Ramones
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Ramones
<tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3"> Ramones, c. 1976. Left to Right: Johnny Ramone, Tommy Ramone, Joey Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone </td></tr>
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| Background information
<tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Forest Hills, Queens, New York, USA</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Punk rock</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1974—1996</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Sire Records (US and UK, 1976–1992) |
The Ramones were an American rock band often considered to be the first punk rock group.<ref>http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/ramones/bio.jhtml#/music/artist/ramones/bio.jhtml</ref><ref name="HallofFame">http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=1775</ref> While acknowledged as defining the sound and attitude of mid-1970s punk, they never achieved the commercial success of their contemporaries The Clash or the notoriety of the Sex Pistols, but still had an immense impact on the punk and alternative rock scenes. They are often referred to as the "Godfathers of Punk"<ref>http://www.vergemag.com/0501/music/muse4.html</ref> and played 2,263 concerts throughout their career.<ref name="HallofFame"/>
After forming in Forest Hills, Queens, New York in 1974, they performed virtually non-stop for 22 years until disbanding in 1996 after a final tour with the Lollapalooza music festival. Three of the original band members—Joey, Johnny, and Dee Dee Ramone—died within a few years of the break up. While they were always regarded as influential, the band’s fame is now arguably greater than while they were actively performing and recording.
In 2002 they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
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[edit] Members
The original band members were:
- Joey Ramone (May 19, 1951–April 15, 2001) (real name Jeffry Ross Hyman), vocals (1974–1996)
- Johnny Ramone (October 8, 1948–September 15, 2004) (real name John Cummings), guitar (1974–1996)
- Dee Dee Ramone (September 18, 1952–June 5, 2002) (born Douglas Glenn Colvin), bass guitar (1974–1989)
- Tommy Ramone (January 29, 1952) (real name Tamás Erdélyi), drums (1974–1978)
Later band members:
- Marky Ramone (July 15, 1956) (real name Marc Bell) replaced Tommy and later Elvis on drums (1978–1983, 1987–1996)
- Richie Ramone (August 11, 1957) (real name Richard Reinhardt) replaced Marky on drums (1983–1987)
- Elvis Ramone (November 24, 1955) (real name Clem Burke) replaced Richie on drums for two gigs (1987)
- C. J. Ramone (October 8, 1965) (real name Christopher Joseph Ward) replaced Dee Dee on bass (1989–1996)
An earlier member, Ritchie, left the band before the first recording (not related to the Richie Ramone, above). "In Memory of Richie Ramone 1975" can be read on a cartoon drawing of a gravestone on the innersleeve of the Rocket to Russia album. According to Joey, he became a button manufacturer.[citation needed]
Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Tommy and Marky are the members of the group that were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
[edit] History
[edit] 1970s
The pre-history of the band is centered in the middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills in the New York City borough of Queens. The band members were drawn together by a mutual love of The New York Dolls, The Stooges, MC5 and '60s garage rock. Most of the members had been in various bands since the late 1960s--Johnny and Tommy had both been in a high school garage band circa 1966-'67 known as the Tangerine Puppets, and Joey was in a brief, early 1970s glam rock outfit called Sniper.
The initial version of the Ramones included Jeffry Hyman on drums, John Cummings on guitar, and Douglas Colvin on bass and vocals. Colvin was the first to use the name Ramone, calling himself Dee Dee Ramone. He was inspired by the fact that Paul McCartney used the pseudonym Paul Ramone—although some accounts say Paul Ramon— when he checked into hotels. The other members followed suit and adopted new stage names; Hyman became Joey Ramone, reportedly after bubblegum pop music vocalist Joey Levine, Cummings became Johnny Ramone, and the group itself became known as the Ramones.
Soon after the band was formed, Dee Dee realized that he couldn't sing and play bass at the same time (he would continue, however, to count off each song's tempo with his trademark rapid-fire shout of "1-2-3-4!"). Joey became the lead vocalist, but could not sing and play drums at the same time, which left the drummer's seat vacant. The band auditioned new drummers at Performance Studio, where they rehearsed.
Thomas Erdelyi, the defacto manager of the band, employee of the studio, and long-time acquaintance of the other members, would often take the drummer's throne in order to demonstrate to the auditioners how to play the songs. It became apparent that he was able to play the group's songs better than anyone else, and he joined the band as drummer Tommy Ramone. Tommy was also the most motivated member of the foursome in terms of making the band successful, being the one who got them into the studio in the first place.
They played their first show at the Performance Studio in New York on March 30, 1974. Their early songs were very fast and very short; most clocked in at about two minutes. Earliest titles included "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You," "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement," and "I Don't Wanna Get Involved with You." Dee Dee later said, "We didn't write a positive song until 'Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue'."[citation needed]
In the early '70s, a new music scene emerged in New York, with many bands started to play in clubs in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, such as Max's Kansas City and CBGB's. Other bands from this period of New York's "underground" music scene include Television, Blondie, Richard Hell and The Voidoids, The Patti Smith Group, and Talking Heads.
Ramones concerts at CBGB's became legendary, due in part to their brevity: most concerts were twenty to thirty minutes long, much shorter than their contemporaries', and are often described by their witnesses as extremely fast, crude, energetic and desperate. The Ramones' live set was so short they sometimes needed to repeat it twice a show. A few super–8 movies of these shows have survived, and are present in a couple of the band's later videos.
After garnering considerable attention for their performances at CBGB's, the group was signed to a recording contract by Seymour Stein of Sire Records in autumn 1975. They soon recorded their debut album, Ramones, on an extremely low budget: about $6,400.
The band was plagued by hostile audience reactions outside of New York City; it wasn’t until they made a small 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) was a huge success. Their appearance galvanized the burgeoning UK punk rock scene, inspiring future punk stars, including members of The Clash and The Damned. The Flamin' Groovie/Ramones double-bill was successfully reprised at The Roxy in Los Angeles the following month, which also inspired local Los Angeles musicians.
Upon returning from England, they found themselves prophets without honor in their own country: their subsequent two albums, Leave Home and Rocket to Russia (both 1977), failed to become the hits the band desired. Both records were co-produced by Tony Bongiovi, the cousin of Jon Bon Jovi. Tommy, tired of touring, left the band at this time but continued to produce; he was replaced by Marc Bell, who became Marky Ramone.
The first three Ramones albums mainly contained songs written during their pre-contract years. Their fourth album, Road to Ruin, was fully packed with brand new songs, including some stylistic flourishes—acoustic guitar, several ballads, songs over three minutes—that might have been concessions to mainstream tastes, but the album still failed to chart highly. Despite excellent reviews for both their albums ("Rocket to Russia is the best American rock & roll of the year and possibly the funniest rock album ever made," Dave Marsh wrote in Rolling Stone magazine) and their live performances, the Ramones remained a cult band. The highly publicized dissolution of the Sex Pistols in 1978 seemed to signal the end of punk as a viable commercial force and branded the Ramones as forever outsiders.
[edit] 1980s and 1990s
After the band's movie debut in Roger Corman's Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979), legendary producer Phil Spector became interested in the Ramones and produced their 1980 album End of the Century. During the recording sessions, Spector reportedly pulled a gun on Dee Dee, and forced Johnny to play the opening chord to "Rock 'n' Roll High School" hundreds of times.[citation needed] The band would later consider this one of their "not-so-great" albums they had released, crediting tensions between the producer and the artists. Johnny recalls that he was disappointed with the outcome of End of the Century and the album failed to capture the public's attention. Albums like Pleasant Dreams (1981) and Subterranean Jungle (1983) found the Ramones struggling to maintain their identity as punk's first family.
