David Moon (@m00ndingochan & @dingochanm00n), a roadie for The Ramones, was the first ever Pinhead and his ‘15-minutes-of-fame’ were filmed during the concert scenes for the Ramones’ 1979 movie ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll High School‘ at The Roxy, West Holywood.
Schlitzie the Pinhead was a character in a mask (from the Schlitzie role in the 1932 movie ‘Freaks’) that used to appear on stage carrying a large sign with the phrase “Gabba Gabba Hey”, handing it to Joey Ramone & performing the “jerk dance” and the roadies were usually assigned the duties but later on even celebrity guests would perform as Pinheads for promotional purposes, such as live performances on television or music videos.
To this day, the Pinhead, along with the Ramones Presidential Seal is an emblematic symbol of the band and appears on many items of Ramones merchandising.
“We were in Cleveland in 1977 and our show was rained out. We went to see the movie ‘Freaks’ and wrote a song about pinheads. Now we now have a Pinhead song, so we need to get a Pinhead. A roadie named David Moon was the original Pinhead.”
Johnny Ramone
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