The Ramones: End Of The Century

"Smithers, have The Rolling Stones killed."

"But Sir, those aren't..."

"DO AS I SAY!"

The Gator's knowledge of the Ramones begins and ends with their appearance on The Simpsons. Man, that was a funny episode.

Well, my parents liked them. Me? Never heard a single song. So maybe I'm not the best person to review a film about their rise from small time to "big time".

As documentaries go, this isn't one of the best. It contains chronologically told stories, apparently from interviews shot over the course of many years, by those who were there and saw it happen. What puzzles me is how inconsistent and selective the film is. It never tells us that over the entire course of their career, The Ramones never had a Top 40 hit and only three of their singles ever entered the Top 100. There is no "where are they now?" information, either. The editing is sloppy, the message blurred, or non-existent. It repeats itself too often and the lack of humor makes for a mildly interesting, but totally forgettable movie.

The Ramones were very important in bringing in a new era of rock music and without them the late Seventies/early Eighties would have had no integrity whatsoever. All this is covered in the first 10 minutes. Not much of the background of band members is disclosed, apart from Joey, who gets two minutes all on his own.

In fact, I was so bored with much of this that I actually nodded off. And who can blame me? I'm sure there are loads of great stories that could have been told, but they're not here.

For former punk rockers only.