St. Paul Bike Blog

Thanks to the internets, someone saved one of my best/worst teenage memories. This is the Ramones being booed off the stage at the St. Paul Civic Center in 1979 (I still say ‘78, video footage backs me up) opening up for Foreigner. They had just played Surfin’ Bird, coincidentally, written by the St. Paul band the Trashmen in the ’60s. I went with HS friends for Foreigner and was blown away by the Ramones. I was dumbfounded by the audience’s reaction. Why couldn’t they recognize genius? I already had Clash, Sex Pistols, and X-Ray Spex vinyl/8 track purchased at my hometown Pamida store but this was my first face to face with punk rock. Shortly after this, the basis for the Cretin Hop was formed as the Ramones noticed the Cretin Ave. street sign and a high school with Cretin in it’s name and tied it into the crowd’s reaction. Yeah, you can’t stop them from hopping. Seriously, who brings fruit/vegetables to a show? FYI, Foreigner sucked even my farm town friends were complaining.