The House of Neil

This Site Is Dead! Last updated some time in 2002. Here for archival purposes. This is where the action is.

House of Neil, May 2001

No Hate Page this time. This time I want to share some thoughts on the untimely passing of Joey Ramone. You have probably read a lot of Joey's obituaries, most written by other musicians or by people who knew him well. Everybody talked about what a great guy he was, what an inspiration etc. I never was fortunate enough to meet Joey, but he and the Ramones changed my life. This isn't me showing off about how long I've been "in the scene". It's not about that. It's some random thoughts on how the Ramones and punk rock inspired me to be somebody different from the crowd. It may also illustrate to some younger kids that it wasn't always easy to be "alternative"

Before I heard the Ramones for the first time I was a bookworm. I was a model student, never in trouble. Always did as I was told and never questioned anything. Music was never a big part of my life. Sure I liked The Sweet in the early 70s, and I bought the occasional 7", but nothing ever moved me. My brother is 6 years older than me, and was heavily into music. Mid 70s he was into Zeppelin, Yes Aerosmith etc. I never liked any of that, even though he tried to get me too. The closest I ever came was when he played T. Rex, another favorite of his. I dug that, but it seemed untouchable to me: it didn't speak to me. Then in 1977 one of his friends came over and brought with him the 3 albums that would change my life: the first Clash album, a punk compilation album, and the first Ramones album. He left them at our house on loan for a few days. I heard them and was completely blown away. This music touched me. It spoke to me and inspired me with its speed and simplicity. My brother didn't like it much, and maybe that's what made me like it even more. I taped the Ramones album while he wasn't looking and played it constantly on my piece of crap cassette player (you remember, the ones with the piano style keys on the front?). I only had 1 tape, so the Clash would have to wait. The punk compilation was put out by Sire and had a picture of a leather-jacketed punk spitting beer at the camera lens. It had tracks by Patti Smith, Boomtown Rats, Ramones, Dead Boys and some other New York bands. I loved looking at the liner notes and the pictures. It was a different world and one that I wanted to be a part of somehow.

The summer holidays rolled around, and I would take the cassette player to the park and listen to the Ramones until the battery ran out. I didn't know anybody else who liked this type of music though, so I couldn't do anything with it yet, plus I had no money. I was a 14-year-old kid in flared jeans and a bowl haircut. The albums had gone back, but I didn't forget them. Christmas 1977 I received some money and a record token from a distant relative. Armed with this I ventured over to Liverpool and bought the first Clash album on New Years Eve 1977. The guy didn't want to sell it to me: "are you sure this is what you want?" he said. Damned right! Punk was a real threat back then. It was considered dangerous and subversive. Mainstream record stores wouldn't carry punk records, or if they did, they had their own section at the back. One local record store kept them under the counter! You had to ask to see "the punk box", and they would bring up a box of punk albums and singles like it was porn or something! Anyway, that Clash album was my rite of passage into a new world, and I still own it! It's scratched and beat to hell, but I wouldn't sell it for $1000.

I started listening to more and more punk. Whenever I had the money I would buy singles, with the odd album thrown in. "No More Heroes" by the Stranglers was my second album, followed closely by "Another Music in a Different Kitchen" by the Buzzcocks, and the first Generation X album. I had seen the Buzzcocks in their TV special B'dum B'dum, and had fallen in love with the songs and with their look. No leathers here! Shirts, ties, short hair, straight leg trousers. I could do that! The Buzzcocks came to Liverpool on the Love Bites tour in October 1978, so I got my courage up and bought tickets with a couple of other guys from my school who were flirting with it too. That was scary, but the funnest time. When I got to the Liverpool Empire I wanted to leave! There were all these punks outside, spitting, smashing bottles etc. What was I doing here? I still had the bowl cut and flares! I ventured in though, and had a fucking blast.

After the show I made a vow: goodbye to Neil the geek! I had been shown the way. First thing to go was the hair. Nothing exotic of course: this was 1978 and I was only 15. I got a side part, but most importantly had it cut short! You could see my ears and it was above the collar! Doesn't sound too rad today, but back then it was earth shattering. That Monday at school I was a laughingstock, but I did notice that within a few weeks a lot of other kids got their hair cut short too! Next we had to fix the wardrobe. Nothing too radical mind youÑmy mum wouldn't have that! The biggest thing was finding some straight legs. Kids today couldn't imagine how hard it was to find straights back in the day, at least in Wallasey, England. Flares had been in for about a decade. Finding a shop that sold straights was next to impossible, especially in my size as I was super skinny. I found one place that had them in my size. They were black cords by a company called Walrus, but I couldn't be picky! I had some straight leg pants at last! I would wear them with a white school shirt and tie, the tie hung low with Ramones and Buzzcocks badges on it. Not exactly bondage pants and leather, and back then it was enough to get me funny looks from the squares, angry looks from the sweats (heavy metal kids who were the dominant youth faction), and instant camaraderie from any other punks in town.

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