I Slept With Joey Ramone: A Family Memoir by Mickey Leigh and Punk magazine co-founder Legs McNeil, is the most intimately informative book about Joey Ramone’s life and death I’m aware of. In McNeil and Gillian McCain’s Please Kill Me, an oral history of of punk rock in New York City, the younger brother Mickey Leigh (formerly Mickey Hyman) of the late Jeffrey Hyman (later Joey Ramone) relates his brother’s temporary adoption, in the height of the glam era, of the pseudonym “Jeffrey Starship”.The two brothers had an extremely close relationship up to this point. This book details the effect of this seemingly innocuous remark on the brothers’ relationship.
Arguably the first punk band, the Ramones formed in Queens, New York in 1974. Bassist Douglas, or Dee Dee, Colvin, an army brat who grew up all over Europe, was first to adopt the surname Ramone, and convinced the other members to follow suit. Guitarist Johnny Ramone, another army brat admittedly an extreme right winger, who defined the band’s sonic efficiency by outlawing guitar solos, approved of this militaristic uniformity. Johnny also refused to credit Leigh for his numerous assistances and contributions over the years. Joey’s acceptance of this doctrine of Johnny’s began the dissolution of his fraternal closeness with Mickey. Predictably, Johnnny also “hated hippies,” and his bullying attitude goes some way toward explaining Joey’s resentment of Mickey’s quote in Please Kill Me. Original drummer Tommy Ramone was first of the founders to leave after a flare-up with Johnny, later to become a successful producer under his given surname Erdelyi and was replaced first by Marky, then Richie, then Elvis Ramone. Dee Dee left after 1989’s Brain Drain LP, and was replaced by C.J. Ramone. I count myself lucky to have seen the Ramones perform once in 1996 as part of the Lollapalooza festival, shortly before they broke up.
Lead singer Joey Ramone (1951-2001) fought for his life from birth; there was a mass of undeveloped foetal matter attached to his spine. This was removed without incident, but led to spinal bifida in later life. Joey also had extreme OCD or obsessive compulsive disorder, which meant he would repeat any action, even the simplest, such as stepping off a curb, indefinitely until he felt he’d done it “correctly”. This became manageable as he grew older, but never disappeared entirely. Even after achieving stardom, Joey’s life was plagued with conflict and adversity, including clashes with the other Ramones and with his own family, who often bore the brunt of the mood swings cued by his medication, but remained his chief source of understanding and support, despite the efforts of various “cretin-hoppers” to usurp this position.
In a perfect example of life’s pinpoint irony, Leigh describes walking from his brother’s deathbed into a snow-covered New York City plastered with advertisements for SPIN magazine’s 25th anniversary of punk rock issue, with Joey’s face on the cover.
Joey Ramone (1951-2001)
Johnny Ramone (1948-2004)
Dee Dee Ramone (1951-2002)
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