Marky Ramone was fired in early 1983 because of his alcoholism[citation needed] and eventually replaced by Richard Reinhardt (under the name Richie Ramone). The Ramones recorded three albums with Richie: Too Tough to Die in 1984, Animal Boy in 1986 and Halfway to Sanity in 1987. Richie left in August 1987. He was replaced by Clem Burke (a.k.a. Elvis Ramone) from Blondie. Burke lasted two shows before Marky, now clean and sober, returned. According to Johnny, the two shows with Burke were a disaster, because even though Burke was interested, the drumming style wasn't as rigid as The Ramones needed.
Dee Dee Ramone left after 1989's Brain Drain, and was replaced by Christopher Joseph Ward (C.J. Ramone), who performed and recorded with the band until their break-up. However, Dee Dee did continue contributing to the music of the Ramones by lending his lyrics for use in later songs. Dee Dee left to pursue a brief and rather embarrassing solo career as a rapper, adopting the name Dee Dee King.
After 16 years at Sire records, the band moved to new label Radioactive Records with their 1992 album Mondo Bizarro, which also reunited them with producer Ed Stasium. The band joined Frank Zappa and Ozzy Osbourne at anti-PMRC movement, attitude cemented in the song Censorshit.
[edit] Break-up
The Ramones always had a certain amount of tension, mainly between Joey and Johnny. The pair were highly politically antagonistic, Joey being a left-leaning liberal, Johnny a staunch conservative. The relationship between the two got considerably worse when Johnny "stole" Joey's girlfriend Linda, whom he later married. Joey and Johnny didn't speak to each other for years afterwards. It is believed the song "The KKK Took My Baby Away", written by Joey, alludes to this enmity. Johnny did not even call Joey before his death in 2001, but said in the documentary End of the Century that he was depressed for weeks after the singer's death.
After a spot in the 1996 Lollapalooza festival, the Ramones disbanded, reportedly due to ongoing personality clashes and frustration at not achieving success commensurate with their influence. Joey was also reported to have drug problems, and later admitted drinking heavily for much of the '80s.[citation needed] Joey achieved sobriety in 1990, but was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1995. In his later years he became an avid follower of yoga and health food. During the late 1990s, Joey started day trading NYSE stocks. Joey actually wrote a song about CNBC financial news reporter Maria "Money Honey" Bartiromo, entitled "Maria Bartiromo", which is included on his 2002 solo album Don't Worry About Me.
Their final show was on August 6, 1996 at the Palace in Hollywood.<ref>http://www.roughedge.com/live/ramones.htm</ref> The show was recorded, and later released on video and CD as We're Outta Here. The show featured several special guests such as Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead, Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam, Tim Armstrong and Lars Frederiksen of Rancid, and Chris Cornell (then in Soundgarden).
On July 20, 1999, all of the former members of the group except for Richie appeared together at Tower Records in New York City for an autograph signing. This was the last occasion on which the ex-members of the group appeared together before Joey's death. Johnny attempted to make peace with his longtime bandmate and rival Joey, but Joey would have none of it and simply ignored him. Joey's last partially finished works were compiled as a posthumous solo album, Don't Worry About Me.
In 2002, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the ceremony, Johnny, Tommy, Marky, and Dee Dee spoke on behalf of the band. Johnny blessed George W. Bush and his presidency. Dee Dee congratulated and thanked himself. This would be one of his last public appearances, as he died two months later of a heroin overdose. Also at the ceremony, Green Day played "Teenage Lobotomy" and "Blitzkrieg Bop" as a tribute to the Ramones, showing the influence that the Ramones had on later rock bands.
In the summer of 2004, the Ramones documentary End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones was released in theaters. Its release was treated as an event by Ramones fans and former members, and it received rave reviews. Johnny Ramone—who had been privately battling prostate cancer—died almost exactly as the film was released, on September 15, 2004.
The Ramones are scheduled to be inductees into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007, along with performers such as Count Basie and Louis Armstrong.<ref>http://www.limusichalloffame.org/inductees/07inductees.html</ref>
[edit] Deaths
- Joey Ramone died of lymphoma on April 15, 2001 in New York.
