Director:
Jim Fields
Michael Gramaglia
Starring:
Johnny Ramone
Dee Dee Ramone
Joey Ramone
Tommy Ramone
Marky Ramone
Joe Strummer
Release: 20 Aug. 04
IMDb
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End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
BY: DAVID PERRY
If there anything that has become clear in this age of the
Behind the Music era, it’s that bands are like families, bonded through
their backgrounds but constantly at odds. This comparison has no better
exemplary subject than The Ramones, a collective of lower-class Queens
hoodlums who turned their often dissonant sounds to create the foundation
for a thriving punk sound in England and America. Not is there a rise and
fall of the Ramone empire to document, but these are, after all, musicians
to changed their last names to create an illusion of kinship.
Like Metallica: Some Kind of Monster earlier this summer, End of the
Century: The Story of the Ramones is mostly about how opposing members of a
band can put their problems behind to create a distinct and iconic sound
(long after their laughable addition to the Pet Cemetery soundtrack, their
music has become integral to many of today’s films), most of which netted
only minor interest in America. But unlike Metallica, where the discord only
seems to strengthen the bond at the moment it seems closest to breaking, the
Ramones couldn’t live through their own disagreements, from the heroin use
of Dee Dee Ramone to the stealing of Joey’s girlfriend by Johnny. Drummers
came and went, and by the time Dee Dee had left to pursue a rap career even
the attempts of piecing together another Ramones album became impossible,
not just for the musicians, but also for the fans who faithfully bought
their mediocre later works.
There is a rich history in the Ramones saga, and, even if directors Jim
Fields and Michael Gramaglia do not do anything new with the medium, the
richness of their subject remains commanding throughout. Certainly, there
have been better rock docs made -- The Filth and the Fury on The Sex
Pistols, Some Kind of Monster on Metallica -- but what End of the Century
makes clear is that the sounds of those already documented heathens, from
Johnny Rotten to Lars Ulrich came from a group of Queens nobodies who, for
two already, will die with greater adulation than riches.
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