Dee Dee Ramone Quotes

I've always just wanted to sing in a rock band.

I haven't done rap... I can't do that too well.

I loved rap, especially in the early days. But I wasn't trying to shove it down anybody's throats.

If somebody thinks wearing pretty dresses onstage somehow discredits us that's pretty absurd.

I like to do what I do in my house and I love to play shows, but I don't want to have to go out and talk to a bunch of people I don't know.

I'd like to thank myself, and congratulate myself, and give myself a big pat on the back.

It was sad when Sid Vicious died... I was freaked out when Phil Lynott died from Thin Lizzy. I cried. It was too crazy.

Billboard called my solo album, 'Standing In The Spotlight,' a great party album and even said that my raps put the Beastie Boys to shame.

All of my favorite records have vocals high in the mix, even if it's music that wasn't necessarily mainstream.

I used to be a hairdresser.

When I got into rap I didn't exactly win any popularity contests. I called myself Dee Dee King, after B.B. King, to the total dismay of my fellow Ramones.

I just being able to write songs I'm proud of and finding some women to play with is exciting.

The main issue was deciding what to play: Should it be old Ramones material or new material? I had about three albums worth of new material, but I knew that people would rather hear the Ramones songs.

There's a side to being in a band that some people embrace and some don't: the fact that you're performing and you care about how it comes across.

I get starstruck really easily. I love music so much - it sounds so silly to say that - so if I'm playing a festival and somebody I love, like [Primal Scream's] Bobby Gillespie, is there in the backstage area, I'm like, "Wow this is amazing! There they are!"

It's very expensive to bring a band to New York.

It's very hard to tour.

I like the guitar better these days. I like the bass, too, but it's hard to fit a bass amp in a small car.

I had a really intense flying dream most of my childhood into my teens. I would go out at night and fly all over the city and I could facilitate other people to fly with me.

I've always liked extreme performers; I don't think I am one, but my mentality is in line with that.

I got tired of the Ramones around the time I quit and I really got into rap. I thought it was the new punk rock. LL Cool J was my biggest idol.

I think the Internet shortens the distance between people, and that can often lead to inappropriateness.

I'm sure as I progress the sound may get cleaner but right now, I'm still interested in having it rough but never overwhelmingly so. I consider myself an amateur pop songwriter and I want that to come through, too.

I get really affected by songs as a music listener - they mean so much and they feel so significant.

Progression is important. I'm always going to play music in the general vein of rock'n'roll, but when I started I was very much associated with the West Coast lo-fi thing and I didn't want to get anchored in with anything that was just in vogue for the time being.

I couldn't do rap. I was trying. I don't know how. I'm not good enough to know.

Initially, I was very much concerned with having absolute control. But as time has gone by, I'm not. I mean, the whole first record was really just how I spent my free time: stoned and drinking coffee in my house, spending three hours on a song.

I think it would be nice to be a prince.

The distance thing is partially due to the fact that I'm pretty shy and I've struggled with extreme stage fright in the past. So I just have to go onstage in a different head space so I'm not as self-aware.

I've always admired people with really strong presences and felt that caring about the visual component of what you do is not intrinsically superficial or vain.

Ricky Nelson... I couldn't believe it when he died. He was a great rock star.

Visuals are as artistic as sounds, so being serious about both isn't a contradiction to me.

Because I'm quiet, people think I'm really cold, or rude, or snobby. But I'm literally scared to talk to them.

Wondering what I'm doing tonight I've been in the closet and feel all right

I like California a lot more than New York these days.

Metallica - they're so demonic, they're crazy, I don't know how they do it.

When I met Ronnie Spector, she walked in and said, 'You look like me.'

I'm really lucky I'm still around. Everybody expected me to die next... But it was always someone else instead of me.