As a Heavy Metal music fan for more years than I care to disclose I can quickly tell you of how unimportant the Grammy Awards have been to me when it comes to my favorite genre. They are for the most part clueless in terms of what they are voting on and who ends up winning (the historic Metallica loss to Jethro Tull coming to mind) but since that ill-fated event, the category of “Best Heavy Metal Performance” has been given out and usually hits the mark properly. They also have a Lifetime Achievement award which was this year given to the legendary New York Punkers – The Ramones. I had to admit that I was surprised about this based on their original misunderstanding about Metal. I mean, if they didn’t know that stuff how could they ever recognize Punk Rock. Still, they did recognize it and gave the award to the band so kudos on that honor. The photos below come from the front window display of the Guitar Center on 14th Street in Manhattan. I couldn’t resist trying to share them with the worldwide readership as I passed them by. I admit that I was glad to find the center offering up their own honor by showcasing some of their historic stuff.
The display ran three full windows in length and this was the center of them all and perhaps the best in my opinion. It was Marky’s drumset and while he was the bands second drummer he is perhaps the one that is known best. As you can see here, Marky kept the kit simple and it was all he needed to hammer out the beat under the riffs. I also love the vintage photo of the band on the corner of Bowery and Bleecker Street just off from the legendary and now shuttered C.B.G.B.’s club. The band started there and played often but I never saw them at this space and instead would do that at L’Amour (another club that has long been extinct). I will assume that the leather jacket on display is also Marky’s.
The photo above showcases the Pinhead from the song of the same name and he is sporting a leather motorcycle jacket and is screaming into the microphone. We also see one of Johnny’s guitars, amplifiers and a road case.
Another part of the Marshall stack and more road cases and vintage photos are in this next one. It might seem “basic” to you but if you have ever seen The Ramones in video or in photos you will see how there was not much “flash” to them and instead a down and dirty delivery of some throttling Punk Rock.
I wanted to get a little bit of a closer look at the drum set, but the setting was working against me. It’s not all that easy to shoot stuff from behind glass which I learned from some museum visits over the years but its better than nothing. This made me feel like sharing since everyone cannot enjoy this on their own in person based on distance. Kudos to the Guitar Center management for helping the legendary New York City band with their honor. It’s only a shame that we no longer have Joey, Dee Dee and Johnny Ramone around to enjoy it themselves.
Even though I’m the lifelong Metal head, the music of The Ramones was very important to my musical education and I owned many of their releases on vinyl and eventually on remastered CD. I built a little widget with our Amazon.com links so you can indulge in their history as well. There is so much good stuff on these albums so get them.
Official Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramones