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Summary
Summary
"BLITZKRIEG BOP." "ROCKAWAY BEACH.""I WANNA BE SEDATED." "SHEENA IS A PUNK ROCKER.""ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL."When the Ramones recorded their debut album in 1976, it heralded the true birth of punk rock. Fast and frenetic in their leather jackets and torn jeans, the Ramones gave voice to the disaffected youth of the seventies and eighties, influenced countless bands, and inspired the counterculture for decades to come.Born Jeffry Hyman of Queens, New York, Joey Ramone was the quirky, extraordinary lead singer and cofounder of the band. Hiding his face behind signature sunglasses and a mop of dark hair, he helped define punk's early image, and his two-decade-plus tenure as the Ramones' front man made him unforgettable. Told by Joey's brother, Mickey Leigh,I Slept with Joey Ramoneprovides an intimate look at the turbulent life of one of America's greatest -- and unlikeliest -- music icons.With honesty, humor, and grace, Mickey shares the fascinating, sometimes troubling story of growing up with an emotionally distressed brother who becomes a rock star and the effect it had on their family. He shows how Joey used music to cope with mental illness; embraced the glam nightlife of the New York scene; launched CBGB alongside bands like the Talking Heads and Blondie; and brought punk to Britain, clashing with the Sex Pistols and changing music history.Ultimately, betrayal and infighting would end the band. While the music lives on for new generations to discover,I Slept with Joey Ramone is the enduring portrait of a man who struggled to find his voice and of the brother who loved him.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Singer-songwriter Joey Ramone, who cofounded the rock group the Ramones in 1974, died of lymphatic cancer at age 49 in 2001. Born Jeff Hyman in Manhattan, he grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, with low self-esteem and what is described as an obsessive compulsive disorder, but he soon escaped to Greenwich Village, where he became a punk pioneer. Commercial success was elusive. While the Ramones remained an underground band, they are regarded today as a huge influence on the entire punk rock movement. Joey's brother, Mickey Leigh (who formed his own band), recreates that electric era, striking all the right chords in this dynamic biography. With skillful writing, he finds Joey's musical roots in their dysfunctional family life. As they attempted to deal with their mother's divorce and remarriage, the accidental death of their stepfather, financial worries and neighborhood bullies, their interest in rock, drugs and far-out fashions escalated. With angst-ridden anecdotes, the book traces the trajectory of the Ramones over two decades, from early gigs and recording sessions through sibling rivalry, feuds, fights, eccentric escapades and 2,000-plus performances before they disbanded in 1996. Leigh and Legs's mashup of memories with solid research makes for revelatory reading in this compelling portrait of a musical misfit who evolved into a countercultural icon. (Dec. 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Leigh (ne Mitch Hyman) offers an insider's perspective on the household in which brother Jeffrey grew up and of Jeffrey's subsequent exploits in the Ramones (Jeffrey was Joey). Of recording with Phil Spector, Joey observed, Phil would make us run through the song a thousand times . . . and then he'd get drunk, start stomping the floor, cursing . . . and that would be the end of the session. As for Joey's contentious relationship with tough-guy guitarist Johnny Ramone, Leigh quotes drummer Tommy Ramone: Johnny liked Joey as much as Johnny liked anybody, which says much about the band's inner workings. Leigh illuminates Joey's mental health problems with his own memories, providing context for the struggle it was for Joey to assert himself. Eventually, Joey became the most quotable Ramone and the lyricist of such anthems as I Wanna Be Sedated and The KKK Took My Baby Away. Adding the first person accounts of family, friends, colleagues, and industry professionals to his own testimony, Leigh makes an essential addition to the Ramones files.--Tribby, Mike Copyright 2009 Booklist
