Music for the masses
Tribute album not totally generic
By Jordan Blum
News Editor

The Ramones helped give birth to punk music in the mid-1970s. Their music was a simple three-chord punk structure, but their place in music will always remain among such punk founders as The Clash and The Sex Pistols.

Now, with the deaths of Joey and Dee Dee Ramone in the last couple of years, it was only a matter of time before a tribute album was thrown together to capitalize off their deaths.

Strangely, heavy metal rocker Rob Zombie (with the aid of guitarist Johnny Ramone) ended up being the one to round up an eclectic group of musicians who made “We’re a Happy Family — A Tribute to Ramones.”

Most tribute albums turn out to be generic and overwhelmingly disappointing, but with a widely-varied group of singers ranging from Marilyn Manson to Rancid to Pete Yorn, “We’re a Happy Family” turns out to be interesting to say the least.

Sure, some of the songs miss and end up rather butchered, but several others either hit the mark or at least put an interesting spin on the original song. The end result turns out to be an album definitely worth a listen, if not a must buy.

This could have easily been an album of modern punk bands simply trying to recreate Ramones tunes to their best of their abilities, which simply wouldn’t be worth hearing when you can go out and buy the real thing on a Ramones compilation album.

Here we have some songs similar to the originals with others turning out to be re-transformations more than remakes.

The album starts off with its best song, the Red Hot Chili Peppers doing “Havana Affair.” What was first a humorous punk song is skillfully crafted into a soulful and melancholy tune by Anthony Kiedis and company that could easily be a major radio hit today.

Unfortunately, Rob Zombie follows the first track with a ridiculous metal/punk version of the classic, “Blitzkrieg Pop,” which just isn’t worth describing or hearing.

Marilyn Manson also butchers Joey Ramone and the old crew with a Goth version “The KKK Took My Baby Away.” Fortunately, one metal band does manage to come through as Metallica does a really nice job with the hit song about male prostitution, “53rd & 3rd.”

Surprisingly, Irish rockers U2 do a great job slowing down and transforming “Beat On the Brat,” while staying true to the three-chord structure.

On the other hand, bands like The Offspring and Green Day try to replicate hits like “I Wanna Be Sedated” and “Outsider,” but with these you’re simply just better off listening to the rough original Ramones versions. Fortunately, Rancid has a great ultra up-tempo version of “Sheena is a Punk Rocker.”

Pete Yorn (not someone you would associate with punk by any means) successfully slows down and recreates “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” and The Pretenders do the same with “Something to Believe In,” a song the Ramones really weren’t even successful with.

Likewise, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam fame shows he’s still alive with a couple of nice recreations of marginal Ramones songs.

So, while this may not be a great album, the varied mixture of top names alone makes it worth checking out. Some die-hard Ramones fans may not be pleased with some of the liberties taken on the songs, but who wants exact replicas of songs by bands who can’t hold a candle to the Ramones’ legacy?

Jordan Blum