Hey ho, let’s go.
The Ramones made everything look simple. Four leather jackets, three chords, one shared surname and songs that got in and out before anyone had time to overthink them.
The reality behind the band was much less tidy, which is part of why End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones still holds up more than 20 years after its release.
Magnolia Pictures is now bringing Michael Gramaglia and Jim Fields’ 2003 documentary back to select cinemas in a newly restored 4K edition.
Formed in Queens in 1974, Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy Ramone became one of the defining bands to come out of New York’s CBGB scene, helping shape punk with a stripped-back sound that would go on to influence generations of musicians.
They also spent much of their career dealing with tension inside the band.
Commercial success never really matched their influence, and years of touring, personality clashes and fractured relationships became just as much a part of the Ramones story as the songs themselves.
That’s where End of the Century earns its reputation.
Rather than presenting the band as a straightforward punk success story, the documentary spends plenty of time on the difficult parts: the resentment, the long years on the road and the famously strained relationship between Joey and Johnny.
It makes for a much more useful portrait of the band.
The Ramones have since become such a recognisable piece of pop culture that the logo, leather jackets and Hey! Ho! Let’s Go! can sometimes feel bigger than the people behind them.
End of the Century brings some of that context back.
The restoration also arrives in a significant year, with 2026 marking 50 years since the release of the Ramones’ self-titled debut album.
And for anyone who doesn’t fancy waiting to see whether the restored edition makes it outside of the U.S, there’s still the old-fashioned option, second-hand DVD copies continue to turn up on eBay Australia.
Half a century on, their influence is easy to hear. Their history is a little harder to simplify.
The footage might be cleaner this time around.
The Ramones story, thankfully, remains a complete mess.
