Creativity Quote by Johnny Ramone

There’s something quietly disarming about Johnny Ramone framing his legacy not in terms of influence, innovation, or “changing music,” but in the blunt currency of being liked and treated decently. Coming from the Ramones’ co-founder - a guy mythologized as abrasive, disciplined, and famously not sentimental - the line lands as an unguarded check-in from someone who spent a career projecting armor.

The intent is modest on the surface: gratitude for enduring fan support. The subtext is heavier. Punk’s public story loves hard poses: nihilism, contempt for the mainstream, the sneer as brand identity. Johnny’s sentence undercuts that mythology. “Still” does real work here. It hints at surprise, even anxiety, that time might have revoked the audience’s affection, that the cultural moment could have moved on without him. Legacy, in his phrasing, isn’t a monument; it’s a fragile, ongoing permission granted by strangers.

Context matters: by the late ’90s and early 2000s, the Ramones were canonized, their sound absorbed into everything from pop-punk to indie rock. Canonization can feel like taxidermy - admiration without intimacy. “People are still nice to me” reads like a small human relief amid the museum treatment: not just that the band is respected, but that he, the person, isn’t being punished for the contradictions that come with fame, aging, and a polarizing reputation.

It works because it’s anti-myth. A punk icon admitting he wants kindness more than reverence is the most punk honesty available.