Tommy Ramone
Encyclopedia
Tommy Ramone, also known as Thomas Erdelyi (born Erdélyi Tamás; January 29, 1952), is a Hungarian American
record producer
and musician
. He was the drummer of the influential punk rock band Ramones
, and is the last surviving original member of the group.
, Hungary
to Jewish parents who had survived the Holocaust
by being hidden by neighbors, though many of his relatives were victims of the Nazis. He grew up in Forest Hills
, a neighborhood of New York City
's Queens
borough
. Tommy and guitarist John Cummings
(later to be dubbed "Johnny Ramone") performed together in a mid-60's four-piece garage band
called the Tangerine Puppets while in high school. In 1970, Erdelyi was an assistant engineer for the production of the Jimi Hendrix
album Band of Gypsys
.
on guitar, Dee Dee Ramone
on bass and Joey Ramone
on drums, Erdelyi was supposed to be the manager, but was drafted as the band's drummer when Joey became the lead singer and found that he couldn't keep up with the Ramones' increasingly fast tempos. "Tommy Ramone, who was managing us, finally had to sit down behind the drums, because nobody else wanted to," Dee Dee later recalled.
He remained as drummer from 1974
to 1978
, playing on and co-producing their first three albums——Ramones, Leave Home
, and Rocket to Russia
——as well as the live album It's Alive..
., but handled band management and co-production for their fourth album, Road to Ruin
; he later returned as producer for the eighth album, 1984's Too Tough to Die
.
Even though Tommy was an original member and co-producer for the Ramones, both Dee Dee
and Johnny
denied that he influenced the Ramones' sound. During interviews for the End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
, Dee Dee stated that Tommy was simply "at the right place at the right time". This seemingly contradicts an earlier interview in the same film in which Johnny Ramone states that Tommy was very important to the band.
Dee Dee, in his books, expressed resentment towards Tommy for having it "together" more than anyone else in the band, being able to cook himself dinner and organize his life in a much more functional manner, without the psychosis
or addiction
problems that Dee Dee himself suffered from. In comparison to everyone else in the band, Tommy was seemingly "normal", though there are accounts of him partying with the band and driving them around in his car in the early days.
Tommy Ramone wrote "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
" and the majority of "Blitzkrieg Bop
" while bassist Dee Dee suggested the title. He and Ed Stasium
played all the guitar solos on the albums he produced, as Johnny Ramone largely preferred playing rhythm guitar.
In the 1980s he produced the highly regarded Replacements album Tim
, as well as Redd Kross
's Neurotica
.
On October 8, 2004, he played as a Ramone once again, when he joined C.J. Ramone, Daniel Rey
, and Clem Burke
(also known as Elvis Ramone) in the "Ramones Beat Down On Cancer" concert. In October 2007 in an interview to promote It's Alive 1974-1996
a double DVD of the band's greatest televised live performances he paid tribute to his deceased bandmates:
Currently, Tommy and Claudia Tienan
(formerly of underground band The Simplistics) are performing as a bluegrass-based
folk
duo called Uncle Monk
. He joined songwriter Chris Castle
, Garth Hudson
, Larry Campbell (musician)
and the Womack Family Band
in July of 2011 at Levon Helm
Studios for Castle's album Last Bird Home.
Hungarian American
Hungarian Americans Hungarian are American citizens of Hungarian descent. The constant influx of Hungarian immigrants was marked by several waves of sharp increase.-History:...
record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
. He was the drummer of the influential punk rock band Ramones
Ramones
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...
, and is the last surviving original member of the group.
Background
Erdélyi was born in BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
to Jewish parents who had survived the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
by being hidden by neighbors, though many of his relatives were victims of the Nazis. He grew up in Forest Hills
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...
, a neighborhood of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
. Tommy and guitarist 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...
(later to be dubbed "Johnny Ramone") performed together in a mid-60's four-piece garage band
Garage band
The term garage band can refer to:* A band that performs garage rock* GarageBand, audio production software published by Apple Inc.* GarageBand.com, a website that helps publicize emerging bands...
called the Tangerine Puppets while in high school. In 1970, Erdelyi was an assistant engineer for the production of the Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
album Band of Gypsys
Band of Gypsys
Band of Gypsys was a blues rock band led by Jimi Hendrix and backed by Billy Cox and Buddy Miles. Hendrix formed the band after the dissolution of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Band of Gypsys is also the band's eponymous live album recorded on two separate nights, 31 December 1969 and 1 January...
.
Producer and drummer for The Ramones
When the Ramones first came together, with Johnny RamoneJohnny 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...
on guitar, 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....
on bass and 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...
on drums, Erdelyi was supposed to be the manager, but was drafted as the band's drummer when Joey became the lead singer and found that he couldn't keep up with the Ramones' increasingly fast tempos. "Tommy Ramone, who was managing us, finally had to sit down behind the drums, because nobody else wanted to," Dee Dee later recalled.
