End of the Century

Ah, the Ramones: the original dysfunctional punk family. They seem to have been always ugly and always in disagreement with each other, as evidenced in the documentary I watched tonight (End of the Century: Tommy, the spokesman and early producer; Joey, the group’s gangly heart-and-soul; Johnny, the sour decision-maker; and the seemingly brain-damaged troublemaker Dee Dee. But I always appreciated their aesthetic, in light of the frequent mockery that they knew only two (perhaps three) chords: “You don’t have to be good—just get out there and play.”