John and Flea on Johnny Ramone
This is from the newest issue of Rolling Stone, thanks to froosh46n2 from Ramparts forum.
The aricle is called “The Last Days of Johnny Ramone” . They had a few of Johnny’s closest musical friends submit their feelings , and the following two are from John and Flea …
JOHN FRUSCIANTE : All through my life , I’ve been able to find new things in the Ramones’ music , in what Johnny played . When we were writing Californication , I was particularly obsessed with Johnny’s playing ; every day I would play with Ramones songs . I met Johnny a few months later . As far as him being hard , I see it like this : It was like a kid protecting his playmates . To him , the Ramones were the most important thing in the world . He wanted to protect that . He was a very closed-off person during that time . He had a piercing stare ; he didn’t like talking to strangers . But in the last seven years or so , he started getting a few friends . And for me it was great . I can’t think of a person who was more consistently sweet to me .
FLEA : The first time we played with the Ramones was at a festival in Europe , in the eighties . It was our last night , and we were excited about playing with the Ramones . We decided that when they played “Blitzkrieg Bop” , we would run on stage naked and do a crazy dance : “They’ll love it , it’ll be the greatest thing ever” . So we did it . After the show , we’re back at the hotel , congratulating ourselves , and Johnny comes up , infuriated . “You guys are unprofessional . You’re assholes , fuck you” . He thought we were fucking with his show . We felt terrible . As years went by , I saw him a couple times and apologized . And he was very forgiving . He was super nice to me , always said how good it was to see me . But I always felt the ferocity about him . He took his band and his show really seriously , “I am not to be fucked with” .
Elsewhere in the article , they quoted John as saying , “But what Johnny played was every bit as dimensional as what Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page played . The space , movement , and color in those down strokes and chords opened up so many minds and made so many people come out of their shells .”
