Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones

I liked the book for it was - an honest and straight from the horses mouth telling of how it was being Dee Dee Ramone. You get a great sense of who he is and how he works, he holds nothing back in regards to the things he's done in his life that he is not proud of. The book's got a ton of personality behind it and it reads as if Dee Dee is talking right to you directly. What I didn't like was that there were very few stories regarding THE RAMONES themselves. I know, then don't read a Dee Dee book, read a RAMONES tell all! But the book lost points for lacking more and by more - most of the book is just Dee Dee talking about running around for drugs and feeling bad for himself. I loved the honesty, just hungered for more. Still a needed read for a Ramones fan.

First of all, don't read this if you're looking for literature.Second, don't read this if you're looking for gossip about the band.Finally, do read this if you want insight into a very sad story about an enormous talent who suffered from completely unwarranted low self esteem, and the addictions he used as a coping mechanism. Dee Dee Ramone was the poet of a generation.The saddest part of this story, of course, is that Dee Dee did not survive the Ramones; he was dead 5 years after the first edition of this book was published.

I read and have read loads of "rockstar" biographies and auto-biographies and this is not among the best of them. BUT...being from NY, and from the same generation, I loved the punk references and felt like I was having a flashback. Like most junkies, Dee Dee is full of excuses and S, but his stories are interesting, If you want to know a bit of what that NY punk scene was like, this is a pretty good place to find out. But don't expect anything too literate.

For those who are complaing that this book is not a comprehensive history of The Ramones, you are missing the point. This is the story of one Dee Dee Ramone, a man who lived part of his life as bassist for the band, and lived his whole life as a drug addict. Ego? Of course. As addicts, we are insecure egomaniacs and if we don't have our sobriety, we have no chance of building a better life from this chaos.Dee Dee never found what he needed. The only irony is that the word "Surviving" is in the title. Like thousands before and after him who are still suffering, Dee Dee did not survive.

Keen insite into Dee dees' imagination.

Ok, it's no literary masterpiece, but it was much better than I thought it would be. I have a much better understanding of why they all died so young. Graphic, colorful and a quick read. I miss the Ramones!!!

AAAAA++++++

If you enjoyed books like Motley Crue's "The Dirt" then you'll probably like this book. I always liked the Ramones music but didn't know much about them. Now that I know, I like them a lot less.

Dee Dee was the son of a US soldier stationed in Germany and married to a local lady (whose name Dee Dee cannot even be bothered to divulge). After a difficult childhood in Germany, Dee Dee ended up in the US with his German mother and his sister.Allegedly, they moved to a NY suburb to escape his abusive father. However, most of what Dee Dee narrates sounds slightly "off" and very paranoid. A shy and an unlikable boy, Dee Dee was not popular with his peers. He hooked up with neighbours boys Johnny and Joey and they took advantage of the chaotic atmosphere of the mid 70's to create a band.According to Dee Dee, they aimed at reproducing the simple sound of early rock'n roll and they sort of managed, even if none of them could actually play. Then came the usual curse for bands that start to "make it": internal disputes among the boys, fuelled by drugs and alcohol.By his own admission Dee Dee had serious mental problems from an early age. Abuse of drugs just made his problems worse, developing the paranoid side of his personality and causing him to leave the band. Two thirds of the book are nothing but Dee Dee complaining about ex band members and anybody else who had the misfortune to cross his path, mixed with generic self-loathing and demeaning stories about drug abuse.About the women in his life, Dee Dee spends only a few lines for Connie, who overdosed while working as a prostitute, even if she was supposed to be his soul mate. Nothing at all about his first wife Vera (which must have pleased her) and something about Barbara, mainly to underline that he hooked up with her when she still was a minor.This type of narrative can be saved only by a strong prose and great literary style. Unfortunately, it is definitely not the case for this memoir, which is sloppily written and poorly edited. If anything, makes Dee Dee seem even a bigger as*****le than he must have been.

Hier schildert Dee Dee Ramone, Gründungsmitglied und langjähriger Bassist der Band RAMONES seine Sicht der Dinge, beschreibt die Anfänge der Ramones, sein Leben, seine Probleme mit Drogen und seine spätere Frustration die letztendlich zum Ausstieg aus der Band führte.Eine unterhaltsame Biographie, die zwar teilweise inhaltliche Sprünge macht und nicht auf alle Details eingeht die man sich evtl. erhofft hatte, doch im Großen und Ganzen gut lesbar ist. Wer etwas über Dee Dee Ramones's Leben erfahren möchte ist mit diesem Buch gut bedient, wer jedoch mehr Infos über die Ramones selber erfahren möchte, der sollte ( zusätzlich ) zu der Autobiographie von Johnny Ramone "Commando " und dem Buch von Monte Melnick, ihrem Tourmanager " On Tour with the Ramones " (deutsch: Auf Tour mit den Ramones) greifen. Des weiteren existiert noch eine Biographie von Marky Ramone, dem Drummer der Ramones.

daughter enjoyed it

Seriously, this book has no chronological order what so ever. It's so poorly written, I'm very suprised it was published.