End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
by DeadSun

I know what you're thinking.

Another Ramones dvd? Didn't Image Entertainment release "Ramones Raw" just a few months ago? Three founding band members passed on, and now the world, chronically uninterested in the history of this band, can't get enough of the Ramones. Somebody's milking the proverbial cash cow.

Perhaps there is some truth in feeling that way. As a loyal Ramoniac of fifteen years, I can recall a quaint time when getting a hold of mere recordings and a single T shirt was a task on par with Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece. A quick fast forward to 2005 betrays the awkward juxtaposition of now having remasters, shirts, action figures, lunch boxes, light switch covers, shot glasses, and wristbands all within my easy reach. I'm not sure just how significant an observation this is, though. The music business will always have a commercial dimension to it. 

To me, there is only one pertinent question: peel away the layers of merchandise, and what am I left with?

I am left with the Ramones---  a boat-rocking, sonic revolution dreamt up by four delinquent outsiders from Forest Hills in Queens, New York, during the mid-nineteen seventies. During this time, various musical factions within Rock were undergoing some significant changes, wading out and away from the amplified, blues-based psychedelia that had monopolized the late 60's/early 70's. The attitudes were changing, the political climate was changing, and harder drugs were hitting the streets in larger quantities. Bands like the Stooges, the New York Dolls, and the MC5, while breaking down established Rock conventions, were simultaneously adding new brick and mortar to the structure that would become forever a part of Rock's future. The Ramones would unexpectedly storm onto the New York scene in 1974, emerging from the dustcloud kicked up by these bands who came just a short time before.

This is the setting that provides the backdrop to "End of the Century"--- Michael Gramaglia and Jim Field's look back into the history of the Ramones, one of the most important bands to emerge from one of the most musically turbulent periods in Rock's history. Whereas John Cafiero's "Ramones Raw" might only gain the interest of Ramones fans, "End of the Century" goes further than music footage, and provides us with a film that is ultimately a very impressive, commanding chronicle of the fringe scene that was thriving far beneath the mid-seventies gloss of Donnie and Marie Osmond. Given the current revival of the interest in all things 70s--- be it lo-fi, garage, and proto-punk--- "End of the Century" should fare like a fish in the sea with Rock enthusiasts of every age group.

"End of the Century" contains valuable anecdotes and remembrances about those humble days, revealed in the filmed interviews of not only Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Tommy, et al--- but also Joe Strummer, Captain Sensible, Debbie Harry, Glen Matlock, Legs Mcneil, Arturo Vega, and other early CBGB scenesters. It offers the viewer more than a glowing showcase of those times, under glass, in a perpetually positive light. This film talks about the fights, the confrontations, the rivalries, the bad blood, everything that flowed beneath the surface. It takes an honest look beyond what seemed like a lock-step, four man unit, revealing what in fact was an almost impossible alliance between disparate individuals--- Tommy  the drummer turned "ear" man, Dee Dee the hedonistic addict, Joey the consummately shy misfit, Marky the jester, and Johnny the cold and ruthless glue, adroitly holding it all together. 

"End of the Century" does more than appropriately establish the Ramones' place and influence throughout the era. It goes further, and removes the backing plate from the clock, giving the viewer a rare opportunity to learn what was making things tick. 

If you're a time-tested Ramoniac, this film will blow you away.

For the musical and historical Rock enthusiast, "End of the Century" is a definitive film. Its presentation is simultaneously authoritative, and entertaining. This is one impressive, well-made Rock documentary.  

DS
 

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