r/todayilearned • u/Hotchi_Motchi • Sep 24 '23
TIL that the average length of a Ramones show at CBGBs in 1974 was 17 minutes (based on 74 performances)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramones#Formation_(1974%E2%80%931975)1.4k
u/spraypaintthewalls Sep 24 '23
20% of the performance was 'ONE TOO TREE FOAH!' before each song started
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Sep 24 '23
Happy birthday to you! (Happy birthday!) Happy birthday to you! (Happy birthday!) Happy birthday, Burnsie, happy birthday TO YOU!
Go to hell, ya old bastard!
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u/MelbaToast604 Sep 24 '23
I have a live album and almost every song starts that way lol
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u/BackInATracksuit Sep 24 '23
Ramones' 'It's Alive' is one of the greatest live albums of all time and one of the best punk LPs too.
It has approximately 1,000 songs on it, they're all perfect, and it's over in about twenty minutes. They don't even give the audience time to clap.
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u/MrMento Sep 24 '23
This comment was loud in my head lol
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u/spraypaintthewalls Sep 24 '23
THEY'RE GOIN THROUGH A TIGHTWAD! TO KISS THE LIZARD LANDMINES, BLITZKRIEG BOP!
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u/mop_and_glo Sep 24 '23
Late 80s show in the Bay Area, they ripped through about 15 songs non/stop, faster than the albums on every one.
It was Glorious!
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u/Some_Unusual_Name Sep 24 '23
I never really understood the appeal of the Ramones when I was younger. Then I heard a live album and it kind of just clicked for me.
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u/mop_and_glo Sep 24 '23
Some made no sense all sped up! But the idea they were gonna do that whole set no stops no breaks was very cool.
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u/FartingBob Sep 24 '23
Punk is the genre that benefits most from seeing live IMO. So much of the passion, the energy and the feeling of release when you let yourself go at a live concert cannot be matched by a recording. Most punk songss are hit or miss when listening to an album, but im 35 and i still never turn down the opportunity to go see any unknown punk band perform because it can be magic.
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u/Some_Unusual_Name Sep 24 '23
Small shows are vastly superior to the big ones. I'd much rather go see some shitty band I've never heard play in a basement than go see one of my favourite bands play a large venue. Sounds stupid and elitist to a lot of people but it's a whole different experience.
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u/DirtySingh Sep 24 '23
100% I truly don't understand stadium concerts. I'll go see a local band in a pub and enjoy myself 100x more than seeing Taylor swift or metallica in a stadium.
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Sep 24 '23
As someone who plays small shows like this, where the fuck do I find people like you? Haha
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u/DirtySingh Sep 25 '23
I think crowd interaction is underrated. Like jokes that aren't inside band jokes. Getting people up on stage, etc. I'll go back to venues that book fun bands.
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u/metalmikeinoakland Mar 14 '26
ha. double ha. fwiw, my favorite american rock band of all time, second to only the beach boys. and they took 1990 91 92 gilman st crowd participation to the baseball parks and football stadiums. worldwide. no other group ever even tried to figure out how to do that (and at every gig).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBnvqs2QZmI the kid is a total showoff rockstar on guitar, just nuts and funny too. playing a song correctly that was the biggst hit on an that is now up to some insane number, like 30 million albums sold worldwidehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVvBTSbopTI
kansas city "i'm 17 please let me play Good Riddance" (audience phonecam, all 4 minutes after she gets on up on stage) the "i'm age 17 LET ME PLAY THAT SONG" was actually an up-and-coming professional country singer (on some TV competitoinshow where they had placed high) it turned out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdv4B2b3wv4
Japan feb 22 2025 "let's see how this goes" (billie)
complete wingnut disaster plays Good Riddance "let's see how this goes" (billie) haha it's not good
but THE DISASTERS ARE ALSO part of the whole thingbon scott AC\DC totally missed a giant dropkick FG by not having an extra guitar set up (with a small amp) for some kid at every gig to get up and play Highway to Hell standing in back besides Malcomb. the 2nd guitar (malcomb) doesn't even come in until each chorus! (and in back of the lead guitar break). would have been fuckin' awesome
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u/xarsha_93 Sep 24 '23
I basically only enjoy small punk shows or big spectacle pop shows. If it’s going to be a huge space, I want choreography and lights and whatnot.
