Check Out the Ramones in this Late 70’s Guitar Shop Commercial

As you are all probably aware, with Tommy Ramone’s passing on Friday, we’ve now lost all the original members of a band who, like em or not, laid the foundational rubric for basically every style of heavy metal that we enjoy today [we’re going to have to argue that statement out some time -Ed].

Robert Christgau spoke more eloquently about Tommy than we can, or should.  But what we can offer is a piece of gear history: this commercial that features the Ramones from 1978 for the House of Guitars in Rochester, NY. I’ve not been to the joint, but it is the stuff of  legend; a frequent destination for the likes of Slayer, Metallica,  Mötley Crüe, and Ozzy Osbourne. The store shot a whole bunch of these commercials on 16mm, a  few of which are somewhat bizarre, all of which are reminders of an era during which it must have been pretty crazy to be in a rock n’ roll band. They still air on local TV from time to time, from what I hear.