My Brain is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)
Encyclopedia
"Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" is a song by American punk rock
band the Ramones
. Initially issued as a single in Great Britain by Beggars Banquet Records
in 1985, it did not receive an American single release. An emotionally charged protest of the visit by U.S. president Ronald Reagan
to a German cemetery where SS
combatants were buried, it was a major critical success. Though it was available in the United States only as an import, it became a hit on college radio. The following year, retitled "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)", it appeared on the band's album Animal Boy
. The second version of the title is the one used on subsequent live and compilation albums.
to a military cemetery in Bitburg
, West Germany
, on May 5, 1985. Reagan laid a wreath at the cemetery and then gave a public address at a nearby air base. The visit was part of a trip paying tribute to the victims of Nazism
and celebrating West Germany's revival as a powerful, democratic U.S. ally.
Reagan's plan to visit the Bitburg cemetery had been widely criticized in the United States, Europe, and Israel because among the approximately 2,000 German soldiers buried there were 49 members of the Waffen-SS
. This was the combat arm of the SS
, the paramilitary organization that helped run the Nazi extermination camps and committed many other atrocities, including the murder of American POWs. Among those vehemently opposed to the trip were Jewish and veterans' groups and both houses of the U.S. Congress. The phrase "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" was coined by protesters in the weeks leading up to Reagan's trip. Employed as an epithet for Reagan, Bonzo is actually the name of the chimpanzee title character in Bedtime for Bonzo
; Reagan was the top-billed actor in the 1951 film comedy. The phrase also echoes the title of the film's sequel, Bonzo Goes to College
(1952), though Reagan did not appear in that picture.
Before departing for Germany, Reagan ignited more controversy when he expressed his belief that the soldiers buried at Bitburg "were victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps." In his remarks immediately after the cemetery visit, Reagan said that "the crimes of the SS must rank among the most heinous in human history", but noted that many of those interred at Bitburg were "simply soldiers in the German army.... There were thousands of such soldiers for whom Nazism meant no more than a brutal end to a short life."
Discussing the inspiration for the song, Ramones lead singer Joey Ramone
, a Jew, explained that the president "sort of shit on everybody." Interviewed in 1986, he said,
Joey shares writing credit with Ramones bassist Dee Dee Ramone
and Ramones producer and former Plasmatics
bassist/keyboardist Jean Beauvoir
. Commentators on the song tend to suggest that Joey was its primary author. Mickey Leigh, Joey's brother, who was particularly close with Dee Dee, claims that while "everyone believed Joey had been the impetus to write the song ... it was actually Dee Dee."
s Jon Young calls it "part exorcism and part slapstick comedy". David Corn
describes the beginning of the refrain—"Bonzo goes to Bitburg/then goes out for a cup of tea/As I watched it on TV/somehow it really bothered me"—as "snarled" by Joey over a "power-pop beat and melodic hooks galore". Salon.com
arts editor Bill Wyman writes of Johnny Ramone
"lob[bing] guitar bombs" amid the song's "Spectorian
, rushing production" and of "Joey's pained, pleading voice". Douglas Wolk
fits the song into his general view of Joey Ramone as different from his many musical imitators in that "he never, ever sneered": "the tone of 'Bonzo Goes to Bitburg'", writes Wolk, "isn't contemptuous, just confused and angry."
. The single's first B-side, "Go Home Ann", by Dee Dee and Mickey Leigh, was produced by Ed Stasium
and mixed by Motörhead lead singer Lemmy. The second B-side, "Daytime Dilemma (Dangers of Love)", had previously appeared on the Ramones' 1984 album, Too Tough to Die
. Sources at the Ramones' U.S. label, Sire Records
, and its parent company, Warner Bros. Records
, gave differing reasons for not releasing the single in America: The Sire products manager said the decision was "both financial and political"; an anonymous Warner Bros. source claimed, "It just wasn't considered a good enough record." The original jacket of the single included a photograph of Reagan speaking at the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
just hours before his trip to Bitburg; this image was removed in subsequent pressings. Melody Maker
blamed its elimination on pressure from the "Moral Majority
, the Patriotic League of the Alamo
, and the SS."
The Ramones' Animal Boy
LP, released by both Sire and Beggars Banquet in 1986, included "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg". According to Robert Christgau
, the album version was remixed. The title was altered to "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)" to placate Johnny, a staunch conservative, fervent Reagan supporter, and devotee of Nazi paraphernalia. "Go Home Ann" has never been included on an official Ramones original or compilation album.
The "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" single did not chart in Great Britain. Though available only as an import in 1985, it was put into rotation by many American college radio stations, and record stores that handled imports reported robust sales. It inspired Steven Van Zandt
to request Joey's participation in his Artists United Against Apartheid
single "Sun City
", released that October, in which Joey sang a line again protesting Reagan's policies. The single was also a major critical success. Reviewing it for Spin, John Leland
wrote,
In the annual Pazz & Jop Critics Poll
conducted by The Village Voice
, "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" was ranked the fifth best single of 1985. In his review of Animal Boy, Rolling Stone
s David Fricke
called the song "brilliant". He wrote that it "vividly captures the sense of helplessness and confusion felt by rock youth in the Age of Reagan". Salon's Wyman retrospectively describes it as "the group's greatest song and [Joey's] greatest vocal performance".
. The studio version was used in the soundtrack of the film
School of Rock
(2003). Several bands have recorded cover versions: The Agnews on the anthology album Gabba Gabba Hey: A Tribute to the Ramones
(1991); The Huntingtons
on their album File Under Ramones
(1999); Blanks 77
on the Ramones Maniacs
tribute album (2001); Wednesday Night Heroes
on their Move to Press EP (2005); Trashlight Vision
on their album Alibis and Ammunition (2006); and MxPx
on their album On the Cover II
(2009). In 2004, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
' Dicky Barrett
and Lawrence Katz were joined by ex-Ramones Marky
and C.J. for a live performance of the song available on the DVD Too Tough to Die: A Tribute to Johnny Ramone.
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
. Initially issued as a single in Great Britain by Beggars Banquet Records
Beggars Banquet Records
Beggars Banquet is an English independent record label that began as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin, and is part of the Beggars Group of labels...
in 1985, it did not receive an American single release. An emotionally charged protest of the visit by U.S. president Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
to a German cemetery where SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
combatants were buried, it was a major critical success. Though it was available in the United States only as an import, it became a hit on college radio. The following year, retitled "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)", it appeared on the band's album Animal Boy
Animal Boy
Animal Boy is the ninth studio album by the American punk band the Ramones. It featured the songs "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down ", written as a protest of President Ronald Reagan's visit to the Bitburg cemetery in West Germany; "Somebody Put Something in My Drink", written by Richie Ramone, the...
. The second version of the title is the one used on subsequent live and compilation albums.
Background and inspiration
The song was written in reaction to the visit paid by U.S. president Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
to a military cemetery in Bitburg
Bitburg
Bitburg It is situated approx. 25 km north-west of Trier, and 50 km north-east of Luxembourg . One American airbase, Spangdahlem Air Base, is located nearby.-History:...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, on May 5, 1985. Reagan laid a wreath at the cemetery and then gave a public address at a nearby air base. The visit was part of a trip paying tribute to the victims of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and celebrating West Germany's revival as a powerful, democratic U.S. ally.
Reagan's plan to visit the Bitburg cemetery had been widely criticized in the United States, Europe, and Israel because among the approximately 2,000 German soldiers buried there were 49 members of the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
. This was the combat arm of the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
, the paramilitary organization that helped run the Nazi extermination camps and committed many other atrocities, including the murder of American POWs. Among those vehemently opposed to the trip were Jewish and veterans' groups and both houses of the U.S. Congress. The phrase "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" was coined by protesters in the weeks leading up to Reagan's trip. Employed as an epithet for Reagan, Bonzo is actually the name of the chimpanzee title character in Bedtime for Bonzo
Bedtime for Bonzo
Bedtime for Bonzo is a 1951 comedy film directed by Fred de Cordova, starring future U.S. President Ronald Reagan. It revolves around the attempts of the central character, Professor Peter Boyd , to teach human morals to a chimpanzee, hoping to solve the "nature versus nurture" question...
