I’m not entirely sure what audience this book is intended
for, but it’s clearly not me. Apparently, Dr. Rombes is a cultural studies
professor at University of Detroit-Mercy, and it shows in his writing. The book
is a fairly dry and quasi-academic attempt to document the cultural context
surrounding the genesis and recording of the Ramones debut album. It’s likely
too dry to appeal much to casual listeners or those with only a passing
familiarity with either the Ramones or the early punk movement. On the other
hand, those who are somewhat well-versed in the topic are likely to find fault
with Rombes’s characterization of the band and time period, along with the
scant attention he pays to the Ramones’ actual musical influences.
On a more basic level, this book is a veritable hodge-podge
of poorly organized, repetitive information. Frankly, whoever edited this mess
(if it even had an editor) deserves to have their computer dragged into the
street and beaten until broken circuits and stray keys litter the roadway. The
main division in the book is:
Part 1:
An examination of the cultural context that spawned the Ramones.
Part 2:
An examination of the Ramones’ debut album.
Unfortunately, “cultural context” encompasses a LOT of
different things. Mid-1970s New York was a throbbing, pulsating entity that was
pushing the boundaries of art in many forms (books, movies, journalism, visual
arts, and especially music). There was a sense that the traditional approaches
to art were lacking and all of these people were trying to redefine what art
could be.
It was also a time of massive social upheaval, crippling
economic conditions, and rampant crime. All of these topics are touched on
briefly, but there’s no coherent thesis that ties these disparate factors
together. This lack of organization leads Rombes to make passing references
without ever engaging in critical analysis. Mostly, he rehashes what others
have said without providing any commentary on the value or validity of what’s
being postulated.
For instance, he touches on the relative affluence of the
Ramones’ suburban upbringing, but never engages in any discussion of how this
might have influenced their music. I’ve often thought of most American punk as
the product of suburban disaffection. British punk seemed to be steeped in the class
distinctions that envelope much of British society. Across the pond, the rise
of punk was a rebellion based on differences in power, and the songs had a
decidedly political tone. American punk was more of a rebellion based on
boredom and the rejection of social striving. In effect, it was a state of
prolonged adolescence. Hence, the emphasis on pop culture, shock, and the
strong influence of early rock and roll. Somehow, Rombes tries to frame this as
reflective of a politically conservative mindset fused with a heavy dollop of
irony, and it’s not clear what his basis for this interpretation is, apart from
some vague remark that Joey Ramone once made about George W. Bush.
The whole book reads like an overcomplication of a premise
that should be relatively simple. If you look across all of the bands involved
in the early NYC punk movement, the common thread is a rejection of the pomp,
grandiosity, self-importance, and attention-seeking virtuosity of the music
that dominated the airwaves. There is a minimalism, a sense of “getting back to
the basics,” and a turning away from overproduction. That’s not to say that music
couldn’t be intricate or complex, but you weren’t going to see guys with
30-piece drum kits or racks and racks of synthesizers. At the same time, bands
were pushing against the limits imposed by earlier forms of rock and roll and
expanding on the efforts of their immediate predecessors in the garage and glam
scenes.
In the end, the book offers a modicum of interesting facts
or ideas, but these are few and far between. To get to them, you have to slog through
text that is, at best, perfunctory. Discussion of the actual music,
unfortunately, takes a back seat to academic digressions on the definition of “punk”
and rhapsodizing about the changing state of rock journalism and the emergence
of alternative media. Throughout it all, Rombes comes off as someone bent on
trying to justify his mythologizing of the era through faux profundity and
academic jargon.
Assessment: 1.5 stars out of 5
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