‘Dee Dee King’: The bizarre tale of a Ramones’ hip-hop album
“It’s time to rock. It’s time to rap. It’s time for the Mashed Potato attack”: these are not the lyrics of a well-meaning children’s song, nor a line from a Legz Akimbo Theatre production. These words were, in fact, written by punk rock icon Dee Dee Ramone. After cutting his teeth in the epicentre of New York’s punk explosion, becoming a fixture of the CBGB club, and recording multiple iconic albums, Dee Dee Ramone turned his attention to the world of hip-hop, and the results were disastrous.
New York City has always fostered a vibrant music scene, but punk rock became particularly ingrained in the city’s DNA. Venues like Max’s Kansas City and the CBGB Club in the East Village became havens for this emerging alternative culture, and artists like Patti Smith, Johnny Thunders, and the Ramones helped to spread punk rock across the globe. The Ramones were particularly adept at this punk missionary work, thanks to their strong image of leather jackets and blue jeans, along with the pop sensibilities imbued within their material.
Dee Dee Ramone was an integral part of the group’s success, writing beloved anthems like ‘53rd and 3rd’, ‘Commando’, and ‘Rockaway Beach’, to name only a few. He was arguably the most skilled songwriter in the group, although his contributions were often reduced to the odd bass riff and an unwavering ability to count to four very quickly. Ultimately, this songwriting ability, coupled with the substance abuse adopted by the bassist after years spent as a rock and roll deviant, inflated Dee Dee’s ego a little.
So much so that, in 1989, the bassist left the Ramones in an ill-fated attempt to pursue hip-hop music. Much like punk rock, hip-hop has its roots in New York City, and often features a strong sense of anti-authority, so the idea of a punk rocker adopting the style is not unheard of. However, the idea of a punk musician recording an album which blends hip-hop hallmarks with the old-school sounds of doo-wop is the kind of thing that could only have been cooked up in a haze of cocaine-fueled delusion.
Nevertheless, Dee Dee Ramone released the hip-hop album Standing in the Spotlight in 1989, under the moniker Dee Dee King. Opening with the aforementioned monstrosity ‘Mashed Potato Time’ – a reimagined hip-hop version of Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe’s 1962 track – the album also features the likes of ‘2 Much 2 Drink’, ‘Commotion in the Ocean’, ‘Poor Little Rich Girl’, and ‘I Want What I Want When I Want It’. If you have never heard any of these tracks, congratulations.
To make matters more bizarre, Dee Dee was supported on the album by the likes of Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, of Blondie fame. However, even the Midas touch of those fellow New York City new wavers could not save the doomed project that Standing in the Spotlight was. Seemingly, though, the album arose from noble aims. Namely, Dee Dee was attempting to get clean in the run-up to working on the album, with the help and support of friends like Stein and Harry.
By the time he came to record the album, the bassist was fresh out of rehab and trying desperately not to fall back into his old habits. Greg Gordon, an engineer on the project, recalled, “He was just holding on. He was drinking these 32-ounce iced teas, probably five of them a day. One time he said, ‘Could you come to the store with me?’ And I would say I couldn’t right then. He could just take the elevator and there was a convenience store on the corner. But he wouldn’t go alone. This was Chinatown in the ’80s. He was worried he was gonna walk three blocks away and score.”
Warner Bros, the label who were presiding over the Ramones at the time, threw some money at Dee Dee to “keep him busy”, according to producer Daniel Rey, and Standing in the Spotlight was the result: a well-meaning, but ultimately doomed and disastrous psuedo-hip-hop record which was widely panned upon its release.
Ultimately, though, you have to admire the optimism and drive of the songwriting. After all, how many other musicians could go from writing tunes about drugs, prostitutes, and war to singing about mermaids and mashed potatoes so effortlessly?
