Ramones
Encyclopedia
The Ramones were an American rock
band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens
, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock
group. Despite achieving only limited commercial success, the band was a major influence on the punk rock movement both in the United States and the United Kingdom.
All of the band members adopted pseudonym
s ending with the surname "Ramone", though none of them were related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza
music festival, the band played a farewell concert and disbanded. By a little more than eight years after the breakup, the band's three founding members—lead singer Joey Ramone
, guitarist Johnny Ramone
, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone
—had died.
Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania
. However, recognition of the band's importance built over the years, and they are now cited in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone
list of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and VH1
's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second-greatest band of all time by Spin
magazine, trailing only The Beatles
. On March 18, 2002, the Ramones—including the three founders and drummers Marky
and Tommy Ramone
—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
. In 2011, the group was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
.
in the New York City borough of Queens. John Cummings
and Thomas Erdelyi
had both been in a high-school garage band from 1966 to 1967 known as the Tangerine Puppets. They became friends with Douglas Colvin
, who had recently moved to the area from Germany, and Jeffry Hyman
, who was the initial lead singer of the glam rock
band Sniper
, founded in 1972.
The Ramones began taking shape in early 1974, when Cummings and Colvin invited Hyman to join them in a band. The initial lineup featured Colvin on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Cummings on lead guitar, and Hyman on drums. Colvin, who soon switched from rhythm guitar to bass, was the first to adopt the name "Ramone", calling himself Dee Dee Ramone. He was inspired by Paul McCartney
's use of the pseudonym Paul Ramon during his Silver Beatles
days. Dee Dee convinced the other members to take on the name and came up with the idea of calling the band the Ramones. Hyman and Cummings became Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone, respectively.
A friend of the band, Monte A. Melnick (later their tour manager), helped to arrange rehearsal time for them at Manhattan's Performance Studios, where he worked. Johnny's former bandmate Erdelyi was set to become their manager. Soon after the band was formed, Dee Dee realized that he could not sing and play his bass guitar simultaneously; with Erdelyi's encouragement, Joey became the band's new lead singer. Dee Dee would continue, however, to count off each song's tempo with his signature rapid-fire shout of "1-2-3-4!" Joey soon similarly realized that he could not sing and play drums simultaneously and left the position of drummer. While auditioning prospective replacements, Erdelyi would often take to the drums and demonstrate how to play the songs. It became apparent that he was able to perform the group's music better than anyone else, and he joined the band as Tommy Ramone.
The Ramones played before an audience for the first time on March 30, 1974, at Performance Studios. The songs they played were very fast and very short; most clocked in at under two minutes. Around this time, a new music scene was emerging in New York centered around two clubs in downtown Manhattan
—Max's Kansas City
and, more famously, CBGB
(usually referred to as CBGB's). The Ramones made their CBGB debut on August 16. Legs McNeil
, who co-founded Punk
magazine the following year, later described the impact of that performance: "They were all wearing these black leather jackets. And they counted off this song...and it was just this wall of noise.... They looked so striking. These guys were not hippies. This was something completely new."
The band swiftly became regulars at the club, playing there seventy-four times by the end of the year. After garnering considerable attention for their performances—which averaged about seventeen minutes from beginning to end—the group was signed to a recording contract in late 1975 by Seymour Stein
of Sire Records
. Stein's wife, Linda Stein, had seen the band play at CBGB's; she would later co-manage them along with Danny Fields
. By this time, the Ramones were recognized as leaders of the new scene that was increasingly being referred to as "punk
". The group's unusual frontman had a lot to do with their impact. As Dee Dee explained, "All the other singers [in New York] were copying David Johansen
[of The New York Dolls], who was copying Mick Jagger
.... But Joey was unique, totally unique."
, in February 1976. Of the fourteen songs on the album, the longest, "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement", barely surpassed two-and-a-half minutes. While the songwriting credits were shared by the entire band, Dee Dee was the primary writer. Ramones was produced by Sire's Craig Leon
, with Tommy as associate producer, on an extremely low budget of about $6,400 and released in April. The now iconic front cover photograph of the band was taken by Roberta Bayley, a photographer for Punk magazine.
Ramones was not a commercial success, reaching only number 111 on the Billboard
album chart. The two singles released from the album, "Blitzkrieg Bop
" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", failed to chart at all. At the band's first major performance outside of New York, a June date in Youngstown, Ohio
, approximately ten people showed up. It wasn't until they made a brief tour of England that they began to see the fruits of their labor; a performance at The Roundhouse in London on July 4, 1976 (second-billed to the Flamin' Groovies), organized by Linda Stein, was a resounding success. Their Roundhouse appearance and a club date the following night—where the band met members of the Sex Pistols
and The Clash
—helped galvanize the burgeoning UK punk rock scene. The Flamin' Groovies/Ramones double bill was successfully reprised at The Roxy
in Los Angeles the following month, fueling the punk scene there as well. The Ramones were becoming an increasingly popular live act—a Toronto performance in September energized yet another growing punk scene.
Their next two albums, Leave Home
and Rocket to Russia
, were released in 1977. Both were coproduced by Tommy and Tony Bongiovi
, the second cousin of Jon Bon Jovi
. Leave Home met with even less chart success than Ramones, though it did include "Pinhead", which became one of the band's signature songs with its chanted refrain of "Gabba gabba hey!" Rocket to Russia was the band's highest-charting album to date, reaching number 49 on the Billboard 200
. In Rolling Stone
, critic Dave Marsh
called it "the best American rock & roll of the year". The album also featured the first Ramones single to enter the Billboard charts (albeit only as high as number 81): "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker
". The follow-up single, "Rockaway Beach", reached number 66—the highest any Ramones single would ever reach in America. On December 31, 1977, the Ramones recorded It's Alive, a live concert double album, at the Rainbow Theatre, London, which was released in April 1979 (the title is a reference to the 1974 horror film of the same name).
, who had been a member of the early 1970s hard rock band Dust
, Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys
, and the pioneering punk group Richard Hell & The Voidoids
. Bell became Marky Ramone. Later that year, the band released their fourth studio album, and first with Marky, Road to Ruin
. The album, co-produced by Tommy with Ed Stasium
, included some new sounds such as acoustic guitar, several ballads, and the band's first two recorded songs longer than three minutes. It failed to reach the Billboard Top 100. However, "I Wanna Be Sedated
", which appeared both on the album and as a single, would become one of the band's best-known songs. The artwork on the album's cover was done by Punk magazine co-founder John Holmstrom
.
After the band's movie debut in Roger Corman
's Rock 'n' Roll High School
(1979), renowned producer Phil Spector
became interested in the Ramones and produced their 1980 album End of the Century
. During the recording sessions in Los Angeles, Spector held Dee Dee at gunpoint, forcing him to repeatedly play a riff. Though it was to be the highest-charting album in the band's history—reaching number 44 in the United States and number 14 in Great Britain—Johnny made clear that he favored the band's more aggressive punk material: "End of the Century was just watered-down Ramones. It's not the real Ramones." This stance was also conveyed by the title and track selection of the compilation album Johnny later oversaw, Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits
. Despite these reservations, Johnny did concede that some of Spector's work with the band had merit, saying "It really worked when he got to a slower song like 'Danny Says
'—the production really worked tremendously. 'Rock 'N' Roll Radio' is really good. For the harder stuff, it didn't work as well."
" released as a single, became the band's biggest hit in Great Britain, reaching number 8 on the charts.
Pleasant Dreams
, the band's sixth album, was released in 1981. It continued the trend established by End of the Century, diluting the rawer punk sound showcased on the band's initial three albums. Slick production was again featured, this time provided by Graham Gouldman
of UK pop act 10cc
. Johnny would contend in retrospect that this direction was a record company decision, a continued futile attempt to get airplay on American radio. While Pleasant Dreams reached number 58 on the U.S. chart, its two singles failed to register at all.
Subterranean Jungle
, produced by Ritchie Cordell and Glen Kolotkin, was released in 1983. Billy Rogers, who had performed with Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers
, played drums on the album's second single, a cover of The Chambers Brothers
' "Time Has Come Today
". Subterranean Jungle peaked at number 83 in the United States—it would be the last album by the band to crack the Billboard Top 100.
, who adopted the name Richie Ramone
. The first album the Ramones recorded with Richie was Too Tough to Die
in 1984, with Tommy Erdelyi and Ed Stasium returning as producers. The album marked a shift to something like the band's original sound. In the description of Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the "rhythms are back up to jackhammer speed and the songs are down to short, terse statements."
The band's main release of 1985 was the British single "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg
"; though it was available in the United States only as an import, it was played widely on American college radio. The song was written by Joey in protest of Ronald Reagan
's visit to a German military cemetery where SS
members were buried. Retitled "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)", the song appeared on the band's ninth studio album, Animal Boy
(1986). Produced by Jean Beauvoir
, formerly a member of the Plasmatics
, the album was characterized by a Rolling Stone reviewer as "nonstop primal fuzz pop". Making it his pick for "album of the week", New York Times critic Jon Pareles
wrote that the Ramones "speak up for outcasts and disturbed individuals".
The following year the band recorded their last album with Richie, Halfway to Sanity
, produced by Daniel Rey
. Richie left in August 1987, upset that after being in the band for four years, the other members would still not give him a share of the money they made selling T-shirts. Richie was replaced by Clem Burke
from Blondie
, which was disbanded at the time. According to Johnny, the performances with Burke—who adopted the name Elvis Ramone—were a disaster. He was fired after two performances because his drumming could not keep up with the rest of the band. Marky, now clean and sober, returned.
Dee Dee left the band after the recording of their eleventh studio album, 1989's Brain Drain
, co-produced by Beauvoir, Rey, and Bill Laswell
. He was replaced by Christopher Joseph Ward (C.J. Ramone), who performed with the band until they disbanded. Dee Dee initially pursued a brief career as a rapper under the name Dee Dee King. He quickly returned to punk rock and formed several bands, in much the same vein as the Ramones, for whom he also continued to write songs.
. Their first album for the label was 1992's Mondo Bizarro
, which reunited them with producer Ed Stasium. Acid Eaters
, consisting entirely of cover songs, came out the following year. In 1993 the Ramones were featured in the animated television series The Simpsons
, providing music and voices for animated versions of themselves in the episode "Rosebud".
In 1995, the Ramones released ¡Adios Amigos!
, their fourteenth studio album, and announced that they planned to disband if it was not successful. Its sales were unremarkable, garnering it just two weeks on the lower end of the Billboard chart. The band spent late 1995 on what was promoted as a farewell tour. However, they accepted an offer to appear in the sixth Lollapalooza
festival, which toured around the United States during the following summer. After the Lollapalooza tour's conclusion, the Ramones played their final show on August 6, 1996, at the Palace in Hollywood
. A recording of the concert was later released on video and CD as We're Outta Here! In addition to a reappearance by Dee Dee, the show featured several guests including Motörhead's Lemmy, Pearl Jam
's Eddie Vedder
, Soundgarden
's Chris Cornell
, and Rancid
's Tim Armstrong
and Lars Frederiksen
.
On July 20, 1999, Dee Dee, Johnny, Joey, Tommy, Marky, and C.J. appeared together at the Virgin Megastore
in New York City for an autograph signing. This was the last occasion on which the original four members of the group appeared together. Joey, who had been diagnosed with lymphoma in 1995, died of the illness on April 15, 2001, in New York.
In 2002, the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
, which specifically named Dee Dee, Johnny, Joey, Tommy, and Marky. At the ceremony, the surviving inductees spoke on behalf of the band. Tommy spoke first, saying how honored the band felt, but how much it would have meant for Joey. Johnny thanked the band's fans and blessed George W. Bush
and his presidency, Dee Dee humorously congratulated and thanked himself, while Marky thanked Tommy for influencing his drum style. Green Day
played "Teenage Lobotomy" and "Blitzkrieg Bop
" as a tribute, demonstrating the Ramones' continuing influence on later rock musicians. The ceremony was one of Dee Dee's last public appearances; on June 5, 2002, two months later, he was found at his Hollywood home, dead from a heroin overdose.
On November 30, 2003, New York City unveiled a sign designating East 2nd Street at the corner of Bowery as Joey Ramone Place. The singer lived on East 2nd for a time, and the sign is near the former Bowery site of CBGB. End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
, a Ramones documentary, came out in 2004. Johnny, who had been privately battling prostate cancer, died on September 15, 2004, in Los Angeles, shortly after the film's release. On the same day as Johnny's death, the world's first Ramones Museum opened its doors to the public. Located in Berlin, Germany, the museum features more than 300 items of memorabilia, including a pair of stage-worn jeans from Johnny, a stage-worn glove from Joey, Marky's sneakers, and C.J.'s stage-worn bass strap.
The Ramones were inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame
in 2007. That October saw the release of a DVD set containing concert footage of the band: It's Alive 1974-1996
includes 118 songs from 33 performances over the span of the group's career. In February 2011 the group was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
. Drummers Tommy, Marky, and Richie Ramone
attended the ceremony. Joey Ramone's award was accepted by his brother Mickey Leigh, who thanked his brother Joey Ramone
for giving a voice to a whole genre of music and "To sharing his voice with us, and his character, and his style, and his charm, his sentiment, his sensitivity, his craziness and for urging us to experience every human emotion through music and most of all to have some fun in this life." During Richie Ramone's speech, Richie noted that it was the first time in history that all three drummers were under the same roof, and mused that he couldn't "...help thinking that [Joey Ramone] is watching us right now with a little smile on his face behind his rose-colored glasses." Marky remarked "This is amazing. I never expected this. I'm sure Johnny, Joey and Dee Dee would never have expected this. I'm extremely honoured."
and Johnny a conservative. Their personalities also clashed: Johnny was a military brat who lived by a code of self-discipline, while Joey struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder
. Johnny, who was fascinated by the Nazis
and Adolf Hitler
, would sometimes torment Joey (who was Jewish) with anti-Semitic remarks. In the early 1980s, Johnny "stole" Joey's girlfriend Linda, whom he later married. As a consequence, despite performing together for years afterward, Joey and Johnny stopped speaking to each other. Johnny did not call Joey before the latter's death in 2001, but said in the documentary End of the Century that he was depressed for "the whole week" after the singer died.
Aside from this central conflict, Dee Dee's bipolar disorder
and repeated relapses into drug addiction also caused significant strains. Tommy left the band partly in reaction to being "physically threatened by Johnny, treated with contempt by Dee Dee, and all but ignored by Joey". As new members joined, payment methods and image representation became matters of serious dispute. In 1997, Marky and Joey got into a fight about their respective drinking habits on the Howard Stern
radio show.
that the band members grew up listening to in the 1950s and 1960s, including classic rock groups such as The Beach Boys
, The Beatles
, The Kinks
, and The Rolling Stones
; bubblegum
acts like the 1910 Fruitgum Company
and Ohio Express; and girl groups such as The Ronettes
and The Shangri-Las
. They also drew on the harder rock sound of The Stooges
and the New York Dolls
, both now known as seminal protopunk
bands. The Ramones' style was in part a reaction against the heavily produced, often bombastic music that dominated the pop charts in the 1970s. "We decided to start our own group because we were bored with everything we heard," Joey once explained. "In 1974 everything was tenth-generation Led Zeppelin
, tenth-generation Elton John
, or overproduced, or just junk. Everything was long jams, long guitar solos.... We missed music like it used to be." Ira Robbins and Scott Isler of Trouser Press
describe the result:
As leaders in the punk rock
scene, the Ramones' music has usually been identified with that label, while some have defined their characteristic style more specifically as pop punk
and others as power pop
. In the 1980s, the band sometimes veered into hardcore punk
territory, as can be heard on Too Tough to Die
.
On stage, the band adopted a focused approach directly intended to increase the audience's concert experience. Johnny's instructions to C.J. when preparing for his first live performances with the group were to play facing the audience, to stand with the bass slung low between spread legs, and to walk forward to the front of stage at the same time as he did. Johnny was not a fan of guitarists who performed facing their drummer, amplifier, or other band members.
scene, and avant-garde films. I was a big Mad Magazine
fan myself."
The band's logo was created by New York City artist Arturo Vega, a longtime friend who had allowed Joey and Dee Dee to move into his loft. Vega produced the band's t-shirts, their main source of income, basing most of the images on a black-and-white self-portrait photograph he had taken of his American bald eagle belt buckle which had appeared on the back sleeve of the Ramones' first album. He was inspired to create the band's logo after a trip to Washington, D.C.
:
The scroll in the eagle's beak originally read "Look out below", but this was soon changed to "Hey ho let's go" after the opening lyrics of the band's first single, "Blitzkrieg Bop
". The arrowheads on the shield came from a design on a polyester shirt Vega had bought. The name "Ramones" was spelled out in block capitals above the logo using plastic stick-on letters. Where the presidential emblem read "Seal of the President of the United States" clockwise in the border around the eagle, Vega instead placed the pseudonym
s of the four band members: Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, and Tommy. Over the years the names in the border would change as the band's lineup fluctuated.
. Music historian Jon Savage
writes of their debut album that "it remains one of the few records that changed pop forever." As described by Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine
, "The band's first four albums set the blueprint for punk, especially American punk and hardcore, for the next two decades." Trouser Presss Robbins and Isler similarly write that the Ramones "not only spearheaded the original new wave/punk movement, but also drew the blueprint for subsequent hardcore punk bands". Punk journalist Phil Strongman writes, "In purely musical terms, The Ramones, in attempting to re-create the excitement of pre-Dolby rock, were to cast a huge shadow—they had fused a blueprint for much of the indie future." Writing for Slate
in 2001, Douglas Wolk
described the Ramones as "easily the most influential group of the last 30 years."
The Ramones' debut album had an outsized effect relative to its modest sales. According to Tony James
, a member of several seminal British punk bands, "Everybody went up three gears the day they got that first Ramones album. Punk rock—that rama-lama super fast stuff—is totally down to the Ramones. Bands were just playing in an MC5
groove until then." The central fanzine
of the early UK punk scene, Sniffin' Glue
, was named after the song "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", which appeared on the debut LP. The Ramones' first British concert, at London's Roundhouse concert hall, was held on July 4, 1976, the United States Bicentennial
. The Sex Pistols
were playing in Sheffield
that evening, supported by The Clash
, making their public debut. The next night, members of both bands attended the Ramones' gig at the Dingwall's club. Ramones manager Danny Fields recalls a conversation between Johnny Ramone and Clash bassist Paul Simonon
(which he mislocates at the Roundhouse): "Johnny asked him, 'What do you do? Are you in a band?' Paul said, 'Well, we just rehearse. We call ourselves the Clash but we're not good enough.' Johnny said, 'Wait till you see us—we stink, we're lousy, we can't play. Just get out there and do it.'" Another band whose members saw the Ramones perform, The Damned, played their first show two days later. The Ramones' two July 1976 shows, like their debut album, are seen as having a significant impact on the style of many of the newly formed British punk acts—as one observer put it, "instantly nearly every band speeded up".
Ramones concerts and recordings influenced many musicians central to the development of California punk as well, including Greg Ginn
of Black Flag
, Jello Biafra
of the Dead Kennedys
, Mike Ness
of Social Distortion
, Brett Gurewitz
of Bad Religion
, and members of the Descendents
. Canada's first major punk scenes—in Toronto and in British Columbia
's Victoria
and Vancouver—were also heavily influenced by the Ramones. In the late 1970s, many bands emerged with musical styles deeply indebted to the band's. There were The Lurkers
from England, The Undertones
from Ireland, Teenage Head
from Canada, and The Zeros and The Dickies
from southern California. The seminal hardcore band Bad Brains
took its name from a Ramones song. Later punk bands such as Screeching Weasel
, The Vindictives
, The Queers
, The Mr. T Experience
, Boris the Sprinkler
, Beatnik Termites
, and Jon Cougar Concentration Camp
have recorded cover versions of entire Ramones albums—Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket to Russia, Road to Ruin, End of the Century, Pleasant Dreams, and Too Tough to Die, respectively. The Huntingtons
' File Under Ramones
consists of Ramones covers from across the band's history. The Riverdales, made up of former members of Screeching Weasel, have emulated the sound of the Ramones throughout their career.
The Ramones also influenced musicians associated with other genres, such as heavy metal
. Metallica
guitarist Kirk Hammett
has described the importance of Johnny's rapid-fire guitar playing style to his own musical development. Motörhead lead singer Lemmy, a friend of the Ramones since the late 1970s, mixed the band's "Go Home Ann" in 1985. The members of Motörhead later composed the song "R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
" as a tribute, and Lemmy performed at the final Ramones concert in 1996. In the realm of alternative rock
, the song "53rd and 3rd" lent its name to a British indie pop
label cofounded by Stephen Pastel of the Scottish band The Pastels
. Evan Dando
of The Lemonheads
, Dave Grohl
of Nirvana
and Foo Fighters
, Eddie Vedder
of Pearl Jam
(who also inducted the band to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
) and The Strokes
are among the many alternative rock musicians who have credited the Ramones with inspiring them.
The first Ramones tribute album featuring multiple artists was released in 1991: Gabba Gabba Hey: A Tribute to the Ramones
includes tracks by such acts as The Flesh Eaters
, L7
, Mojo Nixon
, and Bad Religion. In 2001, Ramones Maniacs
, a multi-artist cover of the entire Ramones Mania
compilation album, included a guest appearance by Dee Dee Ramone. We're a Happy Family: A Tribute to Ramones (2003) is the best known Ramones tribute album, with artists such as Green Day
, Kiss
, The Offspring
, Red Hot Chili Peppers
, U2
, Metallica, and Rob Zombie
(who also did the album cover artwork). Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong
named his son Joey in homage to Joey Ramone, and drummer Tré Cool
named his daughter Ramona.
Dee Dee Ramone
(Douglas Colvin) – bass guitar
, vocals
(1974–1989)
Johnny Ramone
(John Cummings) – guitar
(1974–1996)
Joey Ramone
(Jeffry Hyman) – drums
(1974), lead vocals (1974–1996)
Tommy Ramone
(Thomas Erdelyi) – drums (1974–1978)
Marky Ramone
(Marc Bell) – drums (1978–1983, 1987–1996)
Richie Ramone
(Richard Reinhardt) – drums, vocals (1983–1987)
Elvis Ramone
(Clem Burke) – drums (1987)
C. J. Ramone
(Christopher Joseph Ward) – bass guitar, vocals (1989–1996)
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States.-Neighborhood:The neighborhood is home to upper-middle class residents, of whom the wealthier residents often live in the neighborhood's Forest Hills Gardens area...
, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
group. Despite achieving only limited commercial success, the band was a major influence on the punk rock movement both in the United States and the United Kingdom.
All of the band members adopted pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s ending with the surname "Ramone", though none of them were related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
music festival, the band played a farewell concert and disbanded. By a little more than eight years after the breakup, the band's three founding members—lead singer Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone was an American vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist in the punk rock band the Ramones. Joey Ramone's image, voice and tenure as frontman of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.-Early life:Joey Ramone was born Jeffry Hyman to parents Noel and Charlotte Hyman...
, guitarist Johnny Ramone
Johnny Ramone
John William Cummings , better known by his stage name Johnny Ramone, was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being the guitarist for the punk rock band the Ramones. He was a founding member of the band, and remained a member throughout the band's entire career...
, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone
Dee Dee Ramone
Dee Dee Ramone was an American songwriter and musician, best known as founding member, bassist and main songwriter of the punk rock band the Ramones....
—had died.
Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania
Ramones Mania
-Personnel:* Joey Ramone – lead vocals* Johnny Ramone – guitar* Dee Dee Ramone – bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Wart Hog"* Marky Ramone - drums* Tommy Ramone - drums* Richie Ramone - drums, backing vocals on "Wart Hog"-Charts:Album Billboard...
. However, recognition of the band's importance built over the years, and they are now cited in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
list of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second-greatest band of all time by Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
magazine, trailing only The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. On March 18, 2002, the Ramones—including the three founders and drummers Marky
Marky Ramone
Marky Ramone is an American musician. He is best known for being the drummer for the Ramones, but has also played in other notable bands like Dust, Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, and the Misfits.Although he is not the original drummer , Marky is the only living...
and Tommy Ramone
Tommy Ramone
Tommy Ramone, also known as Thomas Erdelyi , is a Hungarian American record producer and musician...
—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
. In 2011, the group was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the Recording Academy to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording."...
.
Early days: 1974–1975
The original members of the band met in and around the middle-class neighborhood of Forest HillsForest Hills
- Cities or census-designated places :United States* Forest Hills, Kentucky* Forest Hills, Michigan* Forest Hills, North Carolina* Forest Hills, Pennsylvania* Forest Hills, TennesseeSouth Africa* Forest Hills, Kloof, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal...
in the New York City borough of Queens. John Cummings
Johnny Ramone
John William Cummings , better known by his stage name Johnny Ramone, was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being the guitarist for the punk rock band the Ramones. He was a founding member of the band, and remained a member throughout the band's entire career...
and Thomas Erdelyi
Tommy Ramone
Tommy Ramone, also known as Thomas Erdelyi , is a Hungarian American record producer and musician...
had both been in a high-school garage band from 1966 to 1967 known as the Tangerine Puppets. They became friends with Douglas Colvin
Dee Dee Ramone
Dee Dee Ramone was an American songwriter and musician, best known as founding member, bassist and main songwriter of the punk rock band the Ramones....
, who had recently moved to the area from Germany, and Jeffry Hyman
Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone was an American vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist in the punk rock band the Ramones. Joey Ramone's image, voice and tenure as frontman of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.-Early life:Joey Ramone was born Jeffry Hyman to parents Noel and Charlotte Hyman...
, who was the initial lead singer of the glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
band Sniper
Sniper (American band)
Sniper was an early, American glam punk band that formed in New York in 1972. They were one of several bands that played at the Mercer Arts Center, Max's Kansas City and The Coventry, alongside the New York Dolls and Suicide....
, founded in 1972.
The Ramones began taking shape in early 1974, when Cummings and Colvin invited Hyman to join them in a band. The initial lineup featured Colvin on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Cummings on lead guitar, and Hyman on drums. Colvin, who soon switched from rhythm guitar to bass, was the first to adopt the name "Ramone", calling himself Dee Dee Ramone. He was inspired by Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
's use of the pseudonym Paul Ramon during his Silver Beatles
The Quarrymen
The Quarrymen are a British skiffle and rock and roll group, initially formed in Liverpool in 1956, that eventually evolved into The Beatles in 1960...
days. Dee Dee convinced the other members to take on the name and came up with the idea of calling the band the Ramones. Hyman and Cummings became Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone, respectively.
A friend of the band, Monte A. Melnick (later their tour manager), helped to arrange rehearsal time for them at Manhattan's Performance Studios, where he worked. Johnny's former bandmate Erdelyi was set to become their manager. Soon after the band was formed, Dee Dee realized that he could not sing and play his bass guitar simultaneously; with Erdelyi's encouragement, Joey became the band's new lead singer. Dee Dee would continue, however, to count off each song's tempo with his signature rapid-fire shout of "1-2-3-4!" Joey soon similarly realized that he could not sing and play drums simultaneously and left the position of drummer. While auditioning prospective replacements, Erdelyi would often take to the drums and demonstrate how to play the songs. It became apparent that he was able to perform the group's music better than anyone else, and he joined the band as Tommy Ramone.
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
—Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South, in New York City, which was a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Origin of name:...
and, more famously, CBGB
CBGB
CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...
(usually referred to as CBGB's). The Ramones made their CBGB debut on August 16. Legs McNeil
Legs McNeil
Roderick Edward "Legs" McNeil is a writer and rock music historian. He is the co-founder and a writer for Punk Magazine; he is also a former senior editor at Spin Magazine, and the founder and editor of Nerve magazine .- Punk Magazine:At the age of 18, McNeil gathered with two high school...
, who co-founded Punk
Punk (magazine)
Punk is a music magazine/fanzine created by cartoonist John Holmstrom, publisher Ged Dunn and "resident punk" Legs McNeil in 1975. Its use of the term "punk rock," coined by writers for Creem magazine a few years earlier, led to its worldwide acceptance as the definition for the new bands that were...
magazine the following year, later described the impact of that performance: "They were all wearing these black leather jackets. And they counted off this song...and it was just this wall of noise.... They looked so striking. These guys were not hippies. This was something completely new."
The band swiftly became regulars at the club, playing there seventy-four times by the end of the year. After garnering considerable attention for their performances—which averaged about seventeen minutes from beginning to end—the group was signed to a recording contract in late 1975 by Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein is an entrepreneur in the music industry who has been a part of the business since getting his first job as a clerk for Billboard magazine in 1958. Stein is a vice president of Warner Bros...
of Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
. Stein's wife, Linda Stein, had seen the band play at CBGB's; she would later co-manage them along with Danny Fields
Danny Fields
Danny Fields is an American journalist and author. As a music-industry executive in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, he was one of the most influential figures in the underground and punk rock scenes.- Early life :...
. By this time, the Ramones were recognized as leaders of the new scene that was increasingly being referred to as "punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
". The group's unusual frontman had a lot to do with their impact. As Dee Dee explained, "All the other singers [in New York] were copying David Johansen
David Johansen
David Roger Johansen is an American rock, protopunk, blues, and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.-Early life:Johansen was born in...
[of The New York Dolls], who was copying Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
.... But Joey was unique, totally unique."
Spearheading punk: 1976–1977
The Ramones recorded their debut album, RamonesRamones (album)
Ramones is the self-titled debut studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was released on April 23, 1976, through Sire Records. Prior to the band signing to Sire they were seen by Lisa Robinson, an editor of Hit Parader, during an early 1975 performance. Robinson began popularizing...
, in February 1976. Of the fourteen songs on the album, the longest, "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement", barely surpassed two-and-a-half minutes. While the songwriting credits were shared by the entire band, Dee Dee was the primary writer. Ramones was produced by Sire's Craig Leon
Craig Leon
Craig Leon is an American born record producer, composer and arranger currently living in England. Leon was instrumental in launching the careers of many recording artists including The Ramones and Blondie...
, with Tommy as associate producer, on an extremely low budget of about $6,400 and released in April. The now iconic front cover photograph of the band was taken by Roberta Bayley, a photographer for Punk magazine.
Ramones was not a commercial success, reaching only number 111 on the Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
album chart. The two singles released from the album, "Blitzkrieg Bop
Blitzkrieg Bop
"Blitzkrieg Bop" is a song by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was released as the band's debut single in April of 1976 in the United States...
" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", failed to chart at all. At the band's first major performance outside of New York, a June date in Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, approximately ten people showed up. It wasn't until they made a brief tour of England that they began to see the fruits of their labor; a performance at The Roundhouse in London on July 4, 1976 (second-billed to the Flamin' Groovies), organized by Linda Stein, was a resounding success. Their Roundhouse appearance and a club date the following night—where the band met members of the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
and The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
—helped galvanize the burgeoning UK punk rock scene. The Flamin' Groovies/Ramones double bill was successfully reprised at The Roxy
The Roxy Theatre
The Roxy Theatre is a famous nightclub, on the Sunset Strip, in West Hollywood, California. The Roxy is owned by Lou Adler and Adler's son, Nic, who operates the club.- History :...
in Los Angeles the following month, fueling the punk scene there as well. The Ramones were becoming an increasingly popular live act—a Toronto performance in September energized yet another growing punk scene.
Their next two albums, Leave Home
Leave Home
Leave Home is the second studio album by American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on January 10, 1977 through Sire Records. The album features the classic Ramones songs "Pinhead" and "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment"...
and Rocket to Russia
Rocket to Russia
Rocket to Russia is the third studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on November 4, 1977 through Sire Records. It was their last with original drummer Tommy Ramone. The album incorporates surf rock and other influences. It includes some of the Ramones' best-known...
, were released in 1977. Both were coproduced by Tommy and Tony Bongiovi
Tony Bongiovi
Tony Bongiovi is a record producer and recording engineer with expertise in Electrical & Acoustical Engineering. He helped to remodel an old building in Manhattan—once a power plant for Edison, and later a television studio—into the Power Station recording studio in 1977.Bongiovi was born in the...
, the second cousin of Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as the founder, occasional rhythm guitarist, and lead singer of rock band Bon Jovi, which was named after him...
. Leave Home met with even less chart success than Ramones, though it did include "Pinhead", which became one of the band's signature songs with its chanted refrain of "Gabba gabba hey!" Rocket to Russia was the band's highest-charting album to date, reaching number 49 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
. In Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, critic Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
called it "the best American rock & roll of the year". The album also featured the first Ramones single to enter the Billboard charts (albeit only as high as number 81): "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker
Sheena is a Punk Rocker
"Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" is a song by the punk rock group The Ramones. It first appeared on their third LP, Rocket to Russia, in 1977, and was also included on later pressings of the group's second album, Leave Home...
". The follow-up single, "Rockaway Beach", reached number 66—the highest any Ramones single would ever reach in America. On December 31, 1977, the Ramones recorded It's Alive, a live concert double album, at the Rainbow Theatre, London, which was released in April 1979 (the title is a reference to the 1974 horror film of the same name).
Recordings turn more pop: 1978–1983
Tommy, tired of touring, left the band in early 1978. He continued as the Ramones' record producer under his birth name of Erdelyi. His position as drummer was filled by Marc BellMarky Ramone
Marky Ramone is an American musician. He is best known for being the drummer for the Ramones, but has also played in other notable bands like Dust, Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, and the Misfits.Although he is not the original drummer , Marky is the only living...
, who had been a member of the early 1970s hard rock band Dust
Dust (band)
Dust was an American hard rock band active in the early 1970s.Dust was formed in the late 1960s by Richie Wise and two teenagers, Kenny Aaronson and Marc Bell. Additionally, Kenny Kerner wrote the group's lyrics, and acted as their producer and manager...
, Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys
Jayne County
Jayne County , formerly known as Wayne County, is an American male-to-female transsexual performer, musician and actress whose career has spanned several decades. County would go on to be known as rock's first transsexual singer...
, and the pioneering punk group Richard Hell & The Voidoids
The Voidoids
The Voidoids, also known as Richard Hell & The Voidoids, were an American rock band from the first wave of punk rock, fronted by Richard Hell, a former member of the Neon Boys, Television and the Heartbreakers...
. Bell became Marky Ramone. Later that year, the band released their fourth studio album, and first with Marky, Road to Ruin
Road to Ruin (Ramones album)
Road to Ruin is the fourth studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on September 22, 1978 through Sire Records...
. The album, co-produced by Tommy with Ed Stasium
Ed Stasium
Ed Stasium is an American record producer and engineer who has worked on albums by The Ramones, Talking Heads, The Smithereens and Living Colour.- History :Stasium first surfaced in 1970 fronting the band Brandywine, appearing on their sole LP Aged....
, included some new sounds such as acoustic guitar, several ballads, and the band's first two recorded songs longer than three minutes. It failed to reach the Billboard Top 100. However, "I Wanna Be Sedated
I Wanna Be Sedated
"I Wanna Be Sedated" is a song by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It is one of the band's best known songs. It was originally released on their fourth album, Road to Ruin, in September 1978 and was the b-side of the UK single "She's the One" released on January 10, 1979. The song was later...
", which appeared both on the album and as a single, would become one of the band's best-known songs. The artwork on the album's cover was done by Punk magazine co-founder John Holmstrom
John Holmstrom
John Holmstrom is an American underground cartoonist and writer. He is best known for illustrating the covers of the Ramones albums Rocket to Russia and Road to Ruin, as well as his characters Bosko and Joe .As the founding editor of Punk Magazine at the age of 21 in late 1975, Holmstrom's work...
.
After the band's movie debut in Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
's Rock 'n' Roll High School
Rock 'n' Roll High School
Rock 'n' Roll High School is a 1979 musical comedy film produced by Roger Corman, directed by Allan Arkush, and featuring the Ramones.The film starred P. J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, and Clint Howard...
(1979), renowned producer Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
became interested in the Ramones and produced their 1980 album End of the Century
End of the Century
T. Donald Guarisco of Allmusic notes that the "entire album is pretty controversial in the world of Ramones fandom".Dee Dee recalled hearing a song from the album on the radio, perhaps "I'm Affected": "I couldn't believe how awful it sounded. It was horrible. I hated "Baby, I Love You"...
. During the recording sessions in Los Angeles, Spector held Dee Dee at gunpoint, forcing him to repeatedly play a riff. Though it was to be the highest-charting album in the band's history—reaching number 44 in the United States and number 14 in Great Britain—Johnny made clear that he favored the band's more aggressive punk material: "End of the Century was just watered-down Ramones. It's not the real Ramones." This stance was also conveyed by the title and track selection of the compilation album Johnny later oversaw, Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits
Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits
Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits is a compilation of Ramones songs compiled by Johnny Ramone. The initial 50,000 copies include the 8-song bonus disc Ramones Smash You: Live ’85. The bonus disc features previously unreleased live recordings made at the Lyceum Theatre in London, on February...
. Despite these reservations, Johnny did concede that some of Spector's work with the band had merit, saying "It really worked when he got to a slower song like 'Danny Says
Danny Says
"Danny Says" is a ballad written by Joey Ramone. The song was originally released as the third track on the Ramones 1980 album, End of the Century. The 2002 Expanded Edition CD of the album includes a demo version of "Danny Says" among the bonus tracks...
'—the production really worked tremendously. 'Rock 'N' Roll Radio' is really good. For the harder stuff, it didn't work as well."
Baby, I Love You
"Baby, I Love You" is a pop song written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, produced by Spector, and originally recorded in 1963 by The Ronettes...
" released as a single, became the band's biggest hit in Great Britain, reaching number 8 on the charts.
Pleasant Dreams
Pleasant Dreams is the sixth studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released on July 20, 1981 through Sire Records. Pleasant Dreams reached #58 on the US Billboard album charts. It was frowned upon by guitarist Johnny Ramone because to him it sounded "too slick" and is...
, the band's sixth album, was released in 1981. It continued the trend established by End of the Century, diluting the rawer punk sound showcased on the band's initial three albums. Slick production was again featured, this time provided by Graham Gouldman
Graham Gouldman
Graham Keith Gouldman is an English songwriter and musician who is a long-time member of British band 10cc.-Early life and 1960s pop career: 1946–1968:Gouldman was born in Broughton, Salford, England...
of UK pop act 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
. Johnny would contend in retrospect that this direction was a record company decision, a continued futile attempt to get airplay on American radio. While Pleasant Dreams reached number 58 on the U.S. chart, its two singles failed to register at all.
Subterranean Jungle
Subterranean Jungle
Subterranean Jungle is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released in February 1983 and peaked at position eighty-three on the Billboard album music chart. It was re-released on August 20th, 2002 on CD by Rhino Records."Time Bomb" featured Dee Dee's first...
, produced by Ritchie Cordell and Glen Kolotkin, was released in 1983. Billy Rogers, who had performed with Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers
The Heartbreakers
Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, also known as The Heartbreakers, were an American rock & roll band formed in New York in May 1975. The band was part of the first wave of punk rock.-History:...
, played drums on the album's second single, a cover of The Chambers Brothers
The Chambers Brothers
The Chambers Brothers is a soul-music group, best known for its 1968 hit record, the 11-minute long song "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions with modern psychedelic and rock elements, spawning a heady mix...
' "Time Has Come Today
Time Has Come Today
"Time Has Come Today" is a song recorded by The Chambers Brothers in 1966. It was then released on album in November 1967, and it spent five weeks at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1968....
". Subterranean Jungle peaked at number 83 in the United States—it would be the last album by the band to crack the Billboard Top 100.
Shuffling members: 1983–1989
After the release of Subterranean Jungle, Marky was fired from the band due to his alcoholism. He was replaced by Richard ReinhardtRichie Ramone
Richie Ramone is an American drummer best known for being the drummer for the iconic punk band the Ramones and the only Ramones drummer to be the sole composer and writer of Ramones songs.-Biography:...
, who adopted the name Richie Ramone
Richie Ramone
Richie Ramone is an American drummer best known for being the drummer for the iconic punk band the Ramones and the only Ramones drummer to be the sole composer and writer of Ramones songs.-Biography:...
. The first album the Ramones recorded with Richie was Too Tough to Die
Too Tough to Die
Too Tough to Die is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on October 1,1984. It is the first Ramones album to feature new drummer Richie Ramone...
in 1984, with Tommy Erdelyi and Ed Stasium returning as producers. The album marked a shift to something like the band's original sound. In the description of Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the "rhythms are back up to jackhammer speed and the songs are down to short, terse statements."
The band's main release of 1985 was the British single "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg
My Brain is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)
"Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" is a song by American punk rock band the Ramones. Initially issued as a single in Great Britain by Beggars Banquet Records in 1985, it did not receive an American single release. An emotionally charged protest of the visit by U.S. president Ronald Reagan to a German cemetery...
"; though it was available in the United States only as an import, it was played widely on American college radio. The song was written by Joey in protest of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's visit to a German military cemetery where SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
members were buried. Retitled "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)", the song appeared on the band's ninth studio album, Animal Boy
Animal Boy
Animal Boy is the ninth studio album by the American punk band the Ramones. It featured the songs "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down ", written as a protest of President Ronald Reagan's visit to the Bitburg cemetery in West Germany; "Somebody Put Something in My Drink", written by Richie Ramone, the...
(1986). Produced by Jean Beauvoir
Jean Beauvoir
Jean Beauvoir is an American singer bassist, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist.Beauvoir was born in Chicago to parents of Haitian background. He played drums as a child and switched to bass as a teenager. He was Gary U.S. Bonds's musical director at age 13; following this he sang in the doo wop...
, formerly a member of the Plasmatics
Plasmatics
The Plasmatics were an American heavy metal and punk band formed by Yale University art school graduate Rod Swenson with Wendy O. Williams. The band was a controversial group known for wild live shows that broke countless taboos...
, the album was characterized by a Rolling Stone reviewer as "nonstop primal fuzz pop". Making it his pick for "album of the week", New York Times critic Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
wrote that the Ramones "speak up for outcasts and disturbed individuals".
The following year the band recorded their last album with Richie, Halfway to Sanity
Halfway to Sanity
Halfway to Sanity is the tenth studio album by American punk band the Ramones. It was released on September 15, 1987, and the last album to feature Richie Ramone...
, produced by Daniel Rey
Daniel Rey
Daniel Rey is an American musician, music producer and songwriter from New York City best known for his work with the Ramones....
. Richie left in August 1987, upset that after being in the band for four years, the other members would still not give him a share of the money they made selling T-shirts. Richie was replaced by Clem Burke
Clem Burke
Clem Burke is an American musician who is the drummer for the band Blondie. Recruited by Chris Stein and Debbie Harry when they were first forming Blondie, Burke remained with the band through its first stage and later returned for its late 1990s reunion and then its extensive 2009 tour.Following...
from Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
, which was disbanded at the time. According to Johnny, the performances with Burke—who adopted the name Elvis Ramone—were a disaster. He was fired after two performances because his drumming could not keep up with the rest of the band. Marky, now clean and sober, returned.
Dee Dee left the band after the recording of their eleventh studio album, 1989's Brain Drain
Brain Drain (album)
- Personnel :* Joey Ramone - lead vocals* Johnny Ramone - guitar* Dee Dee Ramone - bass, backing vocals* Marky Ramone - drums- Production :* Jean Beauvoir - producer* Bill Laswell - producer* Daniel Rey - producer, musical coordinator...
, co-produced by Beauvoir, Rey, and Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
. He was replaced by Christopher Joseph Ward (C.J. Ramone), who performed with the band until they disbanded. Dee Dee initially pursued a brief career as a rapper under the name Dee Dee King. He quickly returned to punk rock and formed several bands, in much the same vein as the Ramones, for whom he also continued to write songs.
Final years: 1990–1996
After more than a decade and a half at Sire Records, the Ramones moved to a new label, Radioactive RecordsRadioactive Records
Radioactive Records was an American record label. It was formed as a joint venture between talent manager Gary Kurfirst and MCA Records, and it is now out of business....
. Their first album for the label was 1992's Mondo Bizarro
Mondo Bizarro
Mondo Bizarro is the twelfth studio album by the American punk band the Ramones, released in 1992 . It featured their new bassist, Christopher Joseph Ward , who replaced departed member Dee Dee Ramone. Mondo Bizarro was the group’s first studio album in three years...
, which reunited them with producer Ed Stasium. Acid Eaters
Acid Eaters
Acid Eaters is the thirteenth studio album by the American punk band The Ramones.Recorded in 1993 , towards the end of the Ramones' career, the album is often set apart from other Ramones releases in that it is entirely composed of covers...
, consisting entirely of cover songs, came out the following year. In 1993 the Ramones were featured in the animated television series The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, providing music and voices for animated versions of themselves in the episode "Rosebud".
In 1995, the Ramones released ¡Adios Amigos!
¡Adios Amigos!
¡Adiós Amigos! is the fourteenth and final studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released on July 18, 1995 through Radioactive Records...
, their fourteenth studio album, and announced that they planned to disband if it was not successful. Its sales were unremarkable, garnering it just two weeks on the lower end of the Billboard chart. The band spent late 1995 on what was promoted as a farewell tour. However, they accepted an offer to appear in the sixth Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
festival, which toured around the United States during the following summer. After the Lollapalooza tour's conclusion, the Ramones played their final show on August 6, 1996, at the Palace in Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
. A recording of the concert was later released on video and CD as We're Outta Here! In addition to a reappearance by Dee Dee, the show featured several guests including Motörhead's Lemmy, Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
's Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder is an American musician and singer-songwriter who is best known for being the lead singer and one of three guitarists of the alternative rock band Pearl Jam. He is widely considered a cultural icon of alternative rock.He is also involved in soundtrack work and contributes to albums...
, Soundgarden
Soundgarden
Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...
's Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell is an American rock musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Soundgarden and as the former lead vocalist for Audioslave. He is also known for his numerous solo works and soundtrack contributions since 1998...
, and Rancid
Rancid (band)
Rancid is an American punk rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 1991. Founded by Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, both of whom previously played in the ska punk band Operation Ivy, Rancid is credited—along with Green Day and The Offspring—for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the...
's Tim Armstrong
Tim Armstrong
Timothy Lockwood Armstrong is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his work with punk rock bands Rancid, Operation Ivy, Downfall, and the Transplants. He is also the owner and operator of Hellcat Records.-Personal life:Armstrong was born November 25, 1965 and was...
and Lars Frederiksen
Lars Frederiksen
Lars Erik Frederiksen is an American guitarist and vocalist, most notably for the punk rock band Rancid, and as the frontman of Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards and The Old Firm Casuals. He was also briefly a member of the UK Subs in 1991...
.
Aftermath and deaths
Virgin Megastore
Virgin Megastores is an international chain of record shops, founded by Sir Richard Branson on London's Oxford Street in early 1971. Virgin Megastores are best described today as entertainment retailers....
in New York City for an autograph signing. This was the last occasion on which the original four members of the group appeared together. Joey, who had been diagnosed with lymphoma in 1995, died of the illness on April 15, 2001, in New York.
In 2002, the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
, which specifically named Dee Dee, Johnny, Joey, Tommy, and Marky. At the ceremony, the surviving inductees spoke on behalf of the band. Tommy spoke first, saying how honored the band felt, but how much it would have meant for Joey. Johnny thanked the band's fans and blessed George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and his presidency, Dee Dee humorously congratulated and thanked himself, while Marky thanked Tommy for influencing his drum style. Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
played "Teenage Lobotomy" and "Blitzkrieg Bop
Blitzkrieg Bop
"Blitzkrieg Bop" is a song by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was released as the band's debut single in April of 1976 in the United States...
" as a tribute, demonstrating the Ramones' continuing influence on later rock musicians. The ceremony was one of Dee Dee's last public appearances; on June 5, 2002, two months later, he was found at his Hollywood home, dead from a heroin overdose.
On November 30, 2003, New York City unveiled a sign designating East 2nd Street at the corner of Bowery as Joey Ramone Place. The singer lived on East 2nd for a time, and the sign is near the former Bowery site of CBGB. End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones is a 2003 documentary film about highly influential New York punk rock band the Ramones. The film, produced and directed by Jim Fields and Michael Gramaglia, documents the band's history from their formation in the early 1970s and 22 subsequent years of...
, a Ramones documentary, came out in 2004. Johnny, who had been privately battling prostate cancer, died on September 15, 2004, in Los Angeles, shortly after the film's release. On the same day as Johnny's death, the world's first Ramones Museum opened its doors to the public. Located in Berlin, Germany, the museum features more than 300 items of memorabilia, including a pair of stage-worn jeans from Johnny, a stage-worn glove from Joey, Marky's sneakers, and C.J.'s stage-worn bass strap.
The Ramones were inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame
Long Island Music Hall of Fame
The Long Island Music Hall of Fame is an organization whose office is located in Port Jefferson, New York. It was incorporated in July 2005 under the New York State Board of Regents as a non profit organization and holds a provisional charter to operate as a museum in the state of New York...
in 2007. That October saw the release of a DVD set containing concert footage of the band: It's Alive 1974-1996
It's Alive 1974-1996
It's Alive 1974-1996 is a live DVD by the Ramones. It was released on October 2, 2007 by Rhino Records. It's a two-disc set and includes 118 tracks from 33 performances in eight countries, which span the groups career, from 1974 and 1996. Most of the performances were at concerts, but some were...
includes 118 songs from 33 performances over the span of the group's career. In February 2011 the group was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the Recording Academy to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording."...
. Drummers Tommy, Marky, and Richie Ramone
Richie Ramone
Richie Ramone is an American drummer best known for being the drummer for the iconic punk band the Ramones and the only Ramones drummer to be the sole composer and writer of Ramones songs.-Biography:...
attended the ceremony. Joey Ramone's award was accepted by his brother Mickey Leigh, who thanked his brother Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone was an American vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist in the punk rock band the Ramones. Joey Ramone's image, voice and tenure as frontman of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.-Early life:Joey Ramone was born Jeffry Hyman to parents Noel and Charlotte Hyman...
for giving a voice to a whole genre of music and "To sharing his voice with us, and his character, and his style, and his charm, his sentiment, his sensitivity, his craziness and for urging us to experience every human emotion through music and most of all to have some fun in this life." During Richie Ramone's speech, Richie noted that it was the first time in history that all three drummers were under the same roof, and mused that he couldn't "...help thinking that [Joey Ramone] is watching us right now with a little smile on his face behind his rose-colored glasses." Marky remarked "This is amazing. I never expected this. I'm sure Johnny, Joey and Dee Dee would never have expected this. I'm extremely honoured."
Conflicts between members
Tensions between Joey and Johnny colored much of the Ramones' career. The pair were politically antagonistic, Joey being a liberalLiberalism in the United States
Liberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process...
and Johnny a conservative. Their personalities also clashed: Johnny was a military brat who lived by a code of self-discipline, while Joey struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...
. Johnny, who was fascinated by the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, would sometimes torment Joey (who was Jewish) with anti-Semitic remarks. In the early 1980s, Johnny "stole" Joey's girlfriend Linda, whom he later married. As a consequence, despite performing together for years afterward, Joey and Johnny stopped speaking to each other. Johnny did not call Joey before the latter's death in 2001, but said in the documentary End of the Century that he was depressed for "the whole week" after the singer died.
Aside from this central conflict, Dee Dee's bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
and repeated relapses into drug addiction also caused significant strains. Tommy left the band partly in reaction to being "physically threatened by Johnny, treated with contempt by Dee Dee, and all but ignored by Joey". As new members joined, payment methods and image representation became matters of serious dispute. In 1997, Marky and Joey got into a fight about their respective drinking habits on the Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
radio show.
Musical style
The Ramones' loud, fast, straightforward musical style was influenced by pop musicPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
that the band members grew up listening to in the 1950s and 1960s, including classic rock groups such as The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, and The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
; bubblegum
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...
acts like the 1910 Fruitgum Company
1910 Fruitgum Company
The 1910 Fruitgum Company is an American bubblegum pop band of the 1960s. The group's biggest hits included "Simon Says," "1, 2, 3, Red Light," "May I Take A Giant Step," "Special Delivery," "Goody Goody Gumdrops," and "Indian Giver." Guitarist Frank Jeckell claimed to have adopted the name from a...
and Ohio Express; and girl groups such as The Ronettes
The Ronettes
The Ronettes were a 1960s girl group from New York City, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett ; her older sister, Estelle Bennett; and their cousin Nedra Talley...
and The Shangri-Las
The Shangri-Las
The Shangri-Las were an American pop girl group of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966 they charted with often heartbreaking teen melodramas, and remain best known for "Leader of the Pack" and "Remember ".- Early career :...
. They also drew on the harder rock sound of The Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
and the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
, both now known as seminal protopunk
Protopunk
Protopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of musicians who were important precursors of punk rock in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential...
bands. The Ramones' style was in part a reaction against the heavily produced, often bombastic music that dominated the pop charts in the 1970s. "We decided to start our own group because we were bored with everything we heard," Joey once explained. "In 1974 everything was tenth-generation Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, tenth-generation Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, or overproduced, or just junk. Everything was long jams, long guitar solos.... We missed music like it used to be." Ira Robbins and Scott Isler of Trouser Press
Trouser Press
Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...
describe the result:
With just four chords and one manic tempo, New York's Ramones blasted open the clogged arteries of mid-'70s rock, reanimating the music. Their genius was to recapture the short/simple aesthetic from which pop had strayed, adding a caustic sense of trash-culture humor and minimalist rhythm guitar sound.
As leaders in the punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
scene, the Ramones' music has usually been identified with that label, while some have defined their characteristic style more specifically as pop punk
Pop punk
Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...
and others as power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
. In the 1980s, the band sometimes veered into hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
territory, as can be heard on Too Tough to Die
Too Tough to Die
Too Tough to Die is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on October 1,1984. It is the first Ramones album to feature new drummer Richie Ramone...
.
On stage, the band adopted a focused approach directly intended to increase the audience's concert experience. Johnny's instructions to C.J. when preparing for his first live performances with the group were to play facing the audience, to stand with the bass slung low between spread legs, and to walk forward to the front of stage at the same time as he did. Johnny was not a fan of guitarists who performed facing their drummer, amplifier, or other band members.
Visual imagery
The Ramones' art and visual imagery complemented the themes of their music and performance. The band members adopted a uniform look of long hair, leather jackets, t-shirts, torn jeans, and sneakers. This fashion emphasized minimalism, which was a powerful influence on the New York punk scene of the 1970s and reflected the band's short, simple songs. Tommy Ramone recalled that, both musically and visually, "we were influenced by comic books, movies, the Andy WarholAndy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
scene, and avant-garde films. I was a big Mad Magazine
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
fan myself."
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
:
I saw them as the ultimate all-American band. To me, they reflected the American character in general—an almost childish innocent aggression.... I thought, 'The Great Seal of the President of the United States' would be perfect for the Ramones, with the eagle holding arrows—to symbolize strength and the aggression that would be used against whomever dares to attack us—and an olive branch, offered to those who want to be friendly. But we decided to change it a little bit. Instead of the olive branch, we had an apple tree branch, since the Ramones were American as apple pie. And since Johnny was such a baseball fanatic, we had the eagle hold a baseball bat instead of the [Great Seal]'s arrows.
The scroll in the eagle's beak originally read "Look out below", but this was soon changed to "Hey ho let's go" after the opening lyrics of the band's first single, "Blitzkrieg Bop
Blitzkrieg Bop
"Blitzkrieg Bop" is a song by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was released as the band's debut single in April of 1976 in the United States...
". The arrowheads on the shield came from a design on a polyester shirt Vega had bought. The name "Ramones" was spelled out in block capitals above the logo using plastic stick-on letters. Where the presidential emblem read "Seal of the President of the United States" clockwise in the border around the eagle, Vega instead placed the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s of the four band members: Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, and Tommy. Over the years the names in the border would change as the band's lineup fluctuated.
Influence
The Ramones had a broad and lasting influence on the development of popular musicPopular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
. Music historian Jon Savage
Jon Savage
Jon Savage , real name Jonathon Sage, is a Cambridge-educated writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his award winning history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, England's Dreaming, published in 1991.-Career:...
writes of their debut album that "it remains one of the few records that changed pop forever." As described by Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
, "The band's first four albums set the blueprint for punk, especially American punk and hardcore, for the next two decades." Trouser Presss Robbins and Isler similarly write that the Ramones "not only spearheaded the original new wave/punk movement, but also drew the blueprint for subsequent hardcore punk bands". Punk journalist Phil Strongman writes, "In purely musical terms, The Ramones, in attempting to re-create the excitement of pre-Dolby rock, were to cast a huge shadow—they had fused a blueprint for much of the indie future." Writing for Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
in 2001, Douglas Wolk
Douglas Wolk
Douglas Wolk is a Portland, Oregon-based author and critic. He has written about comics and popular music for publications including The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The Nation, The New Republic, Salon.com, Pitchfork Media, and The Believer...
described the Ramones as "easily the most influential group of the last 30 years."
The Ramones' debut album had an outsized effect relative to its modest sales. According to Tony James
Tony James
Tony James is a British musician, best known as a bassist of Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik.- Career :He was originally a member of the punk band London SS, along with Brian James, , and Mick Jones plus Terry Chimes .Later, James joined the early punk band Chelsea...
, a member of several seminal British punk bands, "Everybody went up three gears the day they got that first Ramones album. Punk rock—that rama-lama super fast stuff—is totally down to the Ramones. Bands were just playing in an MC5
MC5
The MC5 is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan and originally active from 1964 to 1972. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson...
groove until then." The central fanzine
Fanzine
A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
of the early UK punk scene, Sniffin' Glue
Sniffin' Glue
Sniffin' Glue is the name of a monthly punk zine started by Mark Perry in July 1976 and released for about a year. The name is derived from a Ramones song "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue." Others that wrote for the magazine that later became well known journalists include Danny Baker.Although initial...
