Standing in the Spotlight

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***Standing in the Spotlight*** is the debut studio album by German-American punk rock bassist Dee Dee Ramone. It was released in 1989 by Warner Bros. Records. Following a period in which Ramone went through drug rehabilitation and had a falling out with the Ramones, he became enamored with contemporary hip hop music, inspiring him to explore the genre with the 1987 single "Funky Man" and this subsequent album, which more heavily drew from hip hop, as well as pop punk. Ramone adopted the stage name "Dee Dee King" for this album, a tribute to blues singer B.B. King.

The recording sessions took place at Chung King Studios, a recording studio which recorded many top hip hop albums of the era. The sessions saw Dee Dee Ramone working with a drum machine and limited live instrumentation. The music generally differed from hip hop production, with engineer Greg Gordon describing the recording techniques as mostly being closer to those of rock music than of most hip hop. The album's recording was assisted by guest appearances by Blondie singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The music of *Standing in the Spotlight* incorporated elements of new wave, doo wop and samba. The album sold poorly and was generally met with unfavorable responses from reviewers, who described it as one of the worst recordings ever made, but was also subject to some praise and defense from *Billboard* and *Complex*.

## Background and development

Producer Daniel Rey recalled that while Dee Dee Ramone went through drug rehabilitation, the hospital's black patients called Ramone "Doug E. Fresh", due to the fact that his real first name was Doug, and subsequently Ramone began listening to hip hop music by the artists Run-DMC, the Fresh Prince and LL Cool J, and rapping. Rey stated, "when he came out of the hospital, he was a rapper." Ramone recalled his introduction to hip hop, stating, "When Schoolly D came out with that album, and he’d say, 'What time is it? It’s Gucci time,' you know, I understood that. It’s rising above oppression, a Negro being able to buy a Gucci watch. I get it. Great. I’m a Negro too. I felt the same excitement when I could buy a Gucci watch and spend a lot of money, like an outlaw." According to Monte A. Melnick, the Ramones' tour manager, Dee Dee Ramone began buying expensive watches, wearing "five or six brand new watches at a time", listened to hip hop all the time, and was unhappy playing in the band. The rest of the band hated hip hop, but tolerated it until, preparing to travel to the District of Columbia, Dee Dee arrived wearing a "jumpsuit, gold chains and Adidas sneakers." Melnick described Dee Dee as looking "like a roadie for Run-DMC, and we're going to a gig. Johnny said, 'What, are you nuts?'" According to Marky Ramone, Dee Dee "would say, 'I'm a Negro, I'm a black man,' every fuckin' minute." At one point, Johnny Ramone responded to Dee Dee referring to himself as a "Negro" by telling him, "No, you're not. You're a fucking white guy who can't rap."

In 1987, Ramone recorded a hip hop single called "Funky Man", and following a falling out with the Ramones, wanted to "explore other avenues", according to recording engineer Greg Gordon. Rey recalled, "I wasn't involved with 'Funky Man.' I didn't like it so much. I thought it was kind of sloppy. It was kind of rough. And I thought it would be pretty short-lived, but he was determined to put some songs together. And Dee Dee wasn't a great singer, so rapping seemed to work for him. He always needed to be busy, so if the Ramones were done with a record, he still needed to be creative." Rey stated that Dee Dee Ramone's mental state was dubious due to the effects of his prescribed medication and paranoia which led him to believe that he was "being controled" by his wife and Johnny Ramone, and Dee Dee wanted to "challenge himself" and felt that his involvement in punk rock had become too conforming. Rey recalled, "He just wanted to rebel against that. And one way was to do a rap record." The response to Dee Dee's decision to record in this genre was met with muted response from the Ramones. According to Gary Kurfirst, the band's manager, he agreed to help Dee Dee work on his solo career if he stayed in the band, as Dee Dee was considering leaving the Ramones. Kurfirst believed he had helped resolve tensions between Dee Dee and the rest of the band. However, Dee Dee left the band anyway.

During the album's writing process, Dee Dee Ramone used prescription medication and smoked cannabis heavily. According to Rey, "He would just write down an idea and we'd talk about what kind of song it would be — an angry song or a happy song or a beach song or a ballad. And then I would try to come up with some music that matched the lyrics and we'd put it down on a four-track. He would write the lyrics in like 20 minutes, and then the music would come together pretty quickly. It wasn't too sophisticated." With Ramone's unhappiness at home, he was only happy when he wrote songs and worked on the album. Dee Dee Ramone adopted the name "Dee Dee King" while rapping, a tribute to blues singer B.B. King. Dee Dee Ramone stated that the Ramones responded to this name change with "dismay". Ramone recalled, "I loved rap, especially in the early days. But I wasn’t trying to shove it down anybody’s throats. I didn’t have the confidence to leave the band because of a solo career, or anything like that. I just wanted to grow. Still, the Ramones didn’t want change. They thought punk rock fans would hate me for my solo rap record. Which was bullshit." According to Melnick, "We figured we'd give him his outlet and maybe he'd get it out of his system, but he really wanted to be a rapper."

## Recording

Warner Bros. Records paid Dee Dee Ramone a $25,000 advance to record the album. It was recorded at Chung King Studios. Although the recording studio was only operated by three people, it had become one of the top recording studios of the 1980s due to their work with Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J. Recording engineer Greg Gordon called the recording sessions "absolutely joyful", recalling, "Daniel had a very clear vision. He's an amazing imitator, he has that ear, and we mapped out the basics before Dee Dee came in. He was a real good spirit, and gave Dee Dee really good support. He said it was about Dee Dee having something to get him out of a bad place." While Chung King had worked with several major hip hop artists, *Standing in the Spotlight* was not generally recorded using hip hop production techniques, according to Gordon, who stated, "Other hip hop guys would come in and dig through old records and find grooves and try to play stuff off each other. But this was made more like an old-time rock record with a drum machine."

