Leftovers (Name-Droppers): I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone

Sleater-Kinney: I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone

[Purchase]

It was just a few weeks ago that we did a Name-Droppers theme. I had a few ideas that week, but only ended up finding time to post once. So now is my chance to make amends.

In particular, I wanted to include (what some would consider) Sleater-Kinney's major opus "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone". In the late 1990's, when the Pacific Northwest was having a huge influence over music, and the riot grrl scene was slowly dwindling away, Sleater-Kinney came on the scene with their all girl punk rock. They pushed the envelope of gender lines in rock music by making songs like this one. A song that's a play on The Ramone's song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", except now it's about wanting to be a punk rock icons like Ramone, of wanting fans to idolize them and use them as bathroom alone-time fodder and get fans back to their place after the show. For good measure, they also name-drop Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore.