Beech Tree News Network

Months ago, I chronicled the historical events mentioned in Billy Joel’s classic “We

Didn’t Start The Fire”. This week, I’m back with a similar song that you might not find

as familiar. Truthfully, I wasn’t familiar with the group until I started listening to Little

Steven’s Underground Garage on Sirius XM. The band is the Ramones. The song is “Do

You Remember Rock & Roll Radio”.

“Do You Remember Rock & Roll Radio” was released as the second single and opening

track from the band’s 5 th studio album End of The Century. It was released May 16,

1980. The song was based on many of the 1950’s rock and pop songs the band grew up

listening to.

Many of the band’s influences are mentioned in the song including influential DJ

Murray The K aka Murray Kaufman. He was an influential New York City rock and roll

impresario and disc jockey of the ‘50’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’s. Also mentioned in the song are

John Lennon, T. Rex, The Barbarians (whose drummer, Victor “Moulty” Moulton is

mentioned by his nickname and disc jockey Alan Freed, as well as variety TV and radio

shows such as Hullabaloo, Shindig!, Upbeat and The Ed Sullivan Show. A clip of Buddy

Holly and the Crickets performing on The Ed Sullivan Show can be seen in the music

video.

While the song celebrates the Ramones’ teenage rock and roll memories. It also reflects

and criticizes the trend of playing nostalgic songs on the radio, rather than focusing on

new music. (www.en.wikipedia.org)

Here’s a sample of the lyrics: Do you remember Hullabaloo, Upbeat, Shindig and Ed

Sullivan too? Do you remember Murray The K? Alan Freed and High Energy? It’s The

end, the end of the seventies. It’s the end, the end of the century. Will you remember

Jerry Lee? John Lennon, T. Rex and Old Moulty? Since this was released 9 years earlier

than Billy’s song, I wonder if Billy heard the Ramones song and thought “well there’s an

idea”?

I hope you’ve enjoyed my look into The Ramones’ “Do You Remember Rock & Roll

Radio”. It’s a good song with a lot of musical mentions. Below are my podcast links for

those interested.

Links:

https://open.spotify.com/show/61yTPt9wXdz37DZTbPUs16?si=w5jHghPVRmaTaP5Z

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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blendertainment/id1541097172