Dee Dee King – Standing In The Spotlight
Record Label: Red Eye Records
Release Date: July 1988
Dee Dee Ramone got bored with his position as bassist for The Ramones once their success began to die down, and so he decided that the only way to revitalize his image was to completely change it. Enter hip-hop. One of the worst albums ever made by anyone, ever, Standing in the Spotlight sounds like a parody of 80’s culture when in fact it was a (pathetic) attempt at pop stardom. For one thing, Dee Dee’s vocals sound almost exactly like Barney the dinosaur. But also, his rhymes are incredibly bad – take this quote from the opening track, “Mashed Potato Time” – “I like to drive in a Mercedes / I like to impress all the ladies.” Just do the Superbowl Shuffle already.
“Funky Man” stands as the thesis statement of the album. Besides being the ‘single’, it’s also by far the funniest song. “I’m a funky man / I got funky bones / I’m a funky man / my name is Dee Dee Ramone!” And Jesus, those Weird Science synthesizers in the background really don’t help the situation at all. Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-funky, indeed.
Not all of the musical arrangements are terrible: “Commotion in the Ocean” has a pretty catchy surf progression capable of catching the listener’s attention had there been an MC worthy, but the vocals and lyrics are so godawful that it’s not worth hearing; check this novelty: “I already got a sunburn / when will I ever learn / a lesson out of this / and I am not a fish.” We’ve seen Biz Markie put out tracks about picking your nose, etc, but an entire track about going to the beach and getting a sunburn as almost as pitiable as it is hilarious. Nice try, but Vanilla Ice was less pitiable than you, Dee Dee.
Once the man came to his senses and turned back into a (middle aged, warmed over) punk, he redid “The Crusher” on The Ramones’ Adios Amigos. But there’s no way the man’s credibility would ever be recovered. Standing in the Spotlight stands firmly as one of the worst, if not the worst, album[s] ever made.
The bit about Vanilla Ice is misinformed. He has continued to make shitty music 20 years after his only hit. He just came out with an album last year making in the fourth since To the Extreme (album with Ice Ice Baby). Why he keeps making music is beyond me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla_Ice_discography
I haven't heard this album but I don't think its as bad as you saw. Sure it might be laughably bad but I highly doubt its as bad as Aiden/William Control, Hollywood Undead, and Brokencyde. Imo those bands are straight torture
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