Own Your Onus

Album: Ramones, Animal Boy, 1986

Best Track: "Love Kills"

Lasting Memory: To my ears, the best song on Animal Boy is the Dee Dee Ramone-penned eulogy/cautionary tale "Love Kills." The song is about the doomed-because-drug-fueled romance between Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and American lost girl Nancy Spungeon. The love affair is excellently captured in the movie Sid & Nancy, so every time I listen to Animal Boy, I think of the movie.

The person who put together this fanvid also seems to also have had trouble separating the movie from real life and from the chanson d'hommage.

It's more than a little ironic that Dee Dee Ramone would warn listeners about the dangers of heroin use and the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, since he was addicted to both. Takes one to warn another, I guess.

And it's not like Dee Dee was alone among his bandmates in having addiction problems. Noted drinker Joey Ramones contributed no less than three songs about his highball hobby to Animal Boy--"Somebody Put Something in My Drink," "Crummy Stuff," and "Hair of the Dog."

I wonder if the Ramones were cagey enough to claim their drug and drink costs as business expenses? Their iniquities did lead to some pretty kickass songs.

Up Next: Ramones, Brain Drain, 1989