Kirkus Review
The late Joey Ramone is feted with tough love in these cradle-to-grave memories from his kid brother Mickey Leigh (born Mitch Hyman). In Leigh's collaboration with longtime punk journalist McNeil (co-author: The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry, 2005, etc.), Joey Ramone (born Jeff Hyman) is the classic middle-class misfit whose salvation came in the rock 'n' roll teen culture of the late 1960s. Growing up in suburban Forest Hills, N.Y., Leigh witnessed his sickly, awkward OCD brother transform from a freakish, sometimes violent kid to a moon-booted glam-rocker known as "Jeff Starship." In the early '70s Jeff transformed againinto Joey Ramone, the charismatic Ramones frontman and punk-rock heartthrob. Although Leigh planned to pursue his own dreams of rock stardom, initially he settled for being the Ramones' underpaid roadie. From this vantage point he saw the band's rise to international cult stardom through New York City's fledgling CBGB punk scene. He also experienced firsthand the Ramones' perpetually dysfunctional, dark netherworld governed by the near-psychotic dictatorial ways of guitar player Johnny Ramone. Frustrated and broke, Leigh eventually cut his professional ties with the Ramones and pursued a series of dead-end musical and occupational activities. When the author focuses on his own uphill battles, the memoir hits occasional snags. He hit up Joey for residual money for his backup vocals on the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop"used in a 1991 Budweiser commercialand had constant feuds with his brother about songwriting credit on their several musical collaborations. This belated demand for money and recognition seems somewhat hypocritical, especially considering Leigh had previously been determined to stake out his own identity apart from the Ramones. Nevertheless, Leigh showed dogged persistence in the face of constant futility. Sadly, though, it took Joey's losing bout with cancer to fully reconcile the two brothers' differences and bring them together again. Overlong but intermittently fascinating behind-the-scenes look at one of punk's most unlikely icons. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Don't be fooled by the title-this isn't another contrived memoir from a Ramones groupie or hanger-on. Rather, this is a heartfelt and revealing portrait of the late Joey Ramone by his brother, Leigh, and onetime friend McNeil (coauthor, Please Kill Me). Written without apprehension or vanity, the book is far from idol worship. And though it excels at sharing unflattering truths like Ramone's social troubles as an awkward, gangly teen and the start of messy obsessive-compulsive issues that led to stays in mental wards, Leigh's narrative of his life with a future punk legend only provides a more complete and compassionate picture of his big brother. He writes of Ramone berating their mother and brotherly conflicts resulting in Ramone asking friends to choose sides, but from page one to the final passages of being at his side as he died from lymphoma, it's clear Leigh wrote this enlightening book with love and respect. VERDICT The singer's myriad multigenerational fans will cherish this touching portrait, as will lovers of rock music in general, especially those with brothers. [See a Q&A with the authors in BookSmack!, 11/19/09.]-Robert Morast, Fargo, ND (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
PROLOGUE I t was one of those crystal-clear evenings in the late winter of 1969. My mother, my brother, and I had recently moved into a new high-rise apartment building in Forest Hills, Queens, with a spectacular view of Manhattan. I was sitting in our new bedroom with Arlene, a friend who'd stopped by after our last class at Forest Hills High School. We could see the entire skyline from my bed by the window and watched the sun set over Manhattan. Arlene gazed at the city lights as I passed her the joint. All of a sudden, on the other side of the bedroom there was a stirring beneath a huge, homegrown pile of rubble. It was as if this unidentifiable mass of a mess had taken on an animated life of its own. "What's that!?" Arlene