Who is Sheena the punk rocker?
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, was a proto-feminist comic book hero, the first female comic character with a book under her own title, predating even Wonder Woman. As an orphan who learned to survive alone in the jungle, her adventures made her one of Marvel’s most well-loved women. In 1977, she was also immortalised in the Ramones hit ‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’.
It wasn’t the first time Sheena broke into mainstream pop culture with a well-placed musical reference, as Bruce Springsteen once declared: “She makes the Venus de Milo look like she got no style / She makes Sheena of the Jungle look meek and mild” in ‘Crush on You’, and she is primarily credited for influencing Tina Turner’s stage persona, with Ike Turner choosing “Tina” because it rhymed with Sheena.
Still, the Ramones’ ode to her is by far the most popular. Appearing on 1977’s Rocket To Russia, the song called back to a distinct surf rock, almost pop-adjacent sound Joey Ramone loved. Despite its pop trappings, it never made real waves on the charts, only climbing to number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100.
But the song was massive for Ramones fans, which guaranteed it an appearance on multiple compilation albums and live sets. Its premise was that punk rock would appeal to the wild, knife-wielding Sheena, bringing the jungle girl back to civilian life by way of New York City discotheques.
“To me,” said Joey Ramone of the track, “‘Sheena’ was the first surf punk rock teenage rebellion song. I combined Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, with the primalness of punk rock. Then Sheena is brought into the modern day.” He mentioned the line: “But she just couldn’t stay / She had to break away / Well New York City really has it all,” saying it had an unexpected impact.
“It was funny,” he said, “Because all the girls in New York seemed to change their name to Sheena after that. Everybody was a Sheena.” There are few areas in New York untouched by their legacy, given all four members resided there for most of their musical career. Given their legendary output, that there are dedicated tributes dotted across the city comes as no surprise, with ‘The Ramones Way’ at Forest Hills being just one example. But the outpouring of wannabe Sheena’s likely was.
The song’s enduringly catchy pop hook, combined with its direct reference to punk, saw it constantly covered, with everyone from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Hüsker Dü, and Charli XCX performing renditions of it. It was the perfect blend of rebellion, wrapping up their distinct brand of punk with a feminist comic hero who was such an outsider only the Ramones could lure her to normality.