; Reagan was the top-billed actor in the 1951 film comedy. The phrase also echoes the title of the film's sequel, Bonzo Goes to College
Bonzo Goes to College
Bonzo Goes to College is the sequel to Bedtime for Bonzo. Like that film, it was directed by Frederick De Cordova but has a different cast and writers....
(1952), though Reagan did not appear in that picture.
Before departing for Germany, Reagan ignited more controversy when he expressed his belief that the soldiers buried at Bitburg "were victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps." In his remarks immediately after the cemetery visit, Reagan said that "the crimes of the SS must rank among the most heinous in human history", but noted that many of those interred at Bitburg were "simply soldiers in the German army.... There were thousands of such soldiers for whom Nazism meant no more than a brutal end to a short life."
Discussing the inspiration for the song, Ramones lead singer Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone was an American vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist in the punk rock band the Ramones. Joey Ramone's image, voice and tenure as frontman of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.-Early life:Joey Ramone was born Jeffry Hyman to parents Noel and Charlotte Hyman...
, a Jew, explained that the president "sort of shit on everybody." Interviewed in 1986, he said,
We had watched Reagan going to visit the SS cemetery on TV and were disgusted. We're all good Americans, but Reagan's thing was like forgive and forget. How can you forget six million people being gassed and roasted?
Joey shares writing credit with Ramones bassist Dee Dee Ramone
Dee Dee Ramone
Dee Dee Ramone was an American songwriter and musician, best known as founding member, bassist and main songwriter of the punk rock band the Ramones....
and Ramones producer and former Plasmatics
Plasmatics
The Plasmatics were an American heavy metal and punk band formed by Yale University art school graduate Rod Swenson with Wendy O. Williams. The band was a controversial group known for wild live shows that broke countless taboos...
bassist/keyboardist Jean Beauvoir
Jean Beauvoir
Jean Beauvoir is an American singer bassist, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist.Beauvoir was born in Chicago to parents of Haitian background. He played drums as a child and switched to bass as a teenager. He was Gary U.S. Bonds's musical director at age 13; following this he sang in the doo wop...
. Commentators on the song tend to suggest that Joey was its primary author. Mickey Leigh, Joey's brother, who was particularly close with Dee Dee, claims that while "everyone believed Joey had been the impetus to write the song ... it was actually Dee Dee."
Tone and style
The song's lyrics, with their explicitly serious content, are a departure from the Ramones' usual style. SpinSpin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
s Jon Young calls it "part exorcism and part slapstick comedy". David Corn
David Corn
David Corn is an American political journalist and author and the chief of the Washington bureau for Mother Jones. He has been Washington editor for The Nation and appeared regularly on FOX News, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and BloggingHeads.tv opposite James Pinkerton or other media...
describes the beginning of the refrain—"Bonzo goes to Bitburg/then goes out for a cup of tea/As I watched it on TV/somehow it really bothered me"—as "snarled" by Joey over a "power-pop beat and melodic hooks galore". Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
arts editor Bill Wyman writes of Johnny Ramone
Johnny Ramone
John William Cummings , better known by his stage name Johnny Ramone, was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being the guitarist for the punk rock band the Ramones. He was a founding member of the band, and remained a member throughout the band's entire career...
"lob[bing] guitar bombs" amid the song's "Spectorian
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
, rushing production" and of "Joey's pained, pleading voice". Douglas Wolk
Douglas Wolk
Douglas Wolk is a Portland, Oregon-based author and critic. He has written about comics and popular music for publications including The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The Nation, The New Republic, Salon.com, Pitchfork Media, and The Believer...
fits the song into his general view of Joey Ramone as different from his many musical imitators in that "he never, ever sneered": "the tone of 'Bonzo Goes to Bitburg'", writes Wolk, "isn't contemptuous, just confused and angry."
Release and reception
"Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" was issued in Great Britain as a 45 rpm 12" by Beggars Banquet RecordsBeggars Banquet Records
Beggars Banquet is an English independent record label that began as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin, and is part of the Beggars Group of labels...
