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I've told a variation of this story to a ton of people, to specifically address the confinement of success. They had the choice of sticking with the same colle
by alrs 10y ago
I've told a variation of this story to a ton of people, to specifically address the confinement of success.
They had the choice of sticking with the same colleagues they'd worked with (and increasingly hated) for 20 years, or being record store employees. Imagine if your livelihood was tied to working only with a few other people, and one of them had a tendency to beat you up, one was a heroin addict, and the other was an OCD acid-casualty. Imagine you had to live in a bus with them for years on end.
- bogomipz 10y agoNot really, Tommy left early on as the article mentions and had a decent career as an engineer doing studio work, Dee Dee left in the mid-80s and pursued a solo career. The only constants were Johnny and Joey. There were other Ramones that article doesn't mention Elvis, CJ and Richie.
- gluelogic 10y agoThe article does mention Marky Ramone a number of times
- bogomipz 10y agoI meant Richie, I updated my comment.
- Nrsolis 10y agoI had the great pleasure of drinking with CJ Ramone on the day that my divorce was final. We closed down the bar IIRC. Great guy. Fun to talk to.
- alrs 10y agoDee Dee pursued a solo career and failed. He had to keep writing Ramones songs, only without collecting any of the touring revenue. IIRC, he was often somewhat in "debt" to the band, as they'd bail him out of jail with the requirement that he would provide songs for the next album, even though he was no longer a full member. Career-wise, CBGB was a ticket to nothing. I've never bought a solo album by anyone who was in Blondie, Talking Heads, or the Ramones, but I do remember seeing that stuff in the used discount bins, unwanted.
- amouat 10y agoHa, I think David Byrne has had a pretty successful career by any standard!
- bogomipz 10y agoWe'll he collected publishing money,and a flat fee. He didn't do it for free. David Byrne had an amazing and wonderful career and he came out of CBGB. Blondie as well. I'm sure Blondie lives off of the publishing from songs on Parallel Lines. A lifetime of passive income? I'm not sure I would call that a ticket to nowhere.
- alrs 10y agoIf Blondie or the Talking Heads broke up after the first year we would have never heard of them. Byrne has done OK, but couldn't have bankrolled his label without his 80s Heads income.
- ams6110 10y agoI don't know -- after a year or two with regular gigs at CBGB they could all have very likely easily found work with (or started) other bands. They (at least Johnny and Joey) chose to stay together because the band was more important to them than their personal feelings towards one another, not because they had no other viable options.
- BurningFrog 10y agoTenure at universities has a similar effect. You have a job for life, but you're stuck with the other equally unfirable people. I suspect that is one reason personal feuds in academia can be so bitter and last so many decades.