code-bleu's Full Review: We're a Happy Family: A Tribute to the Ramones
To me, cover songs are like a fat cheeseburger and a plate of greasy fries at your local junk food joint. When you’re properly receptive and they’re done just right, it can be a fantastic experience - Sinead O’Connor’s version of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” and Aretha Franklin’s rendition of Otis Redding’s “Respect” spring immediately to mind. (Or, at the very least, they can be an interesting interpretation, such as nine inch nails’s frenzied overhaul of Queen’s “Get Down Make Love” or The Mike Flowers Pops’s campy remake of “Wonderwall” by Oasis.) When done badly, however, they can double you over and leave you praying for death - witness Britney Spears destroying “I Love Rock N’ Roll” or Pat Boone sucking all the fun out of “Tutti Frutti.” And let’s not forget Whitney Houston’s update of Dolly Parton's “I Will Always Love You,” the official theme song of Hell. As anyone who’s ever been forced to listen to some drunk screech his way through “More Than Words” or “Born To Be Wild” at a karaoke bar can attest, cover songs can be very tricky things.
What I like about a good cover song is that it can give you insight into an artist’s or band’s tastes and influences and often deepens your appreciation for their own music. Some groups, like The Rolling Stones, began their career doing nothing but covers - “Little Red Rooster,” “Not Fade Away,” “I’m A King Bee” - which provided the blueprints for many of their own classics. The boasting and womanizing of Muddy Waters’s “Mannish Boy” can clearly be heard in “Stray Cat Blues” while Robert Johnson’s anguished “Love In Vain” echoes in “Wild Horses.” Cover songs by your favorite singers can also motivate you to delve deeper into the past and discover the music of the original artist(s). If not for Nirvana’s beautiful version of “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam,” it’s a safe bet virtually no one would know about The Vaselines. Had Jane’s Addiction not covered “Ripple,” an entire generation might have come and gone without believing The Grateful Dead to be anything more than a bunch of aged hippies whose lead singer had a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor named for him.
Much has been written about the enormous legacy of The Ramones since the untimely deaths of lead singer Joey Ramone and bassist Dee Dee Ramone. The Stooges may have come first and The Sex Pistols may have made a bigger media splash and The Clash may have been more versatile both musically and lyrically, but The Ramones remain the epitome of the punk band even today. Their songs were brutal, rapid-fire slices of melodic noise that addressed the usual teenage topics of boredom (“Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue”), hopeless infatuation (“I’m Affected”), and the desire for a good time (“Rockaway Beach”), as well as nonsense for nonsense’s sake (“Teenage Lobotomy,” “Pet Sematary”). Their concerts typically clocked in at under half an hour (something for which The Jesus & Mary Chain would also be notorious, years later), they shunned lavish costumes, pyrotechnics, and distracting stage personnel like midgets or strippers (a sentiment shared by other just-get-up-there-and-play punk/hardcore bands from the late-eighties like Fugazi), and didn’t bother with trying to blend other musical styles into the sound they did best (a practice the old Guns N’ Roses should have followed; anybody remember Axl screaming “Gimme some reggae!” in the middle of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” from Live Era '87-'93?). The Ramones always put the music first and for that, millions of bands around the world loved and respected them.
The influence of The Ramones can still be seen and heard in the new millennium, from the veteran power pop of Lit and blink-182 to the new wave of scruffy garage bands like The Strokes and The Vines. Groups like Skid Row and Elastica appropriated the now-famous cover art of The Ramones’s self-titled LP for their own debut discs, and The Donnas even ‘share’ the same name (Donna A, Donna R, etc.). The time was perfect, then, to honor the Godfathers Of Punk.
At least three other Ramones tribute albums have already been released, but while those mostly featured relative unknowns, We’re A Happy Family, the new collection produced by Rob Zombie and original band member Johnny Ramone, is heavily stocked with some of the top acts in the biz. And unlike some other tribute albums that either should have remained in the conceptual stage (A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC, The String Quartet Tribute To Incubus) or are grossly premature (a tribute to Staind? Dave Matthews Band? Avril Lavigne, for crying out loud?), this CD, for the most part, gets it right and will remind fans why they dug The Ramones in the first place.
Things kick off, oddly enough, with the Red Hot Chili Peppers taking “Havana Affair” very seriously, infusing it with a slow, steamy funk as Anthony Kiedis croons the words without a hint of sarcasm (something Johnny Ramone reportedly found quite amusing). Anyone expecting another revved-up rocker along the lines of their version of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” will be caught (pleasantly) off-guard. Eddie Vedder teams up with punk revivalists Zeke for a blistering delivery of “I Believe In Miracles” that sells you on the stubborn optimism of the lyrics. If you liked Pearl Jam’s powerhouse covers of The Dead Boys’s “Sonic Reducer” and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World” then this track will put a smile on your face.
