Tommy Ramone (January 29, 1952 – July 11, 2014)

Tommy Ramone, real name Tommy Erdelyi died yesterday. He was the last of the sudo-punk boy band Ramones.  The Ramones were important because it represented the first adoption by the US of the British punk rock movement. 

Although they made a few major hits they were more important as a beach head to the philosophy of libertarian rebellion which met its finality in the form of the ‘Velvet Revolution, and ultimately the right wing revolt by the TEA Party and its opposition to ‘not knowing your place culturally…’!

This may not be obvious at first since The Ramones would be anathema to Fox News and Sarah Palin. But The Ramones gave licence to those who didn’t want to care about environment and the liberation struggle and instead take a load of drugs (legal or illegal) and dive into self pity.

The narcissistic behavior of The Ramones  is summed up by I Wanna Be Sedated in which they prefer to be drugges up than deal with reality. Just like the baby boomers who are addicted to petroleum oil, trans fatty acid and tranquilizers. This has led to Lehman’s Day, the rise of Al Qeada and the increasing power of plutocrats and oligarchs.

Clearly this was not the Ramones original intention but in the drive to be cool and rebelliousness, they rebelled against the progressive hippie movement, gave Reagan and Thatcher their head and the rest is history.

The Ramones – I Wanna Be Sedated