Sorry - Sid did teach himself the bass while listening to the Ramones record, but seeing as his instrument was kept unplugged for lots of the Pistols’ gigs, that’s not saying much (<g>).
I meant that the Sex Pistols music was almost all written before they would have heard the Ramones, as pointed out by Clinton Heylin in ‘From the Velvets to the Voidoids.’ Great book, by the way. That’s not to say the Ramones aren’t one of my favourite ever bands.
I’m sorry about the professorial tone of my post - this job is really starting to cook my brain.
I love country music. Not that pop-country shit, mind you, but the real country, the hard stuff. Hank Williams Sr. and III, Waylon Jennings, David Allen Coe, it’s all great, from the heart.
As for the Sex Pistols deal, you’re right, most of their music was simultaneous with the early Ramones releases, although most people don’t realize that it was the Ramones who were responsible for bringing the Sex Pistols to the US, by playing their early records (Anarchy in the UK, etc.) on college radio stations. [See liner notes to "All the Stuff…and More (Vol.1)]
BTW since you seem to know a bit about Iggy, you ever see him live? I saw him here in FL about 1/2 a year ago. It was fucking amazing. He plays lots of old Stooges stuff in addition to his newer material. Well worth the $20 ticket.
My two favourite styles of music are (real) country and what I call ‘Killed by Death’ punk (after the compilations of obscure late seventies slop). Both styles share a simplicity and straight from the heart passion that blows me away every time. I won’t even bother talking about pop-country - it has its place in the world, I just wish it wasn’t my partner’s place (her mom loves that cheese)!
I actually have never seen Iggy live - I can’t believe it myself. Living in Melbourne - well, he’s toured here a few times in the last eight years that I’ve been into his music, but I’ve just always missed out. Strangely, I’ve never seen Lou Reed or Johnny Cash either (my other favourites). Whatever …
Thanks for that Sex Pistols/Ramones story - I hadn’t heard that. One funny story I did hear was that this US punk band called the Rotters somehow got onto Rodney Bingenheimer’s radio show (in LA) the day the Ramones were special guests and on air were asked if they liked the Ramones, to which they replied ‘No, but we love the Sex Pistols’ - silence in the studio and cut to a track … wish I was there.