The Ramone’s formed in 1974, the four guys were best friends when they started the band. From there they adopted the last name Ramone. Dee Dee Ramone on Bass, Joey Ramone on vocals and drums, Johnny Ramone on the guitar, and Tommy Ramone became the bands manager. Soon after Joey became the bands front man and Tommy took over on the drums. Joey Ramone was a very tall 6’3 clad in torn blue jeans and leather. Long black hair always covering his face, and never seen with out his trademark Red glasses. “Right foot forward and left foot back, One hand in the air and the other on the microphone, Joey started every set with his fast paced line of…….One, Two, Three, Four.
The Ramone’s first performance was at New York’s performance studio, March 30th, 1974. They then went on to become regulars at the popular night club CBGB’S, There the band was discovered and signed as the first punk band on Sire records. Their first album was released in 1976 entitled “Ramones”. From there they went on to release thirteen more albums, They wrote the theme song for Stephen King’s “Pet Cemetary, And stared in the classic movie “Rock N’ Roll High School”.
The band broke up on August 16 1996 after an appearance in the 6th annual lallapolozza concert. As Andy Shernoff of the Dictators has said “ I cant tell you the number of musicians who have told me that they started A band after listening to the first Ramone’s record”. No one will ever forget the ramone’s classics like “I Wanna Be Sedated”, ”Sheena Is A Punk Rocker”, “Rock N’ Roll High School”, “I wanna Be Your Boyfriend” and “Blitzkrieg Bop.
In the words of Joey Ramone “ I want to be remembered as a great band. We’ve influenced two or three generations of younger bands. I feel like we completed what we set out to do. In some ways music has saved the world. It is the ultimate international language. It’s sort of the savior of the planet.
No matter how painfull the death of Joey Ramone has been on some people. Nothing but positive things have come out of him and the remaining Ramone’s. They are the founders of punk rock. They have influenced bands like, “The Sex Pistols”, “Blink 182”, “Mettalica”, “Rob Zombie”, “ Rancid”, “ Screeching Weasel”, and “NoFx”, The list goes on and on. The way the Ramone’s played music completely Revolutionized music as we knew it. The Ramones’s have touched and changed many lives, They showed us all that fun could be put back in Rock N’ Roll. And we love them for that. Joey you will be greatly missed but always remembered….We Love you. A huge Thank you to all the remaining Ramone’s, You all have touched so many.
