End Of The Century - The Story Of The Ramones

Joey Ramone would never have dreamed that one day a street would be named after him. And yet this is precisely what occurred in December 2003, when, two years after Joey’s death, the junction at Second Street and Bowery was indeed named after the front man of the world’s first punk band. The aforementioned junction is not far from CBGB’s, the club where the Ramones’ career began.
This film is another monument to the band. In a mixture of original archive footage and interviews with band members, friends and fans, the documentary recalls this band from Queens, New York who, clad in black leather jackets and with the legendary “three chords” of their song, one, two, three, four, succeeded in putting the rock ‘n’ roll back into the ossified rock music of the time. The Ramones’ rise to stardom on the New York underground scene during the mid-seventies was as fast and furious as their songs and – Gabba Gabba Hey – knew no bounds: legend has it that the Ramones conquered Great Britain on 4 July (!), 1976. It is also said that the audience at their first gig in London included just about all the musicians who were later to become members of The Clash, The Sex Pistols and The Damned as well as Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders.
The band’s intense ups were followed by downs of equal intensity. For this reason, this portrait necessarily tackles such issues as drugs and alcohol; it also examines the band’s arguments and their exploitation at the hands of the music industry. In fact, END OF THE CENTURY strives to be as faithful in recounting this aspect of the Ramones’ story as the band’s music was honest. Hey, Ho, let’s go!