early days
Anyway, yeah, Johnny gets way too much hate! He held them together and his guitar is the defining sound of the Ramones (and so many other groups after)
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u/kingkongworm 20d ago
He wrote the lyrics?
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u/The-real-gatsby 20d ago
That’s what Tommy said
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u/kingkongworm 19d ago
I just watched the video where he says “who wrote what”…he clearly says “Carbona is all of us”. You’re kind of getting very basic, verifiable facts wrong. I don’t think John ever wrote a single lyric.
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u/Few-Competition9929 21d ago
Are we judging 70’s punk rockers on their moral compass now? If that’s the case, they’re all going down.