- Dee Dee Ramone was found dead at his Hollywood home on June 5, 2002 following a heroin overdose, only two months after The Ramones were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
- Johnny Ramone died of prostate cancer on September 15, 2004 in Los Angeles, California.
[edit] Musical style and influence
The Ramones pioneered a straightforward, stripped-down sound that was a far cry from the virtuosic musicianship and complex instrumentation that 1970s rock music had become known for. Joey Ramone has stated the Ramones were rather taken with the Bay City Rollers' hit song "Saturday Night", and set out to imitate its catchy, singalong quality, inspiring the "Hey-ho, let's go" chant from their first single, "Blitzkrieg Bop". Johnny disliked guitar solos, and played only a handful of them in his more than two decades with the group; his simple, direct playing, exclusively distorted barred chords with downstrokes(which many people mistake with power chords due to the high distortion, but watching a Ramones concert clearly show the barred chords), set the standard for many subsequent punk guitarists.
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 look and play at the audience, 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 Ramone was not a fan of guitarists who performed facing their drummer, amplifier or other band members.<ref name="HeyHoAnthology">Fricke, David. 1999. Hey Ho Let's Go!: The Anthology liner notes. Rhino Entertainment, R2 75817.</ref>
There were strong influences from the rock and pop music of the 1950s and 1960s; bands such as the Beach Boys, The Who, The Kinks, The Troggs, the Yardbirds, and primarily The Beatles, on whom they based their image (bowl haircuts, four members). The Ramones recorded cover songs of such "garage" classics as "Surfin' Bird" and "California Sun." Joey often cited Ronnie Spector as one of his favorite singers; the various love songs he sang for the band are reminiscent of the 1960s girl group sound. This type of material alternated with harder rock songs in the vein of proto punk bands The Stooges, MC5 and The New York Dolls.
The Ramones' first British concerts on July 4-5, 1976, are widely credited with inspiring the first wave of English punk groups: Buzzcocks (first concert July 20, 1976), The Damned (first concert July 6, 1976), The Clash (first concert July 10, 1976) and others. (Coincidentally, all these shows were supporting the Sex Pistols, whose bassist Sid Vicious considered the Ramones his favorite band; his rendition of "My Way" was intended as a "Ramonized" version.)
Likewise, early shows in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. inspired groups as diverse as X, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, and Bad Brains. The upbeat, singalong aspects of their songs influenced pop punk bands, while their aggressive and powerful rhythm section become a blueprint for the future hardcore punk and even thrash metal genres.
Many bands were claimed "an answer to the Ramones" by critics in the late 70's. There were the "English answer" (The Lurkers), the "Irish answer" (The Undertones), the "Californian answer" (The Dickies), the "Canadian answer" (Teenage Head), and the "Mexican answer" (The Zeros).
Tom Verlaine described the Ramones as the first band in the world to play a white urban form of rock'n'roll, removing the solos and blues patterns associated with earlier forms of rock music. This is sometimes described as the biggest development in rock'n'roll since Chuck Berry.[citation needed]
[edit] Legacy
The Ramones never achieved much commercial success in the United States during the time they were touring, but they were extremely popular in Europe and especially South America, where their records often topped the charts. Their only album to reach certified gold status in the U.S. was the 1988 best-of album, RamonesMania; 1992's Mondo Bizarro went gold in Brazil.
Ironically, the band has seen somewhat of a renaissance during the early and mid-2000's, with their songs being used in soft drink, car, athletic wear, and cellular phone commercials. The band and their albums now regularly appear on "all-time greatest" lists in various rock magazines, such as Spin, Rolling Stone, and Mojo--an honor not often bestowed upon them during their career.
Their famous "presidential seal" logo is often seen as being trendy (to the ire of some fans), pictures of Paris Hilton wearing a pink T-shirt featuring the seal have been printed and it is frequently parodied. Sales of Ramones merchandise are apparently growing every year.
The Ramones 30th Anniversary Tribute concert occurred on September 12, 2004. The event was at Los Angeles' Avalon and hosted by Rob Zombie. The performers demonstrate the breadth of the Ramones' influence: Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Dickies and X played sets and then C.J. Ramone, Marky Ramone and long time producer Daniel Rey took the stage and played while different guitar and vocal teams, including longtime Ramones fan Henry Rollins, performed various Ramones songs.
Three days later, on September 15, 2004, the world's first and only Ramones Museum opened its doors for the public. Located in Berlin, Germany, the Ramones Museum Berlin features more than 300 original memorabilia items from the Ramones, including a stage-worn jeans from Johnny Ramone, a stage-worn glove from Joey Ramone, Marky Ramone's sneakers or CJ Ramone's stage-worn bass strap.
Some bands are so taken by the Ramones as a whole that a subgenre dubbed "Ramones-core" has appeared. These bands often dress up like the Ramones, and play instruments like theirs. The music is generally a little faster and heavier on the guitars with (often) tongue in cheek lyrics about girls and similar fare. Notable bands include Screeching Weasel, Teenage Bottlerocket, The Spazzys, The Vindictives, The Queers, The Mr. T Experience, and the Beatnik Termites, who recorded covers of the Ramones albums Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket to Russia, Road to Ruin, and Pleasant Dreams, respectively. In 1992, Canadian punk rock band NoMeansNo created a side-project called the Hanson Brothers, adopting Ramones-esque alter-egos, Ramones-like graphics and stage monikers, and releasing three successful albums in Ramones three-chord style. While sometimes panned as a Ramones parody, the Hanson Brothers, all long-time Ramones fans, conceived the project as a tongue-in-cheek tribute to their heroes.
In 2002, the Ramones were voted the second greatest rock and roll band ever in Rolling Stone and Spin magazines, trailing only in both polls to The Beatles.
[edit] Covers
The Ramones' songs have frequently been covered by other bands.<ref>http://www.coversproject.com/artist/ramones</ref> Some bands have released albums which are made up entirely of Ramones cover songs, including The Queers, Screeching Weasel, The Vindictives, Operation Ivy, The Mr. T Experience, Kristy Majors, Parasites, and The McRackins. There are also some extraordinary projects, such as surf-album by instrumental cover band Ramonetures and dance-hall pop album by the Nutley Brass orchestra.
The first Ramones tribute album was released in 1991 under the title Gabba Gabba Hey, featuring tracks recorded by L7, Mojo Nixon, Circle Jerks members and Bad Religion. Many more tribute albums followed, such as Blitzkrieg Over You (with Motörhead and Die Toten Hosen performances), and all-star tribute We're a Happy Family with Metallica, U2, KISS, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Waits, and Rob Zombie, who also did the album's cover artwork; the liner notes were written by noted Ramones fan Stephen King. Around that time Metallica recorded five Ramones' songs, scattered among St Anger-era singles. A Russian 29-track tribute album called Ramoneskidz was released in 2005.
Sonic Youth covered "Beat on the Brat" in their early years, as well as "I Don't Want to Walk Around With You", "Loudmouth", and "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World", all of which can be found on the live album Hold That Tiger. Hüsker Dü often played "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker", as heard on The Living End, a 1987 live album. Pansy Division recorded a gay version of "Rock'n'Roll High School" called "Rock'n'Roll Queer Bar" (available on the Undressed CD). Brodie Foster Hubbard claims the Ramones as an influence, and has covered "Chainsaw," "I Want You Around," "The KKK Took My Baby Away," and "Blitzkrieg Bop" at live shows.
Ramones have also been covered by many metal bands, including Backyard Babies ("Pet Semetary"), Overkill ("I'm Against It"), HIM ("Poison Heart"), Rammstein ("Pet Sematary" live), Marilyn Manson ("The KKK Took My Baby Away"), Skid Row ("Psycho Therapy") and Anthrax ("We're a Happy Family"). Tool has covered "Commando" live. The Dead have also covered ("Pet Sematary").
The jam-band Widespread Panic performed "Pet Sematary", "I Wanna Be Sedated", and "Beat on the Brat" at Madison Square Garden on Halloween 2003.
Northern Irish punk-metal band Therapy? recorded a cover of "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment" for the 7" vinyl release of their single "Gimme Back My Brain", in 2001, on Ark21 Records.[1]
Californian punk band Offspring also played a cover of "I Wanna Be Sedated" in the 1999 horror/comedy movie Idle Hands.
Manic Hispanic recorded re-lyriced versions of Havana Affair (as Tijuana Affair) on their album Grupo Sexo and of Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (as Creeper Is A Low Rider), The KKK Took My Baby Away (as The INS Took My Novia Away) and The Crusher (as La Crusher) on their album Mijo Goes To Jr College.
[edit] Homages
Frank Black wrote a song called "I Heard Ramona Sing", because he and his ex-Pixies bandmate Kim Deal were huge fans of the Ramones. The song itself has nothing in common with the Ramones' sound, however it tells the story of the vital Ramones' power gained by devoted listener: "And then I got me a Walkman / I really liked it a lot, and / They walked right in and they solved them / I heard Ramona sing / And I heard everything / The speed they're travelling / They are the only thing / Ramona...". The song can be found on Frank Black's first solo album (1993).
The Mr T Experience recorded a song called "The End of the Ramones" (1989 Big Black Bugs Bleed Blue Blood album). Its lines included, "Still love them all it's the end of the Ramones/We're so sad cause we all know it's the end of the Ramones".
The UK pop-punk band The Boys recorded the song "T.C.P.", included on 1978's Alternative Chartbusters album, about the Ramones.
Jello Biafra recorded speech track "Joey Ramone" about his first discovery of the Ramones. It's available on Apocalypse Always compilation (2002, Alternative Tentacles Records).
The cover art of early Ramones' albums is often imitated. The cover of Lou Reed's New York (1989) heavily resembled the first Ramones album. Brit-pop/new wave stars Elastica adapted Ramones and Rocket To Russia art for their debut album (1995).
The famous punk 'zine Sniffin' Glue was named after the Ramones song, as was the influential Hardcore punk group Bad Brains.
Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong named his son (born in 1995) Joey as tribute to Joey Ramone. The same year, Tre Cool's daughter was born and was named Ramona for a similar reason.
In 1997, a pair of paleontologists, Adrain & Edgecombe, named a series of fossil trilobite species Mackenziurus johnnyi, M. joeyi, M. deedeei, and M. ceejayi.
English band Motörhead paid homage to the Ramones in its song "R.A.M.O.N.E.S.", featured in its 1991 album 1916.They re-recorded the song for their 2006 album Kiss of Death.
The Casualties also cover "Blitzkrieg Bop" at concerts after they play the beginning of their song "Made In N.Y.C." which is a tribute song to Joey Ramone and the Ramones.
Dutch punk band Heideroosjes composed Ode To The Ramones which can be found on their 1996 album Fifi. It's a song completely dedicated to their great example. Sheena took me to heaven / Pet Sematary took me to hell / mostly it took just two minutes / but I remember those minutes well
[edit] In popular culture
Horror writer Stephen King is a big Ramones fan. His Pet Sematary novel includes lines from the Ramones' songs, and its main character used "Dee Dee Ramone" as a pseudonym while registering in a hotel. Later, the Ramones contributed a song to the film adaptation's soundtrack, which Dee Dee wrote.
The Ramones guested on an episode of The Simpsons ("Rosebud"). They were booked to sing "Happy Birthday" at Mr. Burns' birthday party, where they showed their distaste for the gig, shouting, "I'd just like to say this gig sucks!" "Hey, up yours, Springfield!" and "Go to hell, you old bastard!"--though Marky Ramone quipped, "Hey, I think they liked us!" Afterwards, Mr. Burns mistakenly ordered Smithers to have "The Rolling Stones" killed. Also,the Ramones song "Beat on the Brat" was played in the beginning of the episode, "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em." (Principal Skinner is using his usual disciplinary methods on Bart.)
