The Evil Bastards come out of hiding again

[Sanx]

...
of course the literal meaning seems quite alarming, but its like reading Shakespeare: there is a lot of cultural context and meaning to the lyrics that might be lost on some readers. For example: the reference to "Brat" is obvious, its child. But whose child? your child, my child, our child: or child in some wider social context: perhaps child here is a reference to society, and how we as a society might think of some of its lesser empowered members: minorities perhaps, or the disabled (or "lesser abled" as I like to call them).

And "beat on" well again, obviously it doesnt literally mean "To beat, as in "to hit", some of us think that in this context it means "to take umbrage" or to "be outraged", or perhaps "to treat less well than they should be treated"

Similarly, the "baseball bat" referred to isn't an actual baseball bat: its the metephoric one, referring to all of the myriad social, political economic and other pressures on any given sector of society, including post colonialism and the angst associated with that.

and "oh yeah"? Well that signifies agreement from a like minded section of society.

So, in conclusion it is fairly obvious that the lyrics to "Beat on the Brat" are a protest song, about Pakeha oppression and the post colonial struggle being undertaken by the Maori in New Zealand in 2008. Thats obviously what Joey was thinking when he penned these lyrics in 1978: its obvious innit?

Oh nice one genius. Some people just don't think before opening their mouths, do they...

You've just committed all Ramones fans to never being able to enjoy their music again. That's right - some enterprising Iwi will tomorrow claim the rights to the entire Ramones back catalogue as being taonga; a treasure of the Maori culture.

It even satisfies all the pre-claim requirements:

• Not owned by Maori - tick!
• Never had anything to do with Maori - tick!
• No possible connection with anything Maori - tick!
• Completely implausible story made up on the spot which we'll claim has been part of our oral tradition for hundreds of years without any proof at all, and then pretend to get really insulted when someone questions out story and misinterpret that question as an attack on our culture, race, beliefs and habits - tick!

[MisterD]

Have you never heard of Rangi Ramone?

[HenryDorsetCase]

Have you never heard of Rangi Ramone?

wasn't he one of the drummers between Tommy and Marky?

My love of the Ramones is undiminished, in spite of its new status.

Good luck to them going head to head with Linda (Johnny's widow) over the royalties and T shirt sales: It would be a cage deathmatch and I know who I would pick........

[Hinny]

Now here's a real referendum.

I wonder how many posters have altered their opinions with the benefit of a bit of age and hopefully maturity.

[Max Preload]

...it wasn't an "anti-smacking" law.

Really? You might want to tell the architect of the law change... sure looks like that was the intention... or is their very own website a media beat up?