Johnny Ramone Quotes

1. I think Ronald Reagan was the best President of my lifetime.

2. My favorite artists have always been Elvis and The Beatles and they still are!

3. I never liked blues and I really didn't like jazz. I liked Chuck Berry.

4. I grew up a Republican. My family was the only Italian family in Queens that voted for Nixon instead of Kennedy.

5. If a man can judge success by how many great friends he has, then I have been very successful.

6. (on working with Phil Spector for the album "End of the Century") Hey, up yours, Springfield!

7. Two of my biggest heroes were my father and John Wayne.

8. My father would get on these tangents about how he never missed a day's work. I broke my big toe the day I had to go pitch a Little League game and he's going: "What are you - a baby? What did I do, raise a baby? You go play." And even though my toe was broken I had to go pitch the game anyway. It was terrible. It would always be like that. I'm glad he raised me like that but it would always be: "What are you - sick? You're not sick. What did I raise - a baby? I never missed a day's work in my life." Then I went to military school, and in military school you couldn't call in sick.

9. If I didn't like someone, I wouldn't want him calling me up when I was dying. I wouldn't want them having regrets that they didn't talk to me.


10. As far as film goes, I enjoy all Hollywood films and all Horror films like "The Bride of Frankenstein", which also might be my favorite. I like 60's and 70's Italian and Spanish Horror films.

11. It was a job, and I was just doing my job.




12. I learned very early on to try to never let your fans down. It is the fans that have given me a lot of my happiness.

13. It was in 1960, the Nixon-Kennedy election. People around me were saying: "Oh, Kennedy's so handsome," and I thought: "Well, if these people are going to vote for someone based on how he looks, I don't want to be party to that".



14. We didn't sell a lot of records, but somehow we left an impression.

15. God bless President Bush, and God bless America.

16. For all my success with the Ramones, I carried around fury and intensity during my career. I had an image, and that image was anger. I was the one who was always scowling, downcast. I tried to make sure I looked like that when I was getting my picture taken.

17. Europe was a horrible place. There was nothing on TV. The food was terrible. And they don't even have ice. Who doesn't have ice?

18. I don't need much more money, and I thought that when I retired that nobody would want to talk to me anymore. Then I did, and people still want to talk to me.

19. I remember in 1979 doing an interview for Creem magazine with Lester Bangs and telling him that Ronald Reagan will be the next president. He was really mad that I liked Reagan, who was the greatest president of my lifetime. So I turned it around on him and asked to see his commie card. In fact, ever after that, I would ask him for his card. I think he had one, really.

20. As far as my favorite songs to perform live, most of the songs we did live were my favorite. If they weren't, I would have gotten rid of them.

21. I started doing up-and-down strumming, basically to keep time and to play fast. As time went on, I started realizing other guitar players couldn't do it. I always went against the grain.

22. I had a good career. I've been very fortunate.

23. I think most bands probably peak on their first album. We peaked on our third album. On the first album, I feel like I wish the production was a little better. I'll always hear a song I don't like. I look for what I could have done to make it better. It's always difficult for me to listen.





24. I didn't want the Ramones being told what to be doing, and I wanted the Ramones being presented in the right light - the remaining Ramones.

25. I didn't become a delinquent until I got out of high school. I had a two-year run. I'd go out and hit kids and take their money and rob everybody's pocketbooks. Just being bad every minute of the day. It was terrible. I don't know what my problem was. Things that were funny to me at the time were horrible. If I found a television set sitting in the garbage, I'd take it up to the rooftop, watch for someone walking down the block and drop it in front of them on the sidewalk. It was funny watching them see a TV set come crashing down 30 feet in front of them. To me it was hysterical, but it was also a mean and terrible thing to do. I also found a way of stopping the elevator. I could open up the door and stop the elevator. I would wait for an old lady to get in and stop the elevator. They'd be yelling and pushing the alarm, and I would keep them there. At about 20 years old, I stopped drinking and doing drugs, got a job and tried to be normal.

26. I try to make a dent in people when I can. I figure people drift toward liberalism at a young age, and I always hope that they change when they see how the world really is.

27. I never felt out of control. It was just the way I lived my life. I was the neighborhood bully.

28. Republicans let this happen over and over, and there is never anyone to stick up for them. They spend too much time defending themselves.


29. They called me the Rush Limbaugh of rock n' roll one time in a Village Voice interview. But, hey, they were just old hippies.

30. Punk is right wing!

31. Some bands blow it before they even play. The most important moment of any show is when a band walks out with the red amp lights glowing, the flashlight that shows each performer the way to his spot on the stage. It's crucial not to blow it. It sets the tempo of the show; it affects everyone's perception of the band.

32. I'm only going to be the way I'd want someone to react to me.

33. I guess that before me, people played downstrokes for brief periods in a song, rather than the whole song through. It was just a timing mechanism for me.



34. My favorite album would have to be "Rocket To Russia". I feel this album has the most classic Ramones songs.

35. Radio is like television all they want to do is push crap on the public.

36. When I was younger, I was ready to go off at any time. My wife, Linda, and I would go out to the Limelight in New York, and I would see people and be able to freeze them with a look. People were even too scared of me to tell me that people were scared of me.

37. It really worked when he got to a slower song like "Danny Says" the production really worked tremendously. "Rock 'N' Roll Radio" is really good. For the harder stuff, it didn't work as well.


38. Cancer softened me up. I like the old me better. I liked being angry. It made me feel strong.

39. "Rocket to Russia" is, I think, my favorite Ramones record. We reached our peak at that point.


40. I'm just honored that people still like us and people are still nice to me.


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