Background

By 1985, there was a considerable amount of conflicts between band members. Lead singer Joey Ramone went so far as to withdraw from the writing process despite being a vital part of it on previous records. ^[1] Joey recalled, "I'd had it with the Ramones. 'Mental Hell' is about that. Part of it came from breaking up with [his then girlfriend] Angela. The other part of was that I had really had it with the band." Consequently, the somewhat recently added member Richie Ramone stepped up to the writing process, resulting in the hit song " Somebody Put Something in My Drink", which would be released as a single in April 1986 and also appeared on the band's first compilation album Ramones Mania (1988). "Joey was always encouraging me to write songs," explained Richie, "but I didn't really need the encouragement." ^[2]

Marketing and promotion

The first single off Animal Boy was " My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)," issued first in Great Britain by Beggars Banquet Records in June 1985. "Go Home Anne" is the first B-side, and is produced by Ed Stasium and mixed by Lemmy, lead singer of Motörhead. ^{[3] [4]} There were multiple explanations given for why the single was not released in the United States. The product manager at Sire Records explained that it was both a "financial and political" decision, while there are claims at the parent company, Warner Bros. Records that "It just wasn't considered a good enough record." ^[5] The single's jacket depicted Reagan before going to Bitburg at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp giving a speech, however this was removed in later pressings. ^{[6] [7]}British newspaper Melody Maker claimed it was removed because the band received pressure from " Moral Majority, the Patriotic League of the Alamo, and the SS." ^[5]

The music video for "Something to Believe In" was a parody of benefit concert Live Aid and Hands Across America. The video was described by author Everett True to be "reassuringly foolish" and "a welcome return to [the Ramones] old sense of humor." ^[8] Several guests are featured in the video, including The B52s, Weird Al Yankovic, Spinal Tap, Ted Nugent, The Circle Jerks, Toni Basil, Rodney Bingenheimer, Holly Beth Vincent, and Afrika Bambaataa. Because the music video was praised by Warner Bros., they released "Something to Believe In" as a double A-side with " Somebody Put Something in My Drink" ^[8] "Something to Believe In" was also released with "Animal Boy" and "Crummy Stuff" in Great Britain through Beggars Banquet Records. ^{[9] [10]}

Lyrics and composition

Animal Boy featured a range of genres and musical elements that had never been seen in previous albums. Heavier and more frequent use of the synchronizer, as well as the use of extremely minimal and "gimmicky" lyrics, made critics and fans alike feel as though this was the least like their early albums, despite Animal Boy' predecessor Too Tough Too Die being acclaimed for the band returning to their roots. "The main problem with Animal Boy" explain author Everett True, "was that there was no longer one discernible Ramones sound: it sounds as disjointed as the band members probably felt. The guitar parts could've been played by anyone, and Richie's drumming was slipping away from Tommy's original template. The Ramones were turning into a 9-5 job, night not day." ^[11]

The album begins with Dee Dee singing " Somebody Put Something in My Drink", which was written by Richie who stated that he came up with the lyrics while he was dating Frankie Valli's daughter, and he mistakenly drank after someone else in a nightclub. ^[2] "Animal Boy" and "Apeman Hop" were written to have compositions similar to "Cretin Hop" from 1977's Rocket To Russia, but described by True to be "a thousandth as good." ^[12] "Love Kills" is inspired by the Alex Cox biopic Sid and Nancy (also known as Sid and Nancy: Love Kills). The lyrics explain that the couple will never be able to win with drugs, despite the writer himself, Dee Dee, died of a heroin overdose. ^[12] The fifth track, "She Belongs to Me," is a ballad written by Dee Dee and Beauvoir regarding unrequited love, and features a heavy use of synthesizers compared to that in previously released albums, which would have used a soft acoustic guitar or occasionally strings. ^[11] Side A of the album concludes with "Crummy Stuff" with Dee Dee as lead vocalist. It is especially so here that the band plays with a pop punk style, with very repetitive lyrics based on the bands past being hectic and never meeting expectations. ^[12]

Side B begins with one of the band's only politically based songs, "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)" The lyrics comprised Joey, Dee Dee, and Beauviour's feelings while watching US President Ronald Reagan visit military cemetery in Bitburg, West Germany to pay tribute to the victims of Nazism. In an interview with East Coast Rocker, Joey explained: "What Reagan did was fucked up. Everybody told him not to go, all his people told him not to go, and he went anyway. How can you fuckin' forgive the Holocaust? How can you say, 'Oh well, it's OK now?' That's crazy!" ^[13] Dee Dee also asserted that Johnny had made the band seem right winged. "It was the first time we could make a statement to show we weren't prejudiced," he explained. "We'd just had these skinheads at or gigs, punks walking around wearing swastikas." ^[13] Johnny disliked the song and went so far as to never play the song live, saying Reagan was his favorite president of his lifetime. ^[13]

Recording and production

Despite their recent positive feedback on Too Tough to Die from band members, critics, and fans, Animal Boy was not produced by Ed Stasium and Tommy Ramone. Rather, it was decided to use Jean Beauvoir. former guitarist of the Plasmatics, who had previously produced the single " Bonzo Goes to Bitburg".

Recording sessions began in December 1985 at Intergalactic Studios.

