Hey! Ho! Let's go: It's a Ramones NJ moment with Bruce Springsteen post, Stone Pony show
Do you remember the Ramones?
Team Springsteen does. Bruce Springsteen's social media accounts on Wednesday, Dec 6, posted a tribute to the Springsteen hit “Hungry Heart,” which hit No. 5 on this day in 1980.
The Boss originally wrote the song for the Ramones after seeing the punk rock legends at the former Fast Lane in Asbury Park in 1979.
“Springsteen originally wrote 'Hungry Heart' for the Ramones, but kept it for himself — a good thing too, as it became his first top 10 hit on this day in 1980,” posted Springsteen accounts, with a video of a classic live performance of the song.
The Ramones appeared three times at the Fast Lane in 1979.
“I saw the Ramones in Asbury Park and we were talking for a while and I was like, ‘Man I’ve got to write the Ramones a song.’ ” said Springsteen on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in 2015. “So I went home and I sat at my table and I wrote it in about the time it took me to sing it. I brought it in and we went to make a demo for it or I played it for (Johnny Ramone), and he said, ‘Nah, you better keep that one.’ He was right about that. It did pretty well.”
Springsteen manager Jon Landau also appears to have had a hand in Springsteen keeping the song.
“I played it for Jon Landau and, earning his money, he advised me to keep it,” wrote Springsteen for the liner notes of 1995's “Greatest Hits.”
“Hungry Heart,” the lead single for Springsteen’s “The River,” was the Boss' first Top 10 Billboard single.
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Despite many songs and albums that have become classics, the Ramones didn't have chart hits during the years they were active from 1974 to 1996. Yet their sound and style set the foundation for a big part of contemporary pop culture.
The ubiquitous Ramones T-shirts are evidence of that.
Original members Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone and Tommy Ramone have all passed away due to various illnesses. Drummer Marky Ramone, who joined the band in 1978, hosts the show “Punk Rock Blitzkrieg” on Sirius XM, and he still rocks on stage.
Marky Ramone’s Holiday Blitzkrieg comes to Stone Pony in Asbury Park on Friday, Dec. 8. Marky and his band will play Ramones classics and garage rock gems. He recently teased a Ramones style “Surfin' Bird” on his social media.
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The show will make fans think of all the great Ramones Jersey concerts at now-closed venues like the Fast Lane, the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, City Gardens in Trenton, “The Uncle Floyd Show” on TV, and Club Bene in Sayreville.
“Their rider was the simplest rider I've ever seen,” said Tom Bene, co-owner of the former Club Bene, previously to the Home News Tribune. “It was because of Joey. All he wanted was two pizzas. Just before the show, they ate and that was it — they were done.
"Everybody else needs to have Fosters beer or three bottles of chardonnay and this and that. God, all they wanted was two pizzas and that was it.”
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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Ramones: Springsteen cites Hungry Heart written for punk legends
