George DuBose has taken some amazing album cover photos in his day -– and several for the Ramones –- but I’d always assumed that the cover of 1983’s Subterranean Jungle wasn’t based on a photograph of da brudders on an actual subway car, but rather some kind of artful pastiche. Turns out, however, that it was, as the photo above (spotted on Tumblr) demonstrates. Can anyone name the platform? Good luck with that one.
The first time I ever saw the Ramones play live was on the tour for this record in 1983. Strangely enough, it was not at a grotty New York City club filled with leather-clad punks and rock cretins, but in the unfamiliar environs of a gymnasium at Stony Brook University out on Long Island in Southhampton. Regardless, the band assumed its usual attack formation (with oddly blonde Richie Ramone filling in for Marky after he’d been evicted from the drum stool) and accordingly blew a hole in the place. I remember buying (and cherishing) my first Ramones shirt at that gig… Arturo Vega’s signature seal on the front, and the back festooned with an American flag, with the words “Subterranean Jungle” splattered over the stripes. Over time, it became too small for me. I believe my mom actually inherited it for a while (she'd wear it while cleaning the house). It's long gone now, in any event.
Few people consider Subterranean Jungle to be a crucial Ramones LP. Let's face it, it isn't (although it was inarguably superior to its predecessor, 1981's Pleasant Dreams). One could argue that their last "credible" studio record was 1978's Road to Ruin, although each successive release usually had at least a track or two to recommend it. At the very least, Jungle features "Psycho Therapy," which might be the band's last truly great single (although `87's "I Wanna Live" isn't bad). I also quite dug their cover of The Chambers Brothers "Time Has Come Today."
After that show at Stony Brook, I'd go onto see the band several more times. The final time, strangely enough, was on another college campus. They were playing a middle-of the-day, open-air gig at Syracuse in the Spring of 1993. The crowd was thin and the elements were unkind. It wasn't an especially memorable show.
The band kept going ....and going and going... for several more years. My friend Rob B. and I would frequently remark to each other "Should we go see the Ramones next weekend?" "Nah, they'll be back." That was usually the case for a long while ... until it suddenly wasn't. The band broke up. And then they started to die. And that was very sadly that.
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