the-ramones

Simon Price on the Ramones’ first two London shows, at the Roundhouse and Dingwalls in July 1976, and the case for the band being a lot cleverer than they sounded. He talks to people who were there, including Captain Sensible, whose main memory of Dingwalls is wondering why they hadn’t cut their hair. Price also tidies up some punk folklore: the first song Buzzcocks rehearsed after that Sex Pistols gig in Manchester was ‘Judy Is A Punk’. Morrissey, meanwhile, wrote to Melody Maker that month calling them degenerate no-talents, and was a convert by the following year.