ramones mania

i don't think i would ever want to be in a tribute band, save maybe for playing a single halloween tribute show or something, but man, it was a trip checking out the ramoniacs over at the abbey lounge last thursday night.

funny, the first ramones song i ever heard was "beat on the brat", and the mental picture of the band that it painted for me at nine or ten years old was one of perfectly typical american teens banging away in the garage against their common enemy, some cheeky little nuisance who got away with pulling crap because he could use his cuteness to appeal to authority figures. as exhilarating revenge fantasy, it made so much sense. here were the guys who sat in the back of the class, relishing the prospect of one day serving up proper punishment to the teacher's pet.

in reality, of course, the ramones resembled a warped combination of 50's greasers and 70's burnouts with thousand yard stares. it's odd to consider, but in terms of creating a distinct band image, they actually had a hell of a lot in common in kiss: sharing the exaggerated beatles mop tops, the leather jackets and the surname, they created a larger-than-life, surreal 'other,' just as gene simmons inc. had done with their rock superheroes from parts unknown.

the similarities end there, though, and the images these bands cultivated came to mean two very different things to their fan bases. where kiss asked its kiss army to literally buy into its mythos, the ramones, by contrast, pulled the myth down to earth; their deliberately lockstep, homogenized look effectively laid bare an absurdity inherent in the archetype of groups that preceded them, leaving it to the listener to make what he or she would of the band, its music and its message.

indeed, "gabba gabba hey" is a nonsensical rallying call, but in its meaninglessness lies a great accessibility; whatever that means, and whatever the ramones are supposed to be, doesn't really matter in the end, because the music itself is FUN -- come as you are. the image matters only in so far as image does not actually matter.

the ramoniacs, like any great tribute act should, do a great job of conveying the spirit of the original band's total package. check them out below: