Mondo Bizarro was the Ramones' first studio album in three years, after the band left Sire Records for a new contract with Radioactive Records. The title was taken from the film of the same name, a 1966 sequel to the film Mondo Cane. Although Dee Dee Ramone had left the band, he provided the songs "Poison Heart," "Main Man" and "Strength to Endure" as compensation for the band bailing him out of jail due to problems with his long drug addiction. "Poison Heart" and "Strength to Endure" were released as the album's singles, in June and October 1992, respectively. In a 1992 interview for an Argentinian newspaper, Johnny Ramone said of the album, "Generally I always find two or three songs that I hate. From Mondo Bizarro, I really like almost all the songs and I am very satisfied with the result." However, when he was interviewed about the album for the 2003 documentary , he stated, "I don't like it. I don't like it at all." In Johnny's 2012 autobiography, Commando, he awarded the album a "C" grade, stating, "The songs are the weak spots on the album. C.J. was in the band, but his writing wasn't up to par yet." The album was certified gold in Brazil in 2001.
Songs
The song "Censorshit" was written by Joey Ramone about how rock and rap albums were being censored by the Parents Music Resource Center, a group of politicians' wives who sought to put parental advisorywarning labels on records, a practice which has since become standard. It has a reference to Ozzy Osbourne and Frank Zappa in the line, "Ask Ozzy, Zappa, or me, we'll show you what it's like to be free." The song is addressed to Tipper Gore, who was the wife of then-Tennessee Senator and eventual Vice President of the United States, Al Gore. In his book Commando, Johnny Ramone stated that he "didn't like the lyrics on 'Censorshit.' It was stupid. I liked the song, though. Joey wrote this song about Vice President Al Gore's wife, Tipper Gore, then he went on and voted for Bill Clinton." "Heidi Is a Headcase" was written by Joey Ramone and Daniel Rey. According to an interview on the podcast "Ramones of the Day," C.J. Ramone stated that the song is about a girl named Heidi who both Joey and C.J. dated for a period of time. "Take It as It Comes" is a cover song, originally recorded by The Doors for their 1967 debut album. The 2004 CD reissue bonus track, "Spider-Man," is a cover of the theme song from the original Spider-Man animated series. It was originally released as an unlisted bonus track on initial releases of the Ramones' 1995 album ¡Adios Amigos!, and a slightly different version was available on the 1995 various artists compilation album .
