The Flamin' Groovies and The Ramones: London Roundhouse
Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 1984
AS SPRING turned into the long, hot summer of '76, the '60s in the bloated shape of the Rolling Stones self-parodied itself up its own orifice and expired on the Earl's Court stage. But the '60s Second Coming, in the Morrison/Velvets/Joplin amalgamation of Patti Smith, showed that the True Faith was bigger than its decrepit high priests. And one evening, as the summer reached a blazing peak, I was timewarped back into an age I'd missed first time round, being heavily into short trousers during the LBJ era: the Ramones and Flamin' Groovies took over the hippy Roundhouse and reduced it to the hottest, sleaziest garage ever . . .
Total word count of piece: 285