. The single's first B-side, "Go Home Ann", by Dee Dee and Mickey Leigh, was produced by Ed Stasium
Ed Stasium
Ed Stasium is an American record producer and engineer who has worked on albums by The Ramones, Talking Heads, The Smithereens and Living Colour.- History :Stasium first surfaced in 1970 fronting the band Brandywine, appearing on their sole LP Aged....
and mixed by Motörhead lead singer Lemmy. The second B-side, "Daytime Dilemma (Dangers of Love)", had previously appeared on the Ramones' 1984 album, Too Tough to Die
Too Tough to Die
Too Tough to Die is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on October 1,1984. It is the first Ramones album to feature new drummer Richie Ramone...
. Sources at the Ramones' U.S. label, Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
, and its parent company, Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, gave differing reasons for not releasing the single in America: The Sire products manager said the decision was "both financial and political"; an anonymous Warner Bros. source claimed, "It just wasn't considered a good enough record." The original jacket of the single included a photograph of Reagan speaking at the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
just hours before his trip to Bitburg; this image was removed in subsequent pressings. Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
blamed its elimination on pressure from the "Moral Majority
Moral Majority
The Moral Majority was a political organization of the United States which had an agenda of evangelical Christian-oriented political lobbying...
, the Patriotic League of the Alamo
Battle of the Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar . All but two of the Texian defenders were killed...
, and the SS."
The Ramones' Animal Boy
Animal Boy
Animal Boy is the ninth studio album by the American punk band the Ramones. It featured the songs "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down ", written as a protest of President Ronald Reagan's visit to the Bitburg cemetery in West Germany; "Somebody Put Something in My Drink", written by Richie Ramone, the...
LP, released by both Sire and Beggars Banquet in 1986, included "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg". According to Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
, the album version was remixed. The title was altered to "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)" to placate Johnny, a staunch conservative, fervent Reagan supporter, and devotee of Nazi paraphernalia. "Go Home Ann" has never been included on an official Ramones original or compilation album.
The "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" single did not chart in Great Britain. Though available only as an import in 1985, it was put into rotation by many American college radio stations, and record stores that handled imports reported robust sales. It inspired Steven Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt is an Italian-American musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, and radio disc jockey, who frequently goes by the stage names Little Steven or Miami Steve...
to request Joey's participation in his Artists United Against Apartheid
Artists United Against Apartheid
Artists United Against Apartheid was a 1985 protest group founded by activist and performer Steven Van Zandt and record producer Arthur Baker to protest apartheid in South Africa...
single "Sun City
Sun City (song)
"Sun City" is a 1985 protest song written by Steven Van Zandt, produced by Van Zandt and Arthur Baker and recorded by Artists United Against Apartheid to convey opposition to the South African policy of apartheid...
", released that October, in which Joey sang a line again protesting Reagan's policies. The single was also a major critical success. Reviewing it for Spin, John Leland
John Leland (journalist)
John Leland is an author and has been a New York Times journalist since 2000. During a stint in 1994, he was editor in chief of Details magazine...
wrote,
Just listen to Johnny's freight cars of guitar chords, Dee Dee's "ahh, naa naa naa" surf harmonies, and Joey's down-to-earth irritation at watching our commander in chief on TV. The Ramones are so brilliant because they perceive the world the way regular people do—through television. "Go Home Ann" is ... powerful but lacks that patented Ramones bubblegum melody. "Daytime Dilemma," on the other hand, is the 1910 Fruitgum Company1910 Fruitgum CompanyThe 1910 Fruitgum Company is an American bubblegum pop band of the 1960s. The group's biggest hits included "Simon Says," "1, 2, 3, Red Light," "May I Take A Giant Step," "Special Delivery," "Goody Goody Gumdrops," and "Indian Giver." Guitarist Frank Jeckell claimed to have adopted the name from a...
with giant blocks of GibsonGibson Guitar CorporationThe Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
guitar.
In the annual Pazz & Jop Critics Poll
Pazz & Jop
The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...
conducted by The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" was ranked the fifth best single of 1985. In his review of Animal Boy, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s David Fricke
David Fricke
David Fricke is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was managing editor before stepping down.-Background:David Fricke is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania...
called the song "brilliant". He wrote that it "vividly captures the sense of helplessness and confusion felt by rock youth in the Age of Reagan". Salon's Wyman retrospectively describes it as "the group's greatest song and [Joey's] greatest vocal performance".