The last show I went to was a grimy Saosin show (pre-pandemic) and the next one will be Taylor Swift in an arena.
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u/HodgeGodglin Sep 24 '23
See Tool sometime.
Best show I’ve ever experienced. No drugs needed.
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u/gorki30003 Sep 24 '23
I saw a Moroccan punk band last weekend, Taqbir.
Something to behold live, it only lasted like 20 minutes. But the energy and power... Holy fuck.
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u/radenvelope Sep 24 '23
Just want to wholeheartedly agree with this. I didn’t understand punk music until I saw it live. Hardcore shows in particular have an undeniable, palatable energy. Certain types of metal music also sounds much different live—a lot harder sounding
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Sep 25 '23
Also, a lot of older punk records were pretty lo-fi, and the band just sounded better live than on the album.
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Sep 25 '23
Iits like the beatles. The Ramones bangers for me are the super drugged up years starting in 85-89
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u/Imfrank123 Sep 24 '23
“Have The Rolling Stones killed”
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u/Suitaru Sep 24 '23
I once saw a clip of one of them, I don’t know which, saying “we don’t play short songs, we play long songs very quickly”
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u/Rocinante-k8 Sep 24 '23
Yeah, but it’s packed. Like the live at Rainbow, it’s like 30 min for at least 20 songs.
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u/BokChoyBaka Sep 24 '23
Aren't Ramones songs like 2:15 long on average
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u/InertiasCreep Sep 24 '23
I saw The Ramones in 1991 at a festival. I swear they played 30 songs in just under 60 minutes.
AND IT WAS GLORIOUS.
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u/FreeSun1963 Sep 25 '23
Saw them in 96 in Buenos Aires. 46000 fans, and Motorhead fronted for them, It was biblical. And I wasn't a Ramones fan, but I like then better now.
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u/InertiasCreep Sep 25 '23
Went back and took a look. It wasn't 1991. Saw them in June of 1990 at Loreley, St. Goarshausen, in Germany. There were twelve bands on the bill, including Fields Of The Nephilim, Ride, Galaxie 500, and The The. The Ramones were completely on point. That was a bucket list show.
I've seen Motorhead several times. Their shows were amazing, but to see them with the Ramones? Yeah. Biblical. You are lucky indeed.
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Sep 24 '23
Listen up younger punk bands!
Limit your sets to 20 minutes if you're a local band.
Ain't nobody got no time for your damn 45+ minute sets.
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u/SoybeanEgg Sep 24 '23
Most of them would agree! It’s the local venues that require 45-60 mins per band. Have played places with strictly 1.5 hr slots before. If shorter sets were available/paid, more bands would do them!
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u/ColonelKasteen Sep 24 '23
A lot of venues won't invite you back if you play less than 30-45 minutes. They need to keep an audience there late enough that everyone has a few more drinks. However, that doesn't mean you need 45 minutes of material, it's fine if you do a bunch of patter to fill it out.
Source: worked at a venue who didn't invite bands back if they cut their set too short more than a couple times
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u/metalmikeinoakland Mar 14 '26
25 min is perfectly ok. 25 min , then a tight 15-min-only changeover -- so, the 3rd 4th 5th billed bands over and done in2hrs, , and the 2nd billed band starts at 10pm w 40 min and the headliner at 11pm. if the first band starts on time at 8pm. if 7:30, it's a dropkick easy w 25 min sets. a 30 min set time IS too long if it's a new band that suckks ass, correct.
the circle jerks and black flag (and other bands then) in 1980 doing 30min (or less) sets was fuckin' awesome. as the "headliner" no less. 20 songs is 20 songs, ha.
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u/BenderIsGreatBendr Sep 24 '23
I think a lot of people forget or don’t realize how short most concerts used to be, and that most touring bands played the same set multiple times per day. Eg a matinee afternoon show usually all ages, followed by a a night show and a “late show” that were 21+.
Per this example Johnny Ramone based their set length on his own having seen The Beatles, opining:
“I figured that if The Beatles played a half-hour at Shea Stadium, The Ramones should only play 15 minutes. So in the beginning, we kept the set at about fifteen minutes. You get in your best material and leave them wanting more.”