Blondie guitarist Chris Stein played guitar on the song "German Kid", interpolating "Ride of the Valkyries". On the same song, Debbie Harry provided back-up vocals. A remix was also made, sampling the film *The Producers*; Gordon recalled, "we had Dee Dee rapping over 'Springtime for Hitler'. It was so outlandish, and it exploded into a German boys choir. And the label was like, 'No way are we putting this out.' That was the only time where we used traditional hip-hop techniques."

## Music and lyrics

The music of *Standing in the Spotlight* predominately drew from hip hop, as well as pop punk. It also derived elements from new wave, doo wop and samba. It was designed as a "party record"; producer Daniel Rey recalled that Dee Dee Ramone's lyrics drew from "pride and positive thinking", stating, "I think Dee Dee associated with the whole Gucci gangster thing, where you may be poor, but you have a thousand-dollar chain on." The lyrics of "German Kid" drew from Dee Dee Ramone's German heritage and featured Ramone rapping in German; elsewhere, his lyrics discuss surfing and professional wrestling. According to recording engineer Greg Gordon, the album's lyrics were intended to be tongue-in-cheek, taking aim at hip hop's "macho persona". Gordon stated, "he starts out saying he's gonna be a badass surfer, and by the end he gets bit by a jellyfish and he's like, 'I'm out of here.' And he's gonna be a badass wrestler and then he gets punched really hard. I think even when he's saying, 'I'm the master of hip-hop,' he wasn't trying to be Chuck D. I think he believed he was the king of being Dee Dee Ramone. I don't think he was ready to get into the ring with LL Cool J. I think that is what he was struggling with: being himself. And I think there's a big part of Dee Dee's heart in that record."

## Reception

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*Standing in the Spotlight* generally sold poorly, and Dee Dee Ramone's subsequent albums marked a return to punk rock. The album's critical reception was generally unfavorable, with producer Daniel Rey describing the reviews as being "brutal". *Maximumrocknroll*, listing the 10 worst records of 1989 wrote, "We would have included the Dee Dee King album, but we only listed albums that were recorded in English." Rey described this notice as his "favorite review" of the album. However, the album did earn some praise; according to Ramone, *Billboard* called the album "a great party album and even said that my raps put the Beastie Boys to shame."

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The album would continue to garner unfavorable responses long after its release, with Allmusic's Matt Carlson writing that "Dee Dee Ramone's *Standing in the Spotlight* will go down in the annals of pop culture as one of the worst recordings of all time." Nathan Rabin, writing for *The A.V. Club*, called the album “a terrible idea wedded to an even worse execution.” According to *Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever*, "Despite occasional flashes of the artist's customary lyrical wit, the album was dominated by weak rhymes, perfunctory music tracks and Dee Dee's gravelly, awkward delivery. In a marketplace in which white teenagers had yet to embrace hip-hop in large numbers, *Standing in the Spotlight* barely registered, and now stands mainly as a souvenir of one of rock's least rewarding identity crises." *Rolling Stone* listed "German Kid" as one of "22 Terrible Songs by Great Artists". However, *Complex* listed the album as one of "50 Albums That Were Unfairly Hated On".

Dee Dee Ramone later stated regarding the album, "I don’t think it was worth fighting over. It wasn’t so good anyway, the album. I couldn’t do rap. I was trying. I don’t know how. I'm not good enough to know. I'm not a Negro." While recording the Ramones album *¡Adios Amigos!*, Johnny Ramone came up with the idea for the band to re-record Dee Dee's song "The Crusher". According to Rey, "I know that meant a lot to Dee Dee. It meant Johnny had actually listened to the record." Fans would later ask Rey to sign copies of the album, "[nervously], thinking I'll break it over their head." Rey later stated, "It was on at a club I played last year, and I enjoyed it. I thought it was funny. And it's where he was at this point. In the back of his mind, maybe he thought there would be a novelty single, but he just looked ahead. It's not like he worked his whole life to be a rap star. It was new, exciting music he got into. He got into the Stones when he was 13, got into the Stooges when he was 18. And then he got into rap. He could be mean and ruthless, but deep down Dee Dee was like a little kid. The record, I think, shows his innocence." Recording engineer Greg Gordon stated regarding the album, "that record was a positive support of somebody's life: Dee Dee wanting to do something better than go down the tubes. It was a good energy on that record. A very Dee Dee record. You can't call it the worst hip-hop record of all time because I don't think it is a hip-hop record. It's the best Dee Dee King rap record. I imagine when *the Ramones* came out, people thought it was the worst rock 'n' roll record ever made. I mixed 'Bring the Noise', often called the best hip-hop record. If Dee Dee is the worst hip-hop record, then I've got the spectrum covered!"

## Track listing

All tracks composed by Dee Dee King and Daniel Rey; except where indicated

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## Personnel

Personnel for the album included:

Musicians

* Dee Dee King - vocals
* Debbie Harry – background vocals on "Mashed Potato Time" and "German Kid"
* Chris Stein – guitar on "German Kid"
* Spyder Mittleman – saxophone on "Mashed Potato Time"

Technical

* Greg Gordon - engineer

## References

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