::  we accept you one of us  ::

[Dedicated to Alexis ]

It was a battle cry in 1977 heard by kids all over to rise up and do the cretin hop. Dance? Hell, it was no dance. We were supposed to be too cool to dance. It was a hop, a bop, sometimes a flip or a flop, but it wasn't quite a dance for us. We did it though. We did it to the Ramones at every chance we got.

As we have heard countless times by now, the Ramones music had a way of unveiling a lot of the classically trained pansies of that era, portraying themselves as rockers or even punks. The stewards of rock at that point were tremendously misguided and nearly massacred the entire genre. Instantly many bands, to us at least, lost all of their credibility. Many others just took a back seat to the Ramones.

"it was like going from color that was way over the top and skewed poorly, back to black and white. ...Simple and clear."

With the Ramones, there are No phony musical preservatives or cheap additives. It was Born again type shit for a street kid really. No Ramones show was "too far" for us. Were we nuts? Nah'. Just affected finally.

A few years later (11) we eventually persuaded our local recreation center in the catholic school to host the Ramones...and they did. ??? The band came to Queens Village!!! Hahahaha! The nuns lost their habits!!!

Over the next 25 years, our suspicions had been confirmed, the Ramones were not just for us. The world outside of Queens Village NY heard the battle cry loud and kids from all over the world promptly rose up! 

Hell, even the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acquiesced and bowed down to the uncrowned kings on a chilly night in New York City in 2001. It was glorious to see Dee Dee shoulder to shoulder with Tommy, finally getting their due up there. Dee Dee's remarks to himself, in front of the rock world, summed up their legacy, "I wanna just say thank you Dee Dee and I love you Dee Dee...".  It was poignant and triumphant for us all over. The industry types again, tried to be cool that night. They were in shock I am sure because they had dropped the ball on this band for so many years. The Ramones had a simple response in their late acceptance.

Ramonesmania.com  pays tribute to the mania created by this band. It's for all fans, from then and now.

Many of those kids of the past are now family people, whose own kids listen to the Ramones. (Maybe you?) - Some of those kids from the 70's are artists, lawyers or doctors (I know one!).  a few, must even produce Films, TV shows and commercials I believe, as evidence by the many Ramones references today in our culture.

Joey graffiti tribute. Gabba Gabba Hey!

From the X-Files, games, lunchboxes and dolls on ebay, to the corridors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, MTV and even to the Budweiser commercials, we got the airwaves now.

Embrace Ramonesmania. Because...it's alive!!!