February 25, 2007
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Rock ‘n Roll
Dee Dee Ramone on how Marriott influenced him…
“When I was a little boy I had a Steve Marriott haircut, Steve Marriott shoes and Steve Marriott pants. I was always dreaming of having a Steve Marriott guitar. Later I’d discovered that Mick Jones and Joe Strummer of The Clash and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols all listened to the same 25 long forgotten songs…like “Sha La La La Lee” by the Small Faces. And it was mostly because they had power chords in the songs instead of a guitar break. Steve Marriott of the Small Faces would shake his guitar around and just let it hummm. ”
source here
The Small Faces not only influenced Dee Dee, but others as well…
In fact, the band has played relatively unheralded but integral roles in the career’s of other music superstars like Rod Stewart and Peter Frampton while having roles of lasting import on their more commercially successful compatriots The Who and The Stones. The influential impact of this cult group still resonates today via the music of diverse yet similarly brash artists like The Jam, Led Zeppelin, Pretenders, Quiet Riot, Blur, Oasis, X, Ramones, Buzzcocks, Clash, Sex Pistols, Black Crowes, Blondie, Wilco, Bon Scott, Shane MacGowan and Billy Bragg.
Comments (1)
I’d bet that it wasn’t the Small Faces song Sha La La La Lee of which Dee Dee was referring, but instead it was Whatchya Gonna Do About It. Why? Well, Whatchya has this semi-famous guitar solo in the middle where Marriott just rings power chords into the amplifier letting it feed back. Jimi Hendrix was quoted as saying that this was his favorite guitar solo of all time.