The story behind the story of End of the Century, the unreleased Ramones documentary, is a real heartbreaker.
[W]hile the Ramones presented a united front on their album covers — black leather jackets, canvas Converse sneakers and bowl haircuts — the band was fraught with tension and jealousy among its members. Johnny Ramone, the guitarist, ran the band like a dictator. Dee Dee Ramone, the bassist, was a heroin addict (he died of an overdose in 2002). A cast of drummers came and went because they were either too drunk, too opposed to constant touring or too upset over not getting a larger share of the money from T-shirt sales. And Joey Ramone, the singer, was dumped by his fiancée, Linda, for Johnny in the early 80's. Joey and Johnny did not talk to each other during the 15 more years the Ramones toured until they retired in 1996. Joey and Johnny, in fact, never reconciled before Joey died of lymphatic cancer in April 2001."Part of what made the Ramones great was this negative energy they had that really worked for them," said Mr. Gramaglia. "It hasn't always worked so well for us."
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Even when the movie was shown at Slamdance, the filmmakers had not obtained permission to use archival concert footage and music from the Ramones and other bands. They had also never gotten the Ramones to sign releases for their interviews, which took more than three years to conduct.
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Among its highlights are the last known interview with Joe Strummer, the Clash frontman, before he died of a heart attack in December 2002; early performance footage of the Ramones at the famous Manhattan club CBGB's, in which they fight with each other onstage over which song to play; and several hilarious observations from the spacey (but incisive) Dee Dee.
You can read the rest of the sad tale here. The filmmakers are hoping for a summer release.
