Commando. The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone

Book Summary

Johnny Ramone, born John Cummings (1948-2004), was a founding member of The Ramones, one of the most influential bands of all time. Before that, though, he was a kid from Queens, New York, who didn't think twice about throwing TVs off of roofs, hurling bricks through Windows, decking people's parents, or robbing old ladies. He eventually found his reprieve from a dead-end life through rock and roll. Despite his ultímate success with the Ramones, Johnny never really strayed from his working-class roots and attitude. He evolved from the tough guy on the streets to the tough guy in the band who kept the Ramones focused and moving forward, ultimately securing their place in rock history. In 2002, the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and two years later, Johnny died of cancer, after having outlived the band's other two founding members.
Johnny Ramone didn't pull any punches in real life and he doesn't on the page. He reveals his own issues with violence, whether he's beating up Malcolm McLaren for talking to his date or punching Joey just for being late to the movies. He disses some notable musical peers and even the Ramones' own talents in their early days before they got their act together, and illuminates his relationship with Linda, the love of his life. Brutally honest and candid, Commando is Johnny's story and the story of the Ramones told on his own terms.
The book also features Johnny's assessment of the Ramones' albums; a number of eccentric topten lists; pages from his legendary "black books," with concert notes; and scores of personal and professional photographs, many of which Nave never been published before.

CONTENIDO:

Foreword, by Tommy Ramone
Prologue
1.- It was the nameless guy who changed the jukebok records' bar who really turned me on to rock and roll when I was seven years old.
2.- When affirmative action came into the union, they laid off people with the least seniority to hire a certain percentage of minorities.
3.- When we got back to Los Angeles in early 1977, we walked onto the stage of the whisky to sound of screaming girls.
4.- Four albums into our career, we wondered why we weren't the biggest band in the world.
5.- I really never saw the kid who kicked my head in. He blindsided me with a punch from the side, and I went down, out cold.
6.- The fans lined up outside the nearest 7-11 in any city we played, knowing the Ramones van was going to head over there right after the show.
7.- Then one day it ended. The music was over, really, in my head. I had enough money, the dollar figure that I had been focused on for some time.
8.- The whole cancer thing, It's bad and sometimes confusing. I was never sick; I was never vulnerable.
Epilogue, by Lisa Prestley
Album-by-album Assessment
Johnny's Akk-Time Top Ten
Acknowledgments
Afterwords by John Cafiero
Afterwords by Linda Ramone