, was named after the song "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", which appeared on the debut LP. The Ramones' first British concert, at London's Roundhouse concert hall, was held on July 4, 1976, the United States Bicentennial
United States Bicentennial
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to the historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic...
. The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
were playing in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
that evening, supported by The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, making their public debut. The next night, members of both bands attended the Ramones' gig at the Dingwall's club. Ramones manager Danny Fields recalls a conversation between Johnny Ramone and Clash bassist Paul Simonon
Paul Simonon
Paul Gustave Simonon is an English musician and artist best known as the bass guitarist for punk rock band The Clash. Recent work includes his involvement in the album The Good, the Bad & the Queen with Damon Albarn, Simon Tong and Tony Allen, released in January 2007...
(which he mislocates at the Roundhouse): "Johnny asked him, 'What do you do? Are you in a band?' Paul said, 'Well, we just rehearse. We call ourselves the Clash but we're not good enough.' Johnny said, 'Wait till you see us—we stink, we're lousy, we can't play. Just get out there and do it.'" Another band whose members saw the Ramones perform, The Damned, played their first show two days later. The Ramones' two July 1976 shows, like their debut album, are seen as having a significant impact on the style of many of the newly formed British punk acts—as one observer put it, "instantly nearly every band speeded up".
Ramones concerts and recordings influenced many musicians central to the development of California punk as well, including Greg Ginn
Greg Ginn
Gregory Regis Ginn is a guitarist, songwriter, and singer. He is best known for being the leader of and primary songwriter for the hardcore punk band Black Flag, which he founded and led from 1976 to 1986....
of Black Flag
Black Flag (band)
Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...
, Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
of the Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
, Mike Ness
Mike Ness
Mike Ness is an American guitarist, vocalist, and chief songwriter for the punk rock band Social Distortion, which was formed in 1978. As of Dennis Danell's death in 2000, he is now the only original member of the band...
of Social Distortion
Social Distortion
Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness , Jonny Wickersham , Brent Harding and David Hidalgo, Jr...
, Brett Gurewitz
Brett Gurewitz
Brett W. Gurewitz , nicknamed Mr. Brett, is the guitarist and a songwriter of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and sister-labels ANTI-, Burning Heart Records, Fat Possum Records, and Hellcat Records...
of Bad Religion
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is a punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1979. Their current line-up consists of Greg Graffin , Brett Gurewitz , Jay Bentley , Greg Hetson , Brian Baker and Brooks Wackerman . Gurewitz is also the founder of the label Epitaph Records, which has released almost all of the...
, and members of the Descendents
Descendents
The Descendents are an American punk rock band from Hermosa Beach, California. As of 2011, they have released six studio albums, three live albums, three compilation albums and three EPs. The Descendents broke up and reformed several times over the years, sometimes with different musicians...
. Canada's first major punk scenes—in Toronto and in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
's Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
and Vancouver—were also heavily influenced by the Ramones. In the late 1970s, many bands emerged with musical styles deeply indebted to the band's. There were The Lurkers
The Lurkers
The Lurkers were a late 1970s English punk rock group from Uxbridge, West London, notable for being the first group ever on Beggars Banquet Records.-Career:...
from England, The Undertones
The Undertones
The Undertones are a punk rock/new wave band formed in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1975.The original line-up of the Undertones released thirteen singles and four studio albums — The Undertones , Hypnotised , Positive Touch and The Sin of Pride — before disbanding in July 1983.Music guide Allmusic...
from Ireland, Teenage Head
Teenage Head (band)
Teenage Head is a Canadian rock group from Hamilton, Ontario and was one of the most popular Canadian punk rock bands during the early 1980s....
from Canada, and The Zeros and The Dickies
The Dickies
The Dickies are an American punk rock group formed in San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California, U.S. in 1977.-History:The Dickies were among the first punk rock bands to emerge from Los Angeles...
from southern California. The seminal hardcore band Bad Brains
Bad Brains
Bad Brains is an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1977. They are widely regarded as among the pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members objected to this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of...
took its name from a Ramones song. Later punk bands such as Screeching Weasel
Screeching Weasel
Screeching Weasel is an American punk rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1986 by Ben Weasel and John Jughead.Since their formation, Screeching Weasel have broken up and reformed numerous times with numerous line-up changes. Ben Weasel has been the only constant...
, The Vindictives
The Vindictives
The Vindictives were a Chicago-based punk rock underground group during the 1990s. They were peers with Screeching Weasel and other bands from the era, they were also heavily-influenced by the Ramones. Joey Vindicitive's characteristic nasal melodies often told the story of alienation, psychosis,...
, The Queers
The Queers
The Queers are a punk band formed in 1981 by Portsmouth, New Hampshire native Joe King . The band originally broke up in 1984, but reformed with Joe Queer and a new line-up in 1986. In 1990, the band signed with Shakin' Street Records and released their first album Grow Up...
, The Mr. T Experience
The Mr. T Experience
The Mr. T Experience is an American punk rock band formed in 1985 in Berkeley, California and currently recording for Lookout! Records. They have released ten full-length albums along with numerous EPs and singles and have toured internationally...
, Boris the Sprinkler
Boris the Sprinkler
Boris the Sprinkler was a pop-punk band that formed in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1992, known for their zaniness and abnormality. Their aesthetic seemed to borrow from Devo and The Dickies. They display a sci-fi bizarro style reminiscent of Buckaroo Banzai....
, Beatnik Termites
Beatnik Termites
The Beatnik Termites are a Cleveland, Ohio power pop band with a heavy surf rock influence.The band's original lineup of Reggie Silvestri on drums, Pat Kim on guitar and lead vocals and Brian McCafferty on bass formed in 1987. Their sound and vocals are similar in style to the Beach Boys and early...
, and Jon Cougar Concentration Camp
Jon Cougar Concentration Camp
Jon Cougar Concentration Camp is a punk rock band from San Diego, California.-History:Jon Cougar Concentration Camp was formed in January 1994 in San Diego by Chris Fields, Clint Graham, Travis Spatter, and Travis Milligan. The band named themselves after a pun on musician John Cougar Mellencamp...
have recorded cover versions of entire Ramones albums—Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket to Russia, Road to Ruin, End of the Century, Pleasant Dreams, and Too Tough to Die, respectively. The Huntingtons
The Huntingtons
The Huntingtons are a punk band from Baltimore, Maryland which formed in 1993-1994 in the Maryland/Delaware area by Cliff Powell , Mike Holt and Mike Pierce . The band is heavily influenced by The Ramones.-1993-2005:The Huntingtons debut album Sweet Sixteen was released in 1996 by Flying Tart...
' File Under Ramones
File Under Ramones
File Under Ramones is an album by the Huntingtons released in 1999 on Tooth & Nail Records.-Album information:*Recorded and Mixed over 7 days in Oct 1998 at Clay Creek Recorders*Engineered by Nicky Rotundo...
consists of Ramones covers from across the band's history. The Riverdales, made up of former members of Screeching Weasel, have emulated the sound of the Ramones throughout their career.
The Ramones also influenced musicians associated with other genres, such as heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
. Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
guitarist Kirk Hammett
Kirk Hammett
Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stones list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
has described the importance of Johnny's rapid-fire guitar playing style to his own musical development. Motörhead lead singer Lemmy, a friend of the Ramones since the late 1970s, mixed the band's "Go Home Ann" in 1985. The members of Motörhead later composed the song "R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
"R.A.M.O.N.E.S." is a song first recorded by the British rock band Motörhead on their 1991 album 1916 as a tribute to their friends and contemporaries, the Ramones. The bands were long standing admirers of each others' work...
" as a tribute, and Lemmy performed at the final Ramones concert in 1996. In the realm of alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
, the song "53rd and 3rd" lent its name to a British indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
label cofounded by Stephen Pastel of the Scottish band The Pastels
The Pastels
The Pastels are a group from Glasgow, Scotland, UK.Their early records for labels like Whaam!, Creation, Rough Trade, and Glass Records, had a raw and immediate sound, melodic and amateur, which seemed at odds with the time...
. Evan Dando
Evan Dando
Evan Griffith Dando is an American musician, most famous for fronting the alternative rock band The Lemonheads. He is the only original member left in the current Lemonheads line-up, having served as lead singer since the band's original formation in 1986...
of The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band first formed in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member....
, Dave Grohl
Dave Grohl
David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Foo Fighters; the former drummer for Nirvana and Scream; and the current drummer for Them Crooked Vultures...
of Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
and Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...
, Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder is an American musician and singer-songwriter who is best known for being the lead singer and one of three guitarists of the alternative rock band Pearl Jam. He is widely considered a cultural icon of alternative rock.He is also involved in soundtrack work and contributes to albums...
of Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
(who also inducted the band to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
) and The Strokes
The Strokes
The Strokes are an American indie rock band formed in 1999 in New York City. Consisting of Julian Casablancas , Nick Valensi , Albert Hammond, Jr. , Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti ....
are among the many alternative rock musicians who have credited the Ramones with inspiring them.
The first Ramones tribute album featuring multiple artists was released in 1991: Gabba Gabba Hey: A Tribute to the Ramones
Gabba Gabba Hey: A Tribute to the Ramones
Gabba Gabba Hey: A Tribute to the Ramones is the title of the first Ramones tribute album released in 1991 by Triple X Records. It is named after the famous Ramones slogan Gabba Gabba Hey, from the song "Pinhead".-Track listing:...
includes tracks by such acts as The Flesh Eaters
The Flesh Eaters (band)
The Flesh Eaters are an American punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1977. They are the most prominent of the bands which have showcased the compositions and singing of their founder, punk poet Chris Desjardins, known as...