Rob Zombie - himself no stranger to cover songs, having recorded tunes by Black Sabbath and KC & The Sunshine Band with his old outfit White Zombie - is the primary creative force behind the tribute. Besides sifting through offers from numerous bands eager to pay their respects, he also did the Ratfink-style cover art and got Stephen King to pen the introduction. “Blitzkrieg Bop” is his own contribution, an industrial-strength crowd-pleaser delivered in his usual sneering croak that serves as a reminder that despite the horror-movie folderol he’s taken to swaddling his own music in, he can shred with the best of them.
Marilyn Manson have already put their unique stamp on works by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, David Bowie, and John Lennon, and here transform “The KKK Took My Baby Away” into a gloomy gothic lament similar to their own “Man That You Fear” and “Coma White.” On The flip side, singer/songwriter Pete Yorn’s take on “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” is warm, sincere, and damn near irresistible. Any guy hoping to win over the girl of his dreams with a mix tape needs to include this tune.
The Offspring - who have also covered The Buzzcocks, The Damned, and T.S.O.L. - donate their rendition of “I Wanna Be Sedated,” which first appeared in 1999 as a bonus track on the Japanese release of their “Why Don’t You Get A Job?” single. I’ve always liked The Offspring, but their carbon copy performance sounds like it was taken from a studio warm-up session; Dexter Holland’s vocal in particular feels like it’s on autopilot. Granted, there probably aren’t many different ways to do the song, but a bit more enthusiasm wouldn’t have hurt.
Faring better is “I Just Wanna Have Something To Do” by Garbage, who have previously tipped their hats to Big Star, The Seeds, and The Jam. Shirley Manson and Company rediscover the boredom of adolescence and channel that frustrated energy into a universal rally cry that will keep the heads banging. Similarly, Green Day do their forebears proud with a tight run-through of “Outsider” while Rancid rip into “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker” with a glee that’s as infectious as it is honest. KISS tops them all, however, as they have a stomping good time reminiscing about the old days in “Do You Remember Rock N’ Roll Radio,” proving that after twenty-plus years in music, they still know how to raise the roof.
Metallica don’t do anything special with "53rd & 3rd” despite its suitably sloppy, lo-fi sound, though diehard fans will probably want to hear it anyway. U2 win the What Are They Doing Here? award with “Beat On The Brat,” contrasting the beefy guitar riff with Bono’s sleepy vocals. Not bad, but it ultimately falls into the same category as their covers of “Unchained Melody” and “Fortunate Son” - for completists only.
The Pretenders’s reproduction of “Something To Believe In” is one of the disc’s highlights, an easy-going number lifted into the realm of greatness by Chrissie Hynde’s fragile, wounded voice. Rooney have released only a handful of EPs thus far in their young career (their major-label debut comes out in March) but if their melancholy treatment of “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” is any indication, they’re a band to watch out for. The most memorable cover, though, may just belong to Tom Waits, howling and caterwauling as only he can in a demented presentation of “Return Of Jackie & Judy.” There’s something primal about the distorted vocals and booming drumbeats; they bring to mind images of ancient tribes chanting around a fire in the dead of night. You’ll either be completely spellbound or annoyed as all get out, there’s no middle ground.
A second contribution from Eddie Vedder and Zeke - “Daytime Dilemma (Dangers Of Love)” - is included, as well as “Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World,” a hidden track by John Frusciante. Whether or not these songs will be included on future pressings is unknown, so get your copy now.
This could easily have been expanded into a double-disc set, since a number of Ramones standards were left untouched (“Rock N’ Roll High School,” “Psycho Therapy”) and covers by other bands don’t appear (“I Can’t Give You Anything” by the late Soundgarden, “Danny Says” by Foo Fighters). I guess Rob and Johnny wanted to keep it as short and sweet as a genuine Ramones album. The booklet contains some great photos of the band as well as some hilariously breathless promotional ad copy - “You Really Won’t Believe The Things They Do!” - though Stephen King’s intro is little more than self-indulgent, trying-too-hard-to-be-witty rambling only marginally connected to The Ramones. Despite its shortcomings, We’re A Happy Family is well worth getting. Besides, some of the proceeds of the sale of the album will go to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, so you can get your kicks and make a difference at the same time.
By the way, I wasn’t kidding about that tribute album to Avril Lavigne. Do a search on Amazon.com and see what pops up. The Ramones could have done a funny song about that, I bet. And it would have rocked. Naturally.
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