During the recording sessions sat since the 1981's studio album of the band, Pleasant Dreams , between singer Joey Ramone and guitarist Johnny Ramone continue simmering personal conflict. According to interviews with band members, this conflict when expressed album Animal Boy in particular the fact that the guitarist rejected most compositions of the singer and refused to play them. The result is that Joey Ramone is on the album with only two down in solo titles. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone in an interview with the British music magazine New Musical Express :

"It's not fair. [...] It's Johnny, man. Joey wants to present a great tune and Johnny will not do it Because it's this or it's that. [...] That's why Joey's gotta do his solo album ". [3]

In contrast, the bass player draws on Animal Boy responsible as sole or co-author of nine of the thirteen titles, including three in together with the guitarist. Joey Ramone himself also played at the time of the making of the album with the idea to release a solo album, appeared after the publication of Animal Boy , however, confident that the heaviest band internal problems have been overcome. [4]

Album Cover

For the photograph on the front cover of the album was like with the previous album The Too Tough To photographer George DuBose committed. The cover photo shows the band standing in front of a gorilla cage; Drummer Richie Ramone holding a chimpanzee in her arms. Originally the photo in the monkey house at should Bronx Zoo , which matches the Zoodirektion had refused. Alternatively, a recording session was held with his friend Legs McNeil, author of Punk Magazine , in the gorilla suit behind bars. DuBose had when recording dispense with consideration for the participating chimpanzees to flash, which is why the photo has a strong color cast. [5]

Reception

In the United States, the album entered the Billboard 200 on June 21, 1986 at 146, and rose to 143 the following week. Despite staying on the chart for six weeks, the album's peak position did not rise above 143. ^{[14] [15]} It entered the UK Album Charts on May 31, 1986 where it stayed for two weeks and reached a peak position of 38. ^[16] The album entered the Canadian charts on June 7, 1985 at number 96, ^[17] moving up to 94 a week later. ^[18] The album returned to position 96 June 21, and leaving the chart on July 12. ^{[19] [20]}On June 11 it entered the Swedish Sverigetopplistan charts where it stayed on the chart for one week at position 37. ^[21]

In the New York Times music critic Jon Pareles gave Animal Boy the title "Album of the Week" on the grounds that the Ramones "speak for all outsiders and disturbed [...] Whether they come in the top 40 or not, the Ramones are no sellout operate " [6] , while his colleague in the U.S. magazine The New Yorker , Robert Christgau, his opinion on the album as "ambiguous, between Hit or rivets" referred to [7] and criticized that the album "lacks the consistency, with which they have come out great " . [8] The author and Ramones biographer Dick Porter called Animal Boy as "the first truly lousy album" . [9]

In the UK top 40 album charts reaching Animal Boy 1986 # 31, [7] in the U.S. Billboard charts , it came in May 1986, only to number 147 [10]

The music tracks on the album (selection) [ edit ]My Brain is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg) was written by Joey Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone and was before the release on Animal Boy in 1985 in the UK under the shorter title Bonzo Goes to Bitburg released as a single. The song is the first composition in the repertoire of the Ramones, the explicitly political event of the day's events has to content. The song text is a response to the controversial visit of the German military cemetery of Bitburg in Rhineland-Palatinate on 5 May 1985 by the then U.S. President Ronald Reagan . [11] Reagan had the visit to the cemetery, where also members of the Waffen-SS are buried to a wreath-laying ceremony on the occasion of a state visit, together with the then German Chancellor Helmut Kohl completed.

The term "Bonzo", used in the song as a nickname for Reagan, by the U.S. movie Bedtime for Bonzo inspired in which Reagan played a major role - in addition to a chimpanzee with the film called "Bonzo". The lyrics criticized the visit to the cemetery with SS graves as something incomprehensible, the singer - makes stunned - Joey Ramone was a Jew. Text Quote: ".'re a politician, do not become one of Hitler's children" [12] The singer made ​​his outrage over Reagan's actions in an interview from 1985 air:

"What Reagan did what fucked up [...] How can you fuckin 'forgive the Holocaust? How can you say, 'Oh well, it's OK now?' That's crazy. " [13]

Guitarist Johnny Ramone, an avowed supporter of the U.S. Republican , Reagan referred to as the "best presidents of our lives" [14] [2] protested against the publication of the piece on the album Animal Boy with the words "You can not my President a call monkeys! " [15] Although he was only a slight enlargement of the song title by supplementing My Brain is Hanging Upside Down prevail, however, the Ramones played the song live also. Johnny Ramone was felt to subordinate his political views of music. [2] Bonzo Goes to Bitburg won in 1985 at the New York Music Awards the award "Best Independent Single" . [16]

In

• Leigh, Mickey (2009). I Slept With Joey Ramone: A Family Memoir. Touchstone Books. ISBN  978-0-7432-5216-4.
• Popoff, Martin (2010). Goldmine Standard Catalog of American Records 1948-1991. F+W Media. ISBN  9781440216213.
• Ramone, Dee Dee (2003). Legend of a Rock Star: A Memoir. Da Capo Press. ISBN  978-1-56025-389-1.
• True, Everett (2005). Hey Ho Let's Go: The Story of the Ramones. Omnibus Press. ISBN  978-1-84449-413-2.