True to the raw, anarchic spirit of punk-rock, the Ramones played as dirty as those notoriously filthy CBGB bathrooms when they got a spontaneous offer from their first manager at the holy underground in New York’s East Village in 1975. “They wanted to be in my column in the SoHo Weekly News. And I kept saying, ‘I can’t make it,’ ” legendary Ramones manager Danny Fields told The Post about seeing the iconic New York band at the club that they first played 50 years ago on Aug.
16, 1974. “But when I finally did, I went back to the dressing room before they went onstage and said, ‘Hello, I’m Danny, and I’m here.’” That fateful introduction would rock Fields’ — and music’s —once the Forest Hills, Queens foursome of lead singer Joey, guitarist Johnny, bassist Dee Dee and drummer Tommy Ramone hit the stage.
“The first words out of Joey’s mouth were, “I don’t wanna go down to the basement,’ ” recalled Fields of a lyric that would serve as the title of the seventh track on the Ramones’ 1976 self-titled debut. “And I went, ‘Holy shit!’ That was the smartest and funniest thing I ever heard. So immediately I get that they have a sense of humor.
” Fields was also instantly struck by their sense of style. “It was the presentation — they looked alike,” he said. “They dressed the same — they all wore leather jackets and jeans, They tried to get the hair to look alike.
It’s just hits you intuitively: This is very clever of them.