Random Most Dysfunctional Band Ramones That Stayed Togeth (14 items)

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  (#7) The Ramones Made Johnny Rotten Drink Piss Out Of A Beer Bottle

  Despite all the seriously sad things going on behind the scenes, the Ramones had some fun. If pissing in beer bottles and making unsuspecting friends drink urine is fun. Which, let's be honest, it is. 

  According to Johnny Ramone, Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols drank from a piss-filled beer bottle, said “Boy, this stuff tastes like piss,” then kept drinking. 
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  (#13) They Ate So Much Curry Before Shows They Had Special Buckets For Their Inevitable Vomit

  Every band has a pre-show ritual. Some pray, some shoot up. The Ramones got curry.  Their PR manager, Mick Houghton, recalls the band got curry before every show, and ordered the spiciest thing on the menu. “It was like a challenge as they sat there, sweat dripping off their faces.”

  Because they ate such large quantities of super spicy food and were such an active live band, the Ramones kept special buckets on the side of the stage for puke. According to Houghton, at least one member of the band inevitably puked before the show was over.
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  (#1) Dee Dee Ramone Supported His Heroin Addiction By Turning Tricks

  Upon first listen, “53rd and 3rd” is a jaunty, all-age-appropriate tune that’ll have you tapping your foot. If you take a moment to listen to the words, you’ll hear the sad tale of a male escort who always gets picked last on his corner.

  “Fifty-third and third standing on the street

  Fifty-third and third I'm tryin' to turn a trick

  Fifty-third and third you're the one they never pick

  Fifty-third and third don't it make you feel sick?”

  Bassist and songwriter Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Glenn Colvin) struggled with heroin addiction throughout his life. When the Ramones began recording and touring full time, he had the cash to finance his habit. Before that, he resorted to other ways to get fast cash; namely, hanging about at a certain Manhattan intersection notorious for solicitation.

  Music journalist Legs McNeil wrote of Dee Dee: 

  "Dee Dee was the archetypical fuck-up whose life was a living disaster. He was a male prostitute, a would-be mugger, a heroin user and dealer, an accomplice to armed robbery—and a genius poet who was headed for an early grave, but was sidetracked by rock ‘n’ roll.”
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  (#11) At Least One Of Them Was Held At Gunpoint By Phil Spector

  For their fifth studio album, End of the Century, recorded in 1979, the Ramones hired future murderer and renown producer Phil Spector. Spector achieved great success with groups like The Ronettes and, later, John Lennon and George Harrison. When the Ramones first met Spector, he was goofy and relaxed. 

  Spector had a reputation for being controlling and abusive, and the bizarre habit of donning a cape and dark glasses while drinking wine from a goblet. One night, the band told Spector it was time to call it quits after recording for hours on end, well into the early morning, at which point the producer allegedly pulled a gun and told the band they weren't going anywhere.

  Depending on the version of the story, Spector pointed his firearm at either Dee Dee or Johnny, who, calling his bluff, said “What are you going to do, shoot me? Go ahead. I’m leaving. Goodbye” and walked out. 

  End of the Century went way over budget, and, while it was advanced as a piece of audio engineering, it wasn't terribly well received. Decades later, Spector was convicted of second-degree murder for the 2003 shooting of Lana Clarkson, and was sentenced to 19-years-to-life sentence in California. In his autobiography Commando, Johnny wrote, "After he shot that girl, I thought, 'I'm surprised that he didn't shoot someone every year.'"
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  (#9) They Pulled The Clash And The Sex Pistols Through A Window To Help Them Sneak Into A Show

  On July 4, 1976, the Ramones played a mythic gig at the Roundhouse in London. The members of countless now legendary first wave UK punk bands were in attendance; some were inspired to start bands that very night. The Clash and Sex Pistols, both already playing shows at the time (though largely unknown outside the London club scene) were hugely influenced by the Ramones, and went to the show together. 

  According to Joe Strummer, lead vocalist, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist for the Clash, he and his friends knew how to sneak around to the windows of the dressing rooms at the Roundhouse, so they did, and threw rocks at the windows until one of them opened and Johnny Ramone's head appeared. The bands introduced themselves, and the Ramones formed a human chain out the window to lift the members of the Clash and Pistols into the venue. 

  Talk about a punk rock meet cute. 
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  (#12) Dee Dee Was Very Briefly In GG Allin's Band

  As Merle Allen, brother of anti-social, sh*t-smearing iconoclast GG Allin, tells it, Dee Dee decided to join the GG's band, the Murder Junkies, when he was kicking around with nothing to do after leaving the Ramones. 

  "I put an ad in the Village Voice, and one day Dee Dee just called me up out of the blue. I had seen him around the Village, and I knew he was just hanging out, he wasn't doing too much, playing in little bands here and there, but when he actually asked if he could audition for us, I almost fell on the floor. So of course I called GG right away and I’m like, 'You’re never going to believe this,' and we had Bill Weber who became really what I would call our original guitar player, and the guitar player that gave us the sound, and played with us up until we got back together recently. They both came and auditioned, and Bill was just a great guitar player and Dee Dee was Dee Dee and we just kind of finished the audition and we were like, 'We’ve got to hire Bill but we’ve got to hire Dee Dee' so we basically hired both of them.

  We rehearsed with Dee Dee and he would come by my place and we would show him stuff. There is a DVD of a couple of different rehearsals with Dee Dee on it that’s in my catalogue and what not. We never actually did a show with him. I think by the time the reality of what was about to hit Dee Dee came about, he decided he was just going to bow out. We never got any explanation from him why he decided not to play, he just one day didn't come to rehearsal and we never really heard from him."

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