Last summer, Billboard premiered “Criminal,” the first single off the solo effort of Ramones drummer Richie Ramone. The song, the first from September’s “Entitled,” saw Ramone return to his punk roots with a high-tempo, pummeling tune.
Now, Ramone is releasing a music video for “Criminal,” and Billboard has the exclusive premiere.
The video, filmed solely in black and white, includes nearly-nude makeout sessions, police cars, shootouts, theft and much more packed into a four-and-a-half-minute clip.
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Steven Hanft, known for his work on Beck’s music videos (“Loser,” “Where It’s At”) directed “Criminal.”
“When I read the treatment for the first time, I knew Steven Hanft was the right person for the job,” Ramone said. “As a director, he knew how to get the best performance out of me and make things fun and interesting. I wanted to shoot the video in a dusty location and keep it creepy in a way. So shooting in black and white seemed the way to go to give it that Hitchcock feel. It took only two days to shoot all the footage in and around Los Angeles.”
One shot in particular was filmed on property owned by Ross Harris, a child actor best known for his role as Joey in “Airplane.” Harris has a cameo as one of the video’s outlaws.