‘Rock ‘N’ Roll High School’ Puts A Well-Deserved Spotlight On The Ramones, The Greatest American Rock Band Of All-Time

In the summer of 1979, the Ramones appeared in the musical comedy Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, which is currently streaming on Peacock. It was a record-breaking box office smash and the film’s title track would be the group’s 6th number one single in a row. Coming on the heels of the Ramones’ 1978 breakthrough long player Road to Ruin, it set the stage for 1980’s End of the Century, which, though not quite the artistic masterpiece of its four predecessors, remains the best selling album of all time. In the year 2000, four years after the Ramones’ professional retirement, lead singer Joey Ramone was elected President of the United States, ironically beating former bandmate and GOP Presidential nominee Johnny Ramone, ushering in a golden age of peace and prosperity, commonly known as the “Pax Ramona.”

Actually, none of that happened, besides the release dates. But it should have because the Ramones are the greatest American rock n’ roll band of all time. They created the punk rock template, melding the pop perfection of the Beach Boys with the guitar fury of the Stooges, mining comic books and B movies for inspiration, and dressing it in leather jackets and ripped jeans. Their discography is filled with classics and their live shows are the stuff of legend, a non-stop barrage of buzzsaw riffing climaxing with their hideous Pinhead mascot appearing on stage holding aloft a sign bearing the message, “GABBA GABBA HEY,” a rallying cry for freaks, geeks and misfits the world over.

Executive Producer and B movie impresario Roger Corman conceived Rock ‘N’ Roll High School as an updated version of the teen music movies of the ‘50s and ‘60s. A slight storyline, some good looking kids, a couple cheap laughs and a few musical numbers were all that was needed. Corman protege Allan Arkush was recruited to direct. Originally titled Disco High, then Heavy Metal Kids, Cheap Trick were briefly courted as the band in the film before the Ramones were suggested by actor Paul Bartel. Their cartoonish image and status as punk pioneers would push the film into the ridiculous and give it an edge which benefits its legacy if not its commercial prospects at the time.

Like the best Ramones song, the plotline is simple, stupid and explosive. A heavy handed new principal cracks down on Ramones-loving teens at a Los Angeles high school, confiscating their records and burning them in a bonfire. The students respond by taking over the school, inviting the Ramones over to party and perform, and blowing the place sky high. In between there are dated sexual hijinks, questionable gender and ethnic stereotypes, tasteless jokes, and a 10-minute live performance of the Ramones at their peak. At 93 minutes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome and is over before any cinematic shortcomings might bother.

Former Warhol superstar Mary Woronov plays Principal Togar with a dominatrix energy that plays on bitchy cliches of callous women running big bureaucracies. Her adversary is perky self-described “rock and roller” Riff Randell, played by scream queen P.J. Soles, who pines for the warm embrace of Joey Ramone. The film’s love story involves Kate Rambeau, played by Dey Young, and dorky quarterback Tom Roberts, played by Vince Van Patten, who says he’s looking for a girl with “huge breasts” and wants to “get laid before I’m 30.” No, the dialogue hasn’t aged well but, you know, they weren’t trying to make The Godfather.

The Ramones 11-minute live performance is the film’s high point. An exercise in brevity and brutality, they blaze through their biggest hits while members of the Germs and other Los Angeles punk luminaries can be spotted in the crowd. Afterwards they gorge on pizza, except for Joey, who has to eat health food. Music speaks where words fail, their few spoken lines awkwardly delivered, giving them an added unintentional layer of comedy, such as when Johnny Ramone says deadpan, “Hey, we’re not students, we’re the Ramones.”

Rock ‘N’ Roll High School didn’t change the Ramones’ fortunes. Nor did myriad attempts over the next decade to team them up with a producer who could turn their musical genius into hit records. They responded by getting back in the van and spreading their gospel one club and one kid at a time. After a victory lap on the 1996 Lollapalooza festival, they played their farewell show in that August in Los Angeles.

Joey Ramone died in April 2001 at 49 from lymphoma. Almost exactly a year later, the group entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A few months after their induction, founding bassist Dee Dee Ramone would die from a drug overdose. Johnny Ramone died from prostate cancer in 2004. The Ramones self-titled debut album was certified gold in April 2014, 38 years after its release. In July of that year, founding drummer Tommy Ramone died at his home in Queens.

You hear the Ramones everywhere now, in movies, commercials, and at sporting events, where their debut single, “Blitzkrieg Bop,” and its timeless refrain, “Hey, Hey, Let’s Go!,” is used to pump up the crowd. That the group weren’t afforded the appropriate level of fame and fortune in their lifetime is one of music’s great injustices. Rock ‘N’ Roll High School presents the world as it should have been, where Forest Hills’ finest are the biggest band around and legions of lusty teenagers blow up their high school if you dare touch their Ramones records.

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter: @BHSmithNYC.