, L7
L7 (band)
L7 was an American rock band from Los Angeles, that was active from 1985 to 2000. Due to their sound and image, they are often associated with the grunge movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s.-History:...
, Mojo Nixon
Mojo Nixon
Mojo Nixon is an American musician, known for playing psychobilly music...
, and Bad Religion. In 2001, Ramones Maniacs
Ramones Maniacs
Ramones Maniacs is a 26-band salute to the Ramones. This is a track-by-track cover of the Ramones Mania album, by bands from across the US, plus one from Australia and one from Canada.Album artwork by Tim Bradstreet....
, a multi-artist cover of the entire Ramones Mania
Ramones Mania
-Personnel:* Joey Ramone – lead vocals* Johnny Ramone – guitar* Dee Dee Ramone – bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Wart Hog"* Marky Ramone - drums* Tommy Ramone - drums* Richie Ramone - drums, backing vocals on "Wart Hog"-Charts:Album Billboard...
compilation album, included a guest appearance by Dee Dee Ramone. We're a Happy Family: A Tribute to Ramones (2003) is the best known Ramones tribute album, with artists such as Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
, Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
, The Offspring
The Offspring
The Offspring is an American punk rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1984. Known as Manic Subsidal until 1986, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland, lead guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, bassist Greg K. and drummer Pete Parada...
, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
, U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, Metallica, and Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie is an American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He founded the heavy metal band White Zombie and has been nominated three times as a solo artist for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.Zombie has also established a career as a film director, creating the...
(who also did the album cover artwork). Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong is an American rock musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, main songwriter and lead guitarist for the American punk rock band Green Day...
named his son Joey in homage to Joey Ramone, and drummer Tré Cool
Tre Cool
Frank Edwin Wright III, a.k.a. Tré Cool, is an American drummer, best known as the drummer for the punk rock band Green Day. He replaced the group's former drummer John Kiffmeyer in 1990...
named his daughter Ramona.
Band members
| 1974 rehearsals |
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| 1974 rehearsals |
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| 1974–1978 |
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| 1978–1983 |
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| 1983–1987 |
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| 1987 |
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| 1987–1989 |
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| 1989–1996 |
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Dee Dee Ramone
Dee Dee Ramone was an American songwriter and musician, best known as founding member, bassist and main songwriter of the punk rock band the Ramones....
(Douglas Colvin) – bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
(1974–1989)
Johnny Ramone
John William Cummings , better known by his stage name Johnny Ramone, was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being the guitarist for the punk rock band the Ramones. He was a founding member of the band, and remained a member throughout the band's entire career...
(John Cummings) – guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
(1974–1996)
Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone was an American vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist in the punk rock band the Ramones. Joey Ramone's image, voice and tenure as frontman of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.-Early life:Joey Ramone was born Jeffry Hyman to parents Noel and Charlotte Hyman...
(Jeffry Hyman) – drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(1974), lead vocals (1974–1996)
Tommy Ramone
Tommy Ramone, also known as Thomas Erdelyi , is a Hungarian American record producer and musician...
(Thomas Erdelyi) – drums (1974–1978)
Marky Ramone
Marky Ramone is an American musician. He is best known for being the drummer for the Ramones, but has also played in other notable bands like Dust, Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, and the Misfits.Although he is not the original drummer , Marky is the only living...
(Marc Bell) – drums (1978–1983, 1987–1996)
Richie Ramone
Richie Ramone is an American drummer best known for being the drummer for the iconic punk band the Ramones and the only Ramones drummer to be the sole composer and writer of Ramones songs.-Biography:...
(Richard Reinhardt) – drums, vocals (1983–1987)
Clem Burke
Clem Burke is an American musician who is the drummer for the band Blondie. Recruited by Chris Stein and Debbie Harry when they were first forming Blondie, Burke remained with the band through its first stage and later returned for its late 1990s reunion and then its extensive 2009 tour.Following...
(Clem Burke) – drums (1987)
C. J. Ramone
Christopher Joseph Ward , better known as C. J. Ramone, is an American musician best known as working as the bassist of punk rock group Ramones from 1989 to 1996.-Background:...
(Christopher Joseph Ward) – bass guitar, vocals (1989–1996)
Discography
Studio albums- RamonesRamones (album)Ramones is the self-titled debut studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was released on April 23, 1976, through Sire Records. Prior to the band signing to Sire they were seen by Lisa Robinson, an editor of Hit Parader, during an early 1975 performance. Robinson began popularizing...
(1976) - Leave HomeLeave HomeLeave Home is the second studio album by American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on January 10, 1977 through Sire Records. The album features the classic Ramones songs "Pinhead" and "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment"...
(1977) - Rocket to RussiaRocket to RussiaRocket to Russia is the third studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on November 4, 1977 through Sire Records. It was their last with original drummer Tommy Ramone. The album incorporates surf rock and other influences. It includes some of the Ramones' best-known...
(1977) - Road to RuinRoad to Ruin (Ramones album)Road to Ruin is the fourth studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on September 22, 1978 through Sire Records...
(1978) - End of the CenturyEnd of the CenturyT. Donald Guarisco of Allmusic notes that the "entire album is pretty controversial in the world of Ramones fandom".Dee Dee recalled hearing a song from the album on the radio, perhaps "I'm Affected": "I couldn't believe how awful it sounded. It was horrible. I hated "Baby, I Love You"...
(1980) - Pleasant DreamsPleasant DreamsPleasant Dreams is the sixth studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released on July 20, 1981 through Sire Records. Pleasant Dreams reached #58 on the US Billboard album charts. It was frowned upon by guitarist Johnny Ramone because to him it sounded "too slick" and is...
(1981) - Subterranean JungleSubterranean JungleSubterranean Jungle is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released in February 1983 and peaked at position eighty-three on the Billboard album music chart. It was re-released on August 20th, 2002 on CD by Rhino Records."Time Bomb" featured Dee Dee's first...
(1983) - Too Tough to DieToo Tough to DieToo Tough to Die is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on October 1,1984. It is the first Ramones album to feature new drummer Richie Ramone...
(1984) - Animal BoyAnimal BoyAnimal Boy is the ninth studio album by the American punk band the Ramones. It featured the songs "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down ", written as a protest of President Ronald Reagan's visit to the Bitburg cemetery in West Germany; "Somebody Put Something in My Drink", written by Richie Ramone, the...
(1986) - Halfway to SanityHalfway to SanityHalfway to Sanity is the tenth studio album by American punk band the Ramones. It was released on September 15, 1987, and the last album to feature Richie Ramone...
(1987) - Brain DrainBrain Drain (album)- Personnel :* Joey Ramone - lead vocals* Johnny Ramone - guitar* Dee Dee Ramone - bass, backing vocals* Marky Ramone - drums- Production :* Jean Beauvoir - producer* Bill Laswell - producer* Daniel Rey - producer, musical coordinator...
(1989) - Mondo BizarroMondo BizarroMondo Bizarro is the twelfth studio album by the American punk band the Ramones, released in 1992 . It featured their new bassist, Christopher Joseph Ward , who replaced departed member Dee Dee Ramone. Mondo Bizarro was the group’s first studio album in three years...
(1992) - Acid EatersAcid EatersAcid Eaters is the thirteenth studio album by the American punk band The Ramones.Recorded in 1993 , towards the end of the Ramones' career, the album is often set apart from other Ramones releases in that it is entirely composed of covers...
(1993) - ¡Adios Amigos!¡Adios Amigos!¡Adiós Amigos! is the fourteenth and final studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released on July 18, 1995 through Radioactive Records...
(1995)
Sources
- Bayles, Martha (1996). Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226039595
- Beeber, Steven Lee (2006). The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk, Chicago Review Press. ISBN 155652613X
- Bessman, Jim (1993). Ramones: An American Band, St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312093691
- Colegrave, Stephen, and Chris Sullivan (2005). Punk: The Definitive Record of a Revolution, Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1560257695
- Edelstein, Andrew J., and Kevin McDonough (1990). The Seventies: From Hot Pants to Hot Tubs, Dutton. ISBN 0525485724
- Isler, Scott, and Ira A. Robbins (1991). "Ramones", in Trouser Press Record Guide (4th ed.), ed. Ira A. Robbins, pp. 532–534, Collier. ISBN 0020363613
- Keithley, Joe (2004). I, Shithead: A Life in Punk, Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 1551521482
- Leigh, Mickey, and Legs McNeil (2009). I Slept With Joey Ramone: A Family Memoir, Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0743252160
- McNeil, Legs, and Gillian McCain (1996). Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (2d ed.), Penguin. ISBN 0140266909
- Melnick, Monte A., and Frank Meyer (2003). On The Road with the Ramones, Sanctuary. ISBN 1860745148
- Miles, Barry, Grant Scott, and Johnny Morgan (2005). The Greatest Album Covers of All Time, Collins & Brown. ISBN 1843403013
- Ramone, Dee Dee, and Veronica Kofman (2000). Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones, Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1560252529
- Roach, Martin (2003). The Strokes: The First Biography of the Strokes, Omnibus Press. ISBN 0711996016
- Robb, John (2006). Punk Rock: An Oral History, Elbury Press. ISBN 0091905117
- Sandford, Christopher (2006). McCartney, Century. ISBN 1844136027
- Savage, Jon (1992). England's Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond, St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312087748
- Schinder, Scott, with Andy Schwartz (2007). Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever, Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313338477
- Spicer, Al (2003). "The Lurkers", in The Rough Guide to Rock (3d ed.), ed. Peter Buckley, p. 349, Rough Guides. ISBN 1843531054
- Spitz, Mark, and Brendan Mullen (2001). We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk, Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0609807749
- Stim, Richard (2006). Music Law: How to Run Your Band's Business, Nolo. ISBN 1413305172
- Strongman, Phil (2008). Pretty Vacant: A History of UK Punk, Chicago Review Press. ISBN 1556527527