Take the Ramones, for example. The archetypical American rock and roll knuckleheads! Gabba gabba hey!
Did you know the Ramones always showed up on time for everything they did? They just weren't late, ever. They ran like a well-oiled machine for twenty years.
But they were cool! They were, like, permanent juvenile delinquents! They ruled!
After Dee Dee quit, he said that he just couldn't take it any more. He was a grown man. He was sick to death of the bowl haircut and the leather jacket. He was sick to death of being a human cartoon character. It was pointless and boring.
But they did whatever they wanted to do!
They showed up on time. They weren't necessarily aware of their surroundings. Most of those years on tour, they had four compartments in the bus, one for each Ramone. They never left their little compartments until they got to the gig. By that time, they weren't friends any more. Years would go by when Johnny and Joey wouldn't say a word to each other. Of course, Johnny and Marky were junkies. They were happy to live the lives of potted plants. It didn't bother them. I saw them around 1990, and some kid in the audience threw a soda at Johnny. Hit him right in the forehead. He didn't even blink. Dee Dee was a junkie too, for many years. Later on, he was on tranquilizers.
Naturally, they're a special case. Most bands are never that successful.
| 