He remained as drummer from 1974
1974 in music
-January–April:*January 3 – Bob Dylan and The Band kick off their 40-date concert tour at Chicago Stadium. It's Dylan's first time on the road since 1966.*January 17...
to 1978
1978 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1978.-January–April:*January 14 – The Sex Pistols play their final show at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom....
, playing on and co-producing their first three albums——Ramones, 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...
——as well as the live album It's Alive..
Behind the scenes with The Ramones
He was replaced on drums in 1978 by Marky RamoneMarky 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...
., but handled band management and co-production for their fourth album, 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...
; he later returned as producer for the eighth album, 1984's 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...
.
Even though Tommy was an original member and co-producer for the Ramones, both Dee Dee
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....
and Johnny
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...
denied that he influenced the Ramones' sound. During interviews for the 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...
, Dee Dee stated that Tommy was simply "at the right place at the right time". This seemingly contradicts an earlier interview in the same film in which Johnny Ramone states that Tommy was very important to the band.
Dee Dee, in his books, expressed resentment towards Tommy for having it "together" more than anyone else in the band, being able to cook himself dinner and organize his life in a much more functional manner, without the psychosis
Psychosis
Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...
or addiction
Addiction
Historically, addiction has been defined as physical and psychological dependence on psychoactive substances which cross the blood-brain barrier once ingested, temporarily altering the chemical milieu of the brain.Addiction can also be viewed as a continued involvement with a substance or activity...
problems that Dee Dee himself suffered from. In comparison to everyone else in the band, Tommy was seemingly "normal", though there are accounts of him partying with the band and driving them around in his car in the early days.
Tommy Ramone wrote "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
"I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" is a song by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released in the US in 1976. It is the fourth track on their debut album, Ramones....
" and the majority of "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...
" while bassist Dee Dee suggested the title. He and 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....
played all the guitar solos on the albums he produced, as Johnny Ramone largely preferred playing rhythm guitar.
In the 1980s he produced the highly regarded Replacements album Tim
Tim (album)
Tim is an album released in October 1985 on Sire Records by the alternative rock band The Replacements. It was their first major label release...
, as well as Redd Kross
Redd Kross
Redd Kross, a rock band from Hawthorne, California had their roots in 1978 in a band called The Tourists begun by Jeff and Steve McDonald while the brothers were still in middle school...
's Neurotica
Neurotica
Neurotica is the fourth record from the band Redd Kross. It was released on Big Time Records in 1987.- Track listing :All songs written by Jeff McDonald, except where noted....
.
On October 8, 2004, he played as a Ramone once again, when he joined C.J. Ramone, 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....
, and 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...
(also known as Elvis Ramone) in the "Ramones Beat Down On Cancer" concert. In October 2007 in an interview to promote 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...
a double DVD of the band's greatest televised live performances he paid tribute to his deceased bandmates:
"They gave everything they could in every show. They weren't the type to phone it in, if you see what I mean."
Currently, Tommy and Claudia Tienan
Claudia Tienan
Claudia Tienan is an American guitarist, bassist and vocalist who has played in several genres. Formerly with an alternative band called The Simplistics, she is currently performing in Uncle Monk, a bluegrass duo she shares with Tommy Ramone. Uncle Monk produced a self-titled album released in...
(formerly of underground band The Simplistics) are performing as a bluegrass-based
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
duo called Uncle Monk
Uncle Monk
Uncle Monk is an American bluegrass music band.The band's two members are Tommy Ramone , the last surviving original member of the pioneering punk rock band The Ramones, and Claudia Tienan, a guitarist, bassist and vocalist....
. He joined songwriter Chris Castle
Chris Castle
Chris Castle is a folk/Americana singer-songwriter. Cleveland Magazine has described his writing as an "authentic connection to the world-weary soul of American roots music", while The New London Day's Rick Koster calls Castle "a visionary songwriter" and "a tunesmith of almost scary vision,...
, Garth Hudson
Garth Hudson
Eric Garth Hudson is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist. As the organist, keyboardist and saxophonist for Canadian-American rock group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound...
, Larry Campbell (musician)
Larry Campbell (musician)
Larry Campbell is a multi-instrumentalist who plays many stringed instruments in genres including country, folk, blues, and rock...
and the Womack Family Band
The Womack Family Band
The Womack Family Band is an Americana music quartet from Norwalk, Ohio. The group consists of Haley Heyman , Noah Heyman , Tony Schaffer , and Cory Webb .-Formation and Band Name:The members of The Womack Family Band gradually...
in July of 2011 at Levon Helm
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
Studios for Castle's album Last Bird Home.
Discography with the Ramones
- Ramones (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) - It's Alive (1979)
- 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) - NYC 1978NYC 1978NYC 1978 was a live album by the Ramones. It was recorded at the Palladium in New York City on January 7, 1978, for use on the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio program. The album was released by King Biscuit on August 19, 2003 as part of the King Biscuit Flower Hour Archive Series. The concert was...
(2003)