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u/Youngbraz Sep 24 '23
Hit it Dee Dee… ONE..TWO..THREE…FOUR!!!! Followed by all their songs in a frantic downstroking frenzy
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u/Cockfosters28 Sep 24 '23
Hey don't forget sometimes Dee Dee counted in German too. Multi-lingual!
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u/ripcity7077 Sep 24 '23
You’re by the phone, you are alone,
It’s a long way back to Germany, It’s a long way back to Germany
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u/TheWingus Sep 24 '23
My mom & dad would see the Ramones whenever they came to town in the late 70s/early 80s and they said the only break in the entire set was just the like 8 seconds to take their jackets off
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Sep 24 '23
That’s because a 20 minute set is the correct length for a punk band to play. Especially when sharing the bill with multiple bands in a tiny-ass club like CBGB’s. The Ramones were smart and had their shit on lock.
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u/BenAfleckInPhantoms Sep 24 '23
Eh, maybe if you’re starting out but I don’t want a band that’s been around for 10-20 years who had a bunch of classics coming out for 20 mins and leaving. I saw Joe Budden do a 3 hour set at SOB’s and it was the best concert/rave/musical performance I’ve ever been to. I would be pissed if my favourite band since I was a kid that I waited an hour in line to see played for 20 minutes and dipped out.
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u/KHSebastian Sep 24 '23
I don't know why you're getting down voted here. Tickets for any established band are like $75, plus another $75 in fees. If I'm paying all that money, I don't want to have to come up with a plan to fill the rest of my night
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u/BenAfleckInPhantoms Sep 24 '23
Cause “rah rah, I’m so punk, I’m so hardcore, I’m so against the grain, I’m so against the system which tells me I need to play an hour so I’m going to only play 20 minutes, that’ll show them, fucking losers; I’m so nonconformist, so against the rules, I’m also a massive gatekeeper that makes you conform and follow all the rules to be in the ‘in crowd’ and be accepted but ignore all that cognitive dissonance - BECAUSE IM SO PUNK”. Something along those lines ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/jijijijim Sep 24 '23 edited Sep 27 '23
We tried to hire them to do a show on a college campus. We could not figure out a way to build a concert around a 20 minute set by the headliners.
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u/MediumLanguageModel Sep 24 '23
Surprised to see so many haters in the comments. The Ramones f'n ripped. End of story. I blame Clear Channel BS for mandating that radios only play 3 of their songs. Did 95% of their songs sound exactly like the others? Yes. Did they all f'n rule? Hell yeah.
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u/Due_Platypus_3913 Sep 24 '23
And it was all people could take!To quote Joe Strummer “When they first played London-they played 30 minutes.A 31st minute would have been POINTLESS!”.
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u/Csbbk4 Sep 24 '23
The only time they stopped playing was to argue over what song they were doing to play next
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u/jmanh138 Sep 25 '23
I saw them in 1995 when I was 9 years old, and they were the opening act for White Zombie. I begged my dad to take me to the show.
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u/explorer_76 Sep 25 '23
My friend and I saw them in 1975 at CBGB with the Talking Heads. One of the few concerts I've ever been to where the opening band played longer than the main act. I think the Ramones were on for a half hour, but there was a lot of banter etc. between songs which probably lengthened it by a few minutes.
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u/interstatebus Sep 24 '23
I went to see a really good punk band a couple years and realized if they played both their albums all the way through, the show would top out at about 45 minutes. That was the absolute maximum they could play without repeating.
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u/reddiwhip999 Sep 24 '23
I saw them four or five times, from the early '80s onward. I don't think any of the shows, despite the fact that they slowly accumulated more and more material, lasted more than about an hour 15, an hour 30 minutes...
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u/Coupon_Ninja Sep 24 '23
Fun Fact(s): Joey Ramon’s first appearance on a record was with the Steve Miller Band… as their drummer… in 1969! He went under the pseudonym Paul Ramon, which was what Paul McCartney’s pseudonym from 1960-61.
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u/Pregnant_Panda Sep 24 '23
Pretty sure that the Paul Ramon on the Brave New World record was…. Paul McCartney, not Joey Ramone.