asked in a hushed but urgent tone; she was ready to bolt should the inexplicable commotion continue. "Oh, that's my brother," I answered, deadpan. On one side of the bedroom by the window was your average teenage mess, plus a few oddities: a skinny ten-inch-long mirrored hash pipe made by Mexican Indians; an eight-track tape deck; an issue of the East Village Other ; a copy of How to Talk Dirty and Influence People by Lenny Bruce; and some guitar picks. On the other side, my brother's side, was the pile. It had levels, or more like tiers: clean and dirty shirts; pants, socks, and assorted underwear; a pair of brown suede, calf-high fringed boots (like the ones Ian Anderson wore on the cover of the Jethro Tull album Stand Up ); all covered by a huge Afghan shepherd's coat. Below, in another layer, were records, newspapers, rock magazines, and wrappers and boxes from various food groups, all surrounded by dishes, cups, and glasses that doubled as ashtrays, containing liquids that had created multicolored foam--beer-mug-type heads that had risen up to and above the rims of the glasses. Sheets and blankets snaked their way in and out of the living sculpture. An unseen mattress lay on the floor supporting the escalating geological wonder that was my brother's side of the room. "Uh, are you sure that's him?" Arlene asked, somewhat confused, in that I hadn't even glanced over in the direction of the mysterious mass. "I don't see anybody." "Yeah, that's him," I replied, "unless there's a new tenant in there that I don't know about." Arlene giggled, half genuinely, half nervously. Hearing our voices, my brother cleared through enough of the debris to pop his head up and see what was going on. His sunglasses were already on. They were rarely off. "Hey, how ya doin'?" he said to Arlene. They'd seen each other around the neighborhood. "I'm okay," Arlene said to my brother. "Did we wake you up?" Looking out the window and seeing that it was almost dark, my brother replied, "No, no, that's okay, I was up." As he started to clear his way out of the heap, we realized he didn't have any pants on. Arlene said, "You know, I kinda gotta get goin'. I told Alan I'd stop upstairs." "Yeah," I said. "My mom will be home soon, anyway." I moved to the middle of the room to shield Arlene's view. I didn't have many girls come over after that. My brother--the guy without the pants--lived on to become Joey Ramone, with quite an amazing story. I lived on to tell it. © 2009 Mickey Leigh Excerpted from I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Family Memoir by Mickey Leigh All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Table of Contents
Author's Note | p. IX |
Prologue | p. XI |
1 I Slept with Joey Ramone-and His Mother Too! | p. 1 |
2 The Day the Music Lived | p. 7 |
3 "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" | p. 13 |
4 "Wipeout!" | p. 20 |
5 All Fall Down | p. 29 |
6 The Hills Are Alive! | p. 35 |
7 It Ain't Us, Dad | p. 44 |
8 Wild in the Streets! | p. 51 |
9 The Seekers | p. 59 |
10 "They're Coming to Take Me Away!" | p. 69 |
11 A Little Genius in Every Madman | p. 74 |
12 In with the Outpatients | p. 80 |
13 "I'm Eighteen and I Don't Care" | p. 89 |
14 Gall that Glitters | p. 98 |
15 Out-Zapping Zappa | p. 109 |
16 "1-2-3-4!" | p. 119 |
17 Like Coffee for Jesus | p. 131 |
IB Will the Kids Be Alright? | p. 143 |
19 "Today Your Loveà" | p. 153 |
20 "...Tomorrow, the World" | p. 164 |
21 "I Wanna Be Sedated" | p. 177 |
22 Ding Dong! | p. 183 |
23 Alcoholic Synonymous | p. 198 |
24 Grill the Messenger | p. 211 |
25 Tomorrow Never Happens | p. 219 |
26 I'll Have the Happy Meal-to Go! | p. 227 |
27 It's the Rum Talking | p. 237 |
28 "They Say It's Your Birthday" | p. 250 |
20 We're the Monkeys! | p. 261 |
30 "The Bottle Is Empty, but the Belly Is Full" | p. 270 |
31 "Gimme Some Truth" | p. 283 |
32 Clowns for Progress | p. 300 |
33 Sibling Revelry | p. 318 |
34 Murphy's Roar | p. 323 |
85 Lowlights in the Highlands | p. 332 |
36 "Weird, Right?" | p. 339 |
37 "Too Tough to Die"? | p. 345 |
38 "Be My Baby" | p. 351 |
39 The Old Man and the Seafood | p. 362 |
40 A New Beginning for Old Beginners | p. 369 |
41 "In a Little While" | p. 373 |
Acknowledgments | p. 399 |