Other versions
A concert recording of "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" appears on the band's 1991 album Loco LiveLoco Live
Loco Live is a live album by American punk band the Ramones.There are two different versions of Loco Live available. The 1991 Chrysalis version contains 33 songs, including "Too Tough to Die", "Don't Bust My Chops", "Palisades Park", and "Love Kills"...
. The studio version was used in the soundtrack of the film
School of Rock (soundtrack album)
- Awards :The soundtrack was nominated for the Grammy Awards of 2004 for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.-Charts:...
School of Rock
School of Rock
School of Rock, also called The School of Rock, is a 2003 American musical comedy film directed by Richard Linklater, written by Mike White, and starring Jack Black...
(2003). Several bands have recorded cover versions: The Agnews on the anthology album Gabba Gabba Hey: A Tribute to the Ramones
Gabba Gabba Hey: A Tribute to the Ramones
Gabba Gabba Hey: A Tribute to the Ramones is the title of the first Ramones tribute album released in 1991 by Triple X Records. It is named after the famous Ramones slogan Gabba Gabba Hey, from the song "Pinhead".-Track listing:...
(1991); The Huntingtons
The Huntingtons
The Huntingtons are a punk band from Baltimore, Maryland which formed in 1993-1994 in the Maryland/Delaware area by Cliff Powell , Mike Holt and Mike Pierce . The band is heavily influenced by The Ramones.-1993-2005:The Huntingtons debut album Sweet Sixteen was released in 1996 by Flying Tart...
on their album File Under Ramones
File Under Ramones
File Under Ramones is an album by the Huntingtons released in 1999 on Tooth & Nail Records.-Album information:*Recorded and Mixed over 7 days in Oct 1998 at Clay Creek Recorders*Engineered by Nicky Rotundo...
(1999); Blanks 77
Blanks 77
Blanks 77 is an American street punk band active from 1990–2001, and again from 2004 onward. Originally based in Hillside, New Jersey, they are currently located in Denville....
on the Ramones Maniacs
Ramones Maniacs
Ramones Maniacs is a 26-band salute to the Ramones. This is a track-by-track cover of the Ramones Mania album, by bands from across the US, plus one from Australia and one from Canada.Album artwork by Tim Bradstreet....
tribute album (2001); Wednesday Night Heroes
Wednesday Night Heroes
Wednesday Night Heroes are a punk band from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.They released their first demo in September, 1997, which included six songs. In July, 2001, they released their first full length album, which was self-titled....
on their Move to Press EP (2005); Trashlight Vision
Trashlight Vision
Trashlight Vision was a trash punk band from the United States. They featured the guitarist from Murderdolls, Acey Slade and Steve Haley from the Philadelphia based rock band HALEY....
on their album Alibis and Ammunition (2006); and MxPx
MxPx
MxPx is a pop punk band from Bremerton, Washington with connections to the Christian punk scene. The band has recorded eight studio albums, four EPs, four compilation albums, a live album, a VHS tape, a DVD and released 20 singles....
on their album On the Cover II
On the Cover II
On the Cover II is an album of song covers by pop punk band MxPx, like On the Cover. The album features covers of various 80s songs. Beginning on February 9, 2009, feature artists were announced, one per day, on Alternative Press' website....
(2009). In 2004, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. Since the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky Barrett, bassist Joe Gittleman, tenor saxophonist Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton and dancer Ben Carr have remained constant members...
' Dicky Barrett
Dicky Barrett
Richard Michael Barrett , better known as Dicky Barrett, is the frontman of Ska punk band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and the announcer for Jimmy Kimmel Live...
and Lawrence Katz were joined by ex-Ramones Marky
Marky Ramone
Marky Ramone is an American musician. He is best known for being the drummer for the Ramones, but has also played in other notable bands like Dust, Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, and the Misfits.Although he is not the original drummer , Marky is the only living...
and C.J. for a live performance of the song available on the DVD Too Tough to Die: A Tribute to Johnny Ramone.