Rating: 
Summary: Dee Dee was the Ramones
Review: I thought that this book was one of the best if not the best book I have read in a very long time. It gives insight on the Ramones that no one else could give. I think that all in all every Rock and Roll fan in America and the world should read if not own this book.
Rating: 
Summary: beware
Review: i'm a huge ramones fan, and i buy all the music autobiographies i can find...that being said, this is maybe the worst book i've ever read. no insight on the ramones creative process, and pretty much no redeeming factors period. i can't believe it's even in print. seriously.
Rating: 
Summary: An unhappy life by an unhappy man.....
Review: I've read a lot of memoirs by musicians, but I have never read one with this much whining in it! In "Lobotomy", Dee Dee Ramone blames everything on everyone else, from his parents (who do sound dreadful) to the guys in the band & their management. For instance, he admits in several places in the memoir that he didn't bother turning up to play bass on a number of the Ramones' albums. Yet he then turns around & cries his favorite lament "No one would give me a break. They were all against me." Sorry, Dee Dee but I have never heard of a band that would continue carrying a bass player who didn't even bother turning up for recording sessions! Any other band would have kicked him out the first time that happened! He also moans about "the constant pressure to write songs". Then he lists all the songs written by Joey Ramone without him, most of which are the Ramones' best tunes! So where exactly is this pressure coming from? These are just 2 examples, but literally, nearly every page in this book contains the words "they wouldn't give me a break" or "they were my enemy"! It really becomes monotonous after awhile.Additionally, all the drinking & drugging seems to have caused problems with sequential memory. Discussing his childhood, Dee Dee tells us he never learned to read due to his fear of going to school. He must have learned somewhere, but the reader is never told about it. He bounces around addicted to first one drug, then simply tells us he is now addicted to a different one. Individuals are mentioned without explanation, girlfriends disappear without explanation, even band members suffer from this treatment. He tells us about Marky Bell's breakdown as "chicken boy" but then in the next chapter Marky is still drumming with no information about how he came back to reality! Altho many black & white photos dot the book, the captions offer almost no information & pictures of anyone other than Dee Dee seem to be incidental. If you are truly interested in the Ramones, the New York music scene of the late 70's, or even just want some good gossip, I cannot recommend "Lobotomy". Instead, look for "Please Kill Me" by Legs McNeil. You'll learn alot more & laugh a heck of a lot more!
Rating:
Summary: Any TRUE Ramones fan would enjoy this book...
Review: If you like the Ramones you will like this book. If you don't like the Ramones, you should like this book. It is a very good biography that is funny at sometimes and very sad at other times. This is one of the better books, go buy it now!!
Rating:
Summary: Any TRUE Ramones fan would enjoy this book...
Review: If you like the Ramones you will like this book. If you don't like the Ramones, you should like this book. It is a very good biography that is funny at sometimes and very sad at other times. This is one of the better books, go buy it now!!
Rating: 
Summary: lobotomized
Review: just to save the confusion for folks like me, this is just a souped up version of the original (and no frills) Poison Heart: surviving the ramones book released earlier, which i think is out of print, or at least very rare. either way, its a good read... and terribly sad when you think that he didn't make it after all (the book has this tone of hope, that dee would outlast all the other drug-affected rock stars).
Rating:
Summary: Lobotomy: Surviving the ramones
Review: Lobotomy is definatly one of the better bookes written by one of the Ramones. This specific book invovles DEE DEE Ramone and his wiered out drug strucking life. It tell all about how he first started to play and how the band got together. This book is definalty a must read book if you are interested in the lives of rock n rock musicians. The book is really interesting because DEE DEE is a perfect example of how most rock n roll artist live their lives. DEE DEE also gives advice and feelings towards drug addiction and how it messes up his life. This book is a great book especially because it is very influential to get kids away from drugs and other things. Lobotomy was an over all easy read that made me kept reading from start to stop.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: No, it's not the best written book, but it's certainly better than the fluff piece "Ramones: An American Band". Dee Dee tells his story in a fragmented manner. He'll spend a paragraph discussing the recording of an album and then a full page talking about crashing his favorite car. Well, the car meant more to him, I suppose, and so what? It's still entertaining. For those who might be inclined to chastise Dee Dee for "whining" or for not being "grateful" for the career the Ramones afforded him, you've obviously never been in a successful band. All musicians are egomaniacs, and most successful ones are pessimists. Dee Dee Ramone was a drug addict. The book is written as if by a drug addict. Taking all of this into consideration, I think it's the most honest book I've ever read by a musician. It's also one of the most accurate overviews about conflicts among band members you'll find. If you're afraid of finding out about Dee Dee Ramone, don't read this book. If you're genuinely interested in the man, this book will offer some insight. If you don't like what you see, maybe you should've turned your head...
