Episode 670: Father's Day w/ Stephen King & Joe Hill

Where this was said

The Ramones, Pet Sematary, and the Dog-Death Rule

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Marcus, a self-described massive Ramones fan, asks about the often-told story of Dee Dee Ramone disappearing for an hour at King's house and returning with the Pet Sematary song fully written. Stephen flatly denies it. What actually happened: he asked if the Ramones would do the soundtrack, which didn't happen, but they did write and record 'I Don't Want to Be Buried in a Pet Sematary.' The conversation pivots to one of Stephen's most firmly held writing beliefs: you can kill children and adults in fiction, but do not kill a dog. The backlash from Greg Stilson kicking a dog to death at the start of The Dead Zone still reaches him decades later. Joe one-ups him by confessing to killing a cat in a story called Jackknife — and the internet has never forgiven him. Ben shares that his mother's dog just died the previous day, which leads Stephen to quietly intone 'Pet Sematary,' and Ben's extremely bad Judd Crandall impression.