The third season of Entourage on HBO features main character Vincent Chase developing a Ramones movie titled I Wanna Be Sedated.
In the popular webtoon Homestar Runner, Marzipan dresses up as Joey Ramone in one of the Halloween toons.
[edit] The Ramones 'uniform'
Johnny Ramone enforced a very strict dress code for the band consisting of Keds or Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers, torn jeans, t-shirt, often sleeveless and a rocker jacket - the Ramones 'uniform'. In the early days, they often wore white Sperry Top-Sider shoes; later on, they wore everything from Converse Chuck Taylors to Reebok. Their jackets didn't vary much: they mainly wore Schott Perfectos. According to the documentaries End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones, and Hey! is Dee Dee home?, Dee Dee Ramone wasn't too happy about the 'uniform' and wanted to look more "punk rock". The band wore the 'uniform' until the very end in 1996.
[edit] Discography
For a complete discography, see Ramones Discography.
[edit] Audio samples
- "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- From Rocket to Russia, 1977
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
- "I Wanna Be Sedated" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- From Road to Ruin, 1978
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
[edit] Trivia
- Nirvana shared a stage with the Ramones, as captured in the documentary 1991: The Year Punk Broke. During this festival, according to the Kurt Cobain biography Come As You Are, Cobain switched Nirvana's and the Ramones' name cards on the tables in the banquet room, forcing the Ramones with all their supporting crew to lunch at the small four-person table.
- The Ramones were invited to record the soundtrack to the Sid And Nancy movie. During their work some management problems developed, and the deal was canceled. However, a handful of songs created for this movie were included in the Animal Boy album, most notably "Love Kills", written by, of course, Dee Dee, which contains lyrics about Sid Vicious and his girlfriend's affair.
- Many of the Ramones' early demo records are still not available on officially released CDs. For example, demo versions of "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" and "Loudmouth" could be found on bootleg records only.
- The Ramones were included in a "forbidden music" list compiled by the USSR Communist Party in the early '80s--most likely for the "anti-Soviet" cover art of the Rocket to Russia album.
- The song "I Won't Let It Happen" is loosely based on "I Won't Let It 'appen Agen" by Slade (1972, Slayed?).
- The "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)" video was featured on a Christmas episode of Beavis & Butt-Head. "Substitute" was also featured in another episode.
- The Ramones were the first band to be interviewed on MTV, on August 1, 1981, during the stations's first hour.
- Ramones performed live at the MTV Awards in 1995, playing a short and fast medley with recent hits from Urge Overkill and Elton John, among others.
- During the 2001 MTV Video Awards, U2 were nominated for five awards and were presented with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award, which they dedicated to the surviving Ramones, calling them a huge inspiration.
- Sire Records chief Seymour Stein is the president of the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2005 he was inducted in the Hall for Lifetime Achievement, mainly for his discovering of the Ramones and Madonna.
- The Ramones recorded three radio spots for the beer Steel Reserve: "Fill My Cup", "Gimmie My Steel Reserve", and "High Gravity Lager".
- The Ramones played in a Festival(Provinssirock '88, Seinäjoki Finland) with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In Anthony Kiedis' autobiography Scar Tissue he said that his band went out on stage naked during Ramones set "Cretin Hop"
- The Ramones used the songs "Main Title" and "The Ectasy of Gold" from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" movie's soundtrack as opening and ending themes respectively during their shows.
[edit] References
- Monte Melnick, On The Road With The Ramones (Paperback, 2003)
- Jim Bessman, Ramones: An American Band (Paperback, 1993)
- Legs McNeil and Gilian McCain, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (1996)
- Vanni Neri & Giorgio Campani, Ramones. Leathers From New York (1997). Small-sized book including 4 rare tracks CD. English/Italian
- Dee Dee Ramone with Veronica Kofman, Poison Heart: Surviving The Ramones (FireFly 1997)
- Dee Dee Ramone, Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones (Paperback 2000).
- MTV's First Hour on MTV UK August 1 2006
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