The Ramones

The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United States during their time together, the band saw more success in England and Brazil, and are today seen as highly influential.

All of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone", although none of them were biologically related; they were inspired by Paul McCartney, who would check into hotels as "Paul Ramon". The Ramones performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, they played a farewell concert in Los Angeles and disbanded. By 2014, all four of the band's original members had died – lead singer Joey Ramone (1951–2001), bassist Dee Dee Ramone (1951–2002), guitarist Johnny Ramone (1948–2004) and drummer Tommy Ramone (1949–2014). The remaining surviving members of the Ramones—bassist C. J. Ramone (who replaced Dee Dee in 1989 and stayed with the band until its dissolution) and drummers Marky Ramone, Richie Ramone and Elvis Ramone—are still musically active.

Recognition of the band's importance built over the years. The Ramones ranked number 26 in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the " 100 Greatest Artists of All Time" and number 17 in VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock". In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second-greatest band of all time by '' Spin'', trailing only The Beatles. On March 18, 2002, the original four members and Tommy's replacement on drums, Marky Ramone, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. In 2011, the group was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

History

Formation (1974–1975)

The original members of the band met in and around the middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills in the New York City borough of Queens. John Cummings and Thomas Erdelyi had both been in a high-school garage band from 1965 to 1967 known as the Tangerine Puppets. They became friends with Douglas Colvin, who had recently moved to the area from Germany, and Jeff Hyman, who was the singer for 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. Colvin wanted to play guitar and sing, Cummings would also play guitar and Hyman would play drums. The lineup was to be completed with their friend Richie Stern on bass. However, after only a few rehearsals it became clear that Richie Stern could not play bass, so in addition to singing, Colvin switched from guitar to bass and Cummings became the only guitarist. Colvin 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 Beetles days.Melnick and Meyer (2003), p. 32. 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 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.Melnick and Meyer (2003), p. 33.

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 on 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, 1974. Legs McNeil, who cofounded ''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. Sire A&R man Craig LeonMelnick and Meyer (2003), p. 101. saw the band and brought them to the attention of the label. Stein's wife, Linda Stein, saw the band play at Mothers; she would later co-manage them along with Danny Fields.Bessman (1993), p. 211. By this time, the Ramones were recognized as leaders of the new scene that was increasingly being referred to as "punk".Strongman (2008), p. 62. The group's unusual frontman had a lot to do with their impact. As Dee Dee explained, "All the other singers n New Yorkwere copying David Johansen f_the_New_York_Dolls.html" ;"title="New_York_Dolls.html" ;"title="f the New York Dolls">f the New York Dolls">New_York_Dolls.html" ;"title="f the New York Dolls">f the New York Dolls who was copying Mick Jagger ... But Joey was unique, totally unique."

Spearheading punk (1976–1977)

The Ramones recorded their debut album, ''Ramones'', 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, and each member did contribute some writing, much of the writing was done by Dee Dee. The ''Ramones'' album 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. ''Punk'', which was largely responsible for codifying the term for the scene emerging around CBGB, ran a cover story on the Ramones in its third issue, the same month as the record's release.

The Ramones' debut album was greeted by rock critics with glowing reviews. The ''Village Voice''s Robert Christgau wrote, "I love this record—love it—even though I know these boys flirt with images of brutality (Nazi especially) ... For me, it blows everything else off the radio". In ''Rolling Stone'', Paul Nelson described it as "constructed almost entirely of rhythm tracks of an exhilarating intensity rock & roll has not experienced since its earliest days." Characterizing the band as "authentic American primitives whose work has to be heard to be understood", he declared, "It is time popular music followed the other arts in honoring its primitives." ''Newsday''s Wayne Robbins simply anointed the Ramones as "the best young rock 'n' roll band in the known universe."

Despite Sire's high hopes for it, ''Ramones'' was not a commercial success, reaching only number 111 on the '' Billboard'' album chart. The two singles issued from the album, "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", failed to chart. At the band's first major performance outside of New York, a June date in Youngstown, Ohio, members of Cleveland punk legends Frankenstein aka the Dead Boys were present and struck up a friendship with the band. It was not 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. T-Rex leader Marc Bolan was in attendance at the Roundhouse show and was invited on stage. 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 Theatre 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 produced 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!" ''Leave Home'' also included a fast-paced cover of the oldie "California Sun", written by Henry Glover & Morris Levy, and originally recorded by Joe Jones, though the Ramones based their version on the remake by the Rivieras. ''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).

Transitional period (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 Bell, who had been a member of the early 1970s hard rock band Dust, Wayne County, and the pioneering punk group Richard Hell & the Voidoids. Bell adopted the name 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 cofounder 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''. There is a long-disputed rumor that during the recording sessions in Los Angeles, Spector held Johnny 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." Retrieved from Internet Archive December 16, 2013. The string-laden Ronettes cover "Baby, I Love You" 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'', taking the band further from the raw punk sound of its early records. As described by ''Trouser Press'', the album, produced by Graham Gouldman of UK pop act 10cc, moved the Ramones "away from their pioneering minimalism into heavy metal territory".Isler and Robbins (1991), p. 533. 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. According to ''Trouser Press'', it brought the band "back to where they once belonged: junky '60s pop adjusted for current tastes", which among other things meant "easing off the breakneck rhythm that was once Ramones dogma." 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", becoming the only song showing three different drummers: Rogers on recording, Marky on album credits and Richie on video clip. ''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. In 2002, Rhino Records released a new version of it with seven bonus tracks.

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 Reinhardt, who adopted the name Richie Ramone. Joey Ramone remarked that " ichiesaved the band as far as I'm concerned. He's the greatest thing to happen to the Ramones. He put the spirit back in the band." Richie is the only Ramones drummer to sing lead vocals on Ramones songs, including "(You) Can't Say Anything Nice" as well as the unreleased "Elevator Operator". Joey Ramone commented, "Richie's very talented and he's very diverse ... He really strengthened the band a hundred percent because he sings backing tracks, he sings lead, and he sings with Dee Dee's stuff. In the past, it was always just me singing for the most part." Richie was also the only drummer to be the sole composer of Ramones songs including their hit " Somebody Put Something in My Drink" as well as "Smash You", "Humankind", "I'm Not Jesus", "I Know Better Now" and "(You) Can't Say Anything Nice". Joey Ramone supported Richie's songwriting contributions: "I encouraged Richie to write songs. I figured it would make him feel more a part of the group, because we never let anybody else write our songs." Richie's composition, "Somebody Put Something in My Drink", remained a staple in the Ramones set list until their last show in 1996 and was included in the album ''Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits''. The eight-song bonus disc, ''The Ramones Smash You: Live '85'', is also named after Richie's composition "Smash You".

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, primarily by Joey, in protest of Ronald Reagan's visit to a German military cemetery, which included graves of Waffen SS soldiers. 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

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