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: No, it's not the best written book, but it's certainly better than the fluff piece "Ramones: An American Band". Dee Dee tells his story in a fragmented manner. He'll spend a paragraph discussing the recording of an album and then a full page talking about crashing his favorite car. Well, the car meant more to him, I suppose, and so what? It's still entertaining. For those who might be inclined to chastise Dee Dee for "whining" or for not being "grateful" for the career the Ramones afforded him, you've obviously never been in a successful band. All musicians are egomaniacs, and most successful ones are pessimists. Dee Dee Ramone was a drug addict. The book is written as if by a drug addict. Taking all of this into consideration, I think it's the most honest book I've ever read by a musician. It's also one of the most accurate overviews about conflicts among band members you'll find. If you're afraid of finding out about Dee Dee Ramone, don't read this book. If you're genuinely interested in the man, this book will offer some insight. If you don't like what you see, maybe you should've turned your head...
Rating:
Summary: Old school NYC meets the Bad Lieutenant
Review: Perhaps, the most intriguing aspect of this book is that it's author, Dee Dee Ramone, lived through (and was a contributing part of) a ground breaking movement in rock'n'roll -punk rock- during a time when NY's East Village was a free-for-all of real "sex and drugs and rock'n'roll", a place where anything and everything went down, and new ideas and attitudes were born to blaze permanent trails in rock culture and American culture. While Dee Dee may have been just a bass player in a band (the Ramones!), he lived a life that was (in part) both influenced by and representable of that era. -- Dee Dee's writing style is very simple and often spills onto the page like broken fragmented memories, but he does write from the heart and offers more of a personal story than documentation of the times. In doing so, he exposes himself like a raw nerve and yet also manages to successfully capture an exciting and dangerous mood and era in NY's East Village and rock'n'roll, - (now lost to the urban gentrification and the commercialism of underground rock and art.) Much like the film the Bad Lieutenant, he takes us on his personal journey through the seedy part of life, filled with drug addiction, self hate, and mental breakdowns. And, unintentionally gives us an insight as to who or what our rock stars and heros may actually be. There is a soul behind his voice that reveals the freaks and substance abusers to be victims of their own weaknesses, fears and past lives. Much of Dee Dee's childhood is tragic, it haunts him throughout his life, and provides us with an insight into much of his self destruction. While at times his writing doesn't explain the how's or why's of an event, he does give us enough of his painful personal history and insight into his demons so that we may read between the lines and fill in the blanks - somewhat! Dee Dee was a serious drug addict and often writes as if his memories are charred segments of a post-drug haze. A couple of times he even states he can't remember details. Dee Dee does whine a bit throughout the book and often fails to see that being a Ramone bestowed him many blessings and privileges (as well as torment and restrictions, which he is all too well aware of). But his failure to see the glass as half full (not half empty) is tolerable, forgivable and understandable as it is in line with aspects of his personality that have beaten him into self destruction, insecurity, and self loathing - which, to his credit (and intelligence), he is very aware of! Many of the stories do leave one wishing he would have gone into more detail or offered more of an explanation, yet this doesn't seem to detract from their interest. This book isn't a history of the Ramones or punk rock. It's the personal story of Dee Dee Ramone, a drug addict and survivor, a man who many may find compelling merely because of his association with the Ramones and punk rock. Yet those two things are so much a part of his existence that anyone interested in either should find his story of some interest. -- I was a bit baffled and disappointed that no real mention was made of his ex-wife, Vera, who had to play some role in his life. (Christ, he married her, right!) Perhaps, this was for legal reasons. Still, I found this book worth the read.
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