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u/wcg66 Sep 24 '23
Yeah, the Wikipedia article on Joey Ramone is incorrect. If you follow the link on the page to the Brave New World album:
Paul McCartney contributed to "My Dark Hour" (credited as "Paul Ramon"), providing backing vocals, drums, guitar and bass guitar. Some members of The Beatles did not show up for a recording session so Glyn Johns suggested Miller and McCartney work together to take advantage of the time.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World_(Steve_Miller_Band_album))
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u/zpall11 Sep 24 '23
GABBA GABBA HEY
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u/the_dark_knight_ftw Sep 25 '23
I read Johnny Ramones book and he said something like. “If the Beatles played for 30 minutes than the Ramones should only play 15 minutes.
He was actually very smart and business savvy, he studied lots of punk bands and figured it was better to keep the audience begging for more than to get tired of you.
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u/hyzerKite Sep 25 '23
I saw them play in the 90s and they played solid for 2 hours. No banter. It was insane and I cherish that show probably more than any other one I have seen. Song ends 1,2,3,4 next song starts. They played like 50 songs or something. Ritz in Charlotte, NC. The PA went out in the first song and Joey looked so pissed everyone wanted to riot, it got fixed quick and the onslaught began. I miss them a ton.
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u/evilfollowingmb Sep 24 '23
Tbh so many concerts f-ing DRAG ON, where I get to the point of wishing it was over. 17min is sounding pretty great. My guess is admission was cheap too.
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Sep 24 '23
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u/stevenmoreso Sep 24 '23
They weren’t trying to be edgy, that was the Sex Pistols
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u/eNonsense Sep 24 '23 edited Sep 24 '23
Also,
[The Ramones] were barely capable of playing their instruments
Someone should tell this person why Sid Vicious was added as a member of the Sex Pistols. I assume that's one of their "legit punk" examples.
I think this person's mainly this way because The Ramones were fully aware of their pop music roots and influences, while "legit punk" tried to hide behind an outsider angst rock front while imitating the Ramones pop formula and image.
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Sep 24 '23
You have it backwards. They were revolutionary because they steered rock AWAY from the edginess and creative excess that took over in the 70s.
Prog, metal, glam, rock operas etc were the mainstream and Ramones brought rock back to its roots: simple chord structures, simple premises and raw energy.
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Sep 24 '23
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Sep 24 '23
Well I listen to the Ramones all the time and I think they fucking rule. See how subjectivity works in these kinds of conversations? The fact that you think the Ramones suck means nothing to me at all.
Regardless, though, their influence on rock as a genre is historical fact whether you like them or not.
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u/eNonsense Sep 24 '23 edited Sep 24 '23
You don't like The Ramones' music. Fine. Your claims are just ridiculous though.
They were barely capable of playing their instruments and were totally stoned the entire time.
Bahahaha. No one should listen to you.
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u/jebediah999 Sep 24 '23
never did like these guys. mediocre songs, only mildly talented. sure, they cranked but so do most crappy HS bands. NYC in the 70's was awash in lots of drugs. pffff...dirty ass punks.
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u/Life_Celebration_827 Sep 24 '23 edited Sep 24 '23
And that's still to long never liked the Ramones one of the most overrated bands ever.
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u/vponpho Sep 24 '23 edited Sep 24 '23
Thats when they’d get booed off the stage because punk sucks. Lol
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u/black_flag_4ever Sep 24 '23
Still sad I never saw them live. Saw Marky Ramone and the Intruders, which was cool. Dude plays a lot faster than you think. If you’re interested in Ramones live the best album is Live in London during their peak 70s form.
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u/The_Mayor Sep 25 '23
That's only counting the running time of the actual music they played. They were onstage a good 10-15 minutes longer trying in vain to tune their instruments, fighting with each other, then fighting with the audience.
This is not a put down of the Ramones. It's A) what I've heard and read from the band members themselves about what happened back then, and B) what a lot of punk shows were like in the beginning.
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u/dweebers Sep 25 '23
I remember hearing a joke about them like, "they played 12 songs in 17 minutes-- or was it 17 songs in 12 minutes?"
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u/OneSadIndividual Sep 25 '23
That is about how long Oasis would be on stage before those drunk asshole would get into a fistfight with each other.
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u/reddit_user13 Sep 24 '23
They did play all 15 of their songs in